Virtualization for Information Systems March 30, 2009
Posted by afoote in : Information Systems, Uncategorized , 2commentsThe Information Systems department is analyzing virtualization for course delivery. One of the major issues in teaching Information Systems (IS) courses is the setup of the physical computers that the course is being taught with. In the ideal world the IS program would only teach a limited number of courses all using the same Operating Systems, Database Management Systems, Web Environments and networking environments. Unfortunately this does not happen at Stevenson University. We teach courses using Windows XP, MS Access, Microsoft Internet Explorer and Microsoft Visual Studio as the primary operating environment. In our efforts to prepare students for employment in the computer industry, courses need to be taught that do not use the primary operating environment. We do teach courses in Unix and other networking configurations. We do teach courses that use Oracle, IBM DB2 and MySQL as the Database Management System. The overhead of time and money that is involved with setting up computer labs for the different environments is a challenge. For the students there is the challenge of an assignment that needs to be completed in an unusual operating environment. Where does the student find a computer that will have the needed software and network available to complete the assignment?
The process we are looking at is to have the computer environment needed for the course to be residing on a server on the school network. As a student needs a particular computer configuration, the student will select the environment from a menu and the operating system, database management system and web configuration will be setup for the student to perform their course work. The environment resides on the server and is not using the operating system and network of the computer the student is using. This is similar to the computer terminals of the mainframe environment of twenty years ago. The student will use the computer configuration delivered from the server for the work that is needed and close the system when the session is over. The next student will be able to select the computer configuration that is needed without making any changes to the computer that is being used.
Over the years we have tried a number of strategies to solve this issue including portable hard drives and setting special classrooms for particular courses. These strategies all have had limited success and students have had limited access to the environments outside of class time. With virtualization we are hoping to solve these problems and possibly find ideas for delivering computer technology courses for the web based e-learning environment.
Information Systems Not Computer Science March 20, 2009
Posted by afoote in : Information Systems, Uncategorized , add a commentThe computer program at Stevenson University is Information Systems or Information Technology. The program is not Computer Science. There is nothing wrong with computer science programs and they are extremely important to the computer field, but at Stevenson University the program is information systems (IS).
According to Wikipedia, a computer science program is focused on the properties of programs used to implement software such as web browsers, operating systems or database management systems. Information systems is focused on systems, data and the activities of individuals to process that information in an organization.
The Information systems program is part of the School of Business and Leadership and focuses courses on systems needed by business. The program studies how operating systems, web browsers, network operating systems and database management systems can by used to process information. All of the courses work with business applications, such as accounting, marketing or management.
Usually in a computer science program there is an abundance of mathematics involved in the computer work. For the IS program there is a smaller amount of mathematics required with Statistics and Algebra being the major courses.
At Stevenson University our Information Systems (IS) program is divided in three major parts with additional programs branching off from them. The Software Design track is concerned with programming and business application development. The Network Design track is concerned with setting up networks for business and the Business Information Systems track is concerned with using computers in the business. This program studies how a business would use networks, databases and the web.
President’s Reception 4/4/09 March 17, 2009
Posted by afoote in : Uncategorized , add a comment
On Saturday, April 4th from 1:30-4:30pm, the Admissions Office is holding the annual President’s Celebration for Accepted Students. The event begins at the Greenspring campus.
Also, accepted students who register and attend will be eligible for the raffle to receive a complimentary 1-year meal plan from dining services (a $3,396 value)!
More information is available at: http://www.stevenson.edu/admissions/visiting/pres-celeb/index.asp
Students can RSVP online at:
http://apps.stevenson.edu/forms/admissions/celebration.cfm
Mind Maps March 11, 2009
Posted by afoote in : Knowledge Management , 1 comment so farOne of the tools we use in Knowledge and Project Management are Mind maps. Mind maps are graphical tools used to link concepts. We use Mind maps as an alternative to the traditional outline format that students have been using since elementary school. The Mind map gives the user a picture of how concepts are related and it does not have to be hierarchical. With web pages and other computer oriented concepts using the tree and branch structure can be a little confining.
In the class we are using the open source software from sourceforge – freemind to create the mind maps, but there are a number of other free mind mapping tools that can be used. Xmind from Collaborative Minds and VUE (Visual Understanding Environment) from Tufts University are other Mind mapping tools that we discuss in the course. For a general discussion of Mind mapping the website of mind-mapping.org is an excellent resource.
Tony Buzan, the guru of the mind map, has a website that is also a valuable resource for creating and using mind maps. On his website is a link to his mind mapping tool, iMindMap. iMindMap is not a free tool, but there are a number of videos, tutorials and guides. This site includes a video of using mind mapping with project management.
Some of the assignments in which mind maps are used include identifying and organizing tasks for a project in project management, organizing terms on a wiki and organizing concepts for the final term paper and presentations.
Mind maps are very similar to concept maps as discussed by the educational philosopher, Joseph Novak. The Institute for Human and Machine Cognition (IHMC) has done a large amount of research on concept maps. The website is set up as a concept map for the user to access materials and resources. This group also has a free concept mapping tool that can be used to create maps. Vic Gee on his webpage has explained the differences between a mind map and a concept map, but there are a lot of similarities. With some of the “mind mapping” tools the resulting diagram may be considered a “concept map”.