Fall 2010 Semester Begins August 23, 2010
Posted by afoote in : Information Systems, Uncategorized , add a commentThis week the fall semester begins at Stevenson. There is a lot of excitement with a large incoming freshman class. With all the excitement, the death of Dr. Susan Slattery in a car accident last week is devastating. All of us that work with Susan are trying to deal with her not being here at Stevenson. Being head of the mathematics department there were a number of occasions I had the opportunity to work with her and appreciate every one of them. She will be missed. With the death of Jonathan Bailey in 2008 and Susan’s last week, you learn to be thankful for all the people that are a part of your life. You just do not know what will happen tomorrow.
In previous blogs I have mentioned some of the computer changes that have been made for this semester. Virtualization has been expanded to include more courses. The next version of Blackboard is being used by faculty and students. The operating system for computers on the Owings Mills campus has been upgrade to Microsoft Windows 7 and Microsoft Outlook is the email software. The Office of Information Technology (OIT) has been very busy this summer. Plus all new copiers have been installed on the network. With the new copiers there is a cost for printing, but we will find ways to minimizing printing and limit the use of paper on campus.
These changes are needed and should be appealing to incoming students. All of these changes are to help students in the program and become better prepared for a career after graduation. Incoming freshman will be entering a program using current hardware, software and tools.
Google wave has been discontinued by Google. In an unanticipated move by Google this collaboration tool has been discontinued. Google commented that the user support was not large enough to continue with the project. Perhaps Google wave is ahead of its time and in a few years we will be ready for it. Or maybe the concept is too big and the pieces work better by themselves. Google has said that the pieces will be used in other projects. There are some fascinating ideas in Google wave and let’s hope that those ideas can continue in other products.
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
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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
Jonathan Bailey February 24, 2009
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In the course of an academic semester the main focus is on activities in the classroom and how well students are proceeding with the course. There are always tests, computer projects and papers that need to be completed. In this process it is all too easy to forget that there are individuals involved in it. Then an event like the tragic death of one of our students puts things into perspective.
On the evening of October 18, 2008 one of the IS community’s Networking students, Jonathan Bailey, was killed in an automobile accident a few miles from his home. Jonathan was in his third year at Stevenson and just beginning his career in Computer Networking.
I had Jonathan as part of my IS231 Networking course last year. He frequently came to class with his motorcycle helmet under his arm. Whenever the weather permitted, he would ride his motorcycle to Villa Julie (Stevenson). He had a large number of friends and he was a real pleasure to have in the classroom.
I was Jonathan’s advisor for the IS program which meant I saw him on occasion to make decisions on courses for the next semester. He never really seemed to need a lot of suggestions from me. He seemed to know what he was doing. At the beginning of October, Jonathan did come to visit me. He wanted to add a Philosophy minor to his program. We talked about what a great idea that was and how it would work with the Network Design program. We were both very excited about the idea and I signed the form to add the minor to his program. Of course he had ridden his motorcycle that day and had his helmet with him. As he left I watched him walk out of the building, put on the helmet and ride off on his motorcycle.
It has been about six months since the accident and there is still extreme sadness about his loss. I and the rest of the IS community at Stevenson University miss him. Thank you, Jonathan for riding into our lives. The biggest regret is that you did not keep riding for a lot longer.