Some of the other classes that are using this environment this semester have not had the same experience that my class is having. They are experiencing the slow response times that we had last semester.  The office of information technology (OIT) and Phil Desroiser have been working on the problems. The resolution to this situation may have to wait until this summer when more hardware and disk drives can be added to the system. 

At the spring faculty/staff meeting, Mr. Steve Engorn demonstrated the system to the entire school. I am not sure people outside the information systems area could understand the importance of the environment, but they were supportive. The administration at Stevenson has been very supportive of the program and its future use. All of us seem to see the possibilities for this environment and opportunities for the school.

From my perspective the most striking part of the discussion is how passionately both the IS department and OIT want virtualization to work. Although the conversations may be a little emotional what is very apparent is both groups’ commitment to the long term use of virtual environments. We have had 8 weeks of working in this environment and all of us can see why this is the future direction we need to move towards. Virtualization resolves a number of problems for both the IS classroom and the OIT area. This process got larger than any of us believed it would so quickly.  The process went so well that everyone was using it and we have run out of resources.  What has become clear is that virtualization and the virtual environment are an integral part of the IS program.  The role of virtualization within the IS program is going to expand and planning needs to be done to accommodate it.  Not only is virtualization going to expand within the IS department, but other programs at Stevenson will want to use the environment.  This is the beginning of a major change of how courses are taught at Stevenson.

Although the current situation is painful, there is an incredible excitement about what is about to happen.

 From the success of the project there is discussion of the environment being expanded to more courses and more students having the opportunity to use it next semester. As the Information systems area goes more online and less dependent on the physical classrooms, there are some benefits not only for the school  by reducing costs, but also students. The will not be forced to work in a physical classroom using the university’s computers. They can do their work for class at any computer that has access to the internet and the Stevenson website. This is very appealing to the IS faculty and students alike.

Working in this type of virtual environment not only helps students while attending Stevenson, but also many businesses are using this idea in the workplace. So these skills that are learned at Stevenson will be valuable for gaining employment and used in the workplace. It seems logical that students and faculty in the Information systems area are excited about the virtual environment and hoping for the project to expand.