Office of Information Technology

Annual Report FY 2004-2005

 

I. Mission Statement for Information Technology
II. Management of Information Technologies
III. Overview of Information Technology Resources
IV. Current Status of Information Technologies
V. Progress on Achieving Goals from the Indiana University Information Technology Strategic Plan
VI. Progress on Achieving Campus Goals for Information Technology

I. Mission Statement for Information Technology (back to top)

The Office of Information Technology provides innovative, contemporary, and accessible technology in microcomputing, instructional media, networking, and telephone services enabling the students, faculty and staff of IU Northwest to effectively meet the goals of a student-centered learning community. To accomplish this mission, Information Technology Services works collaboratively with the campus community to provide technology leadership and support, which emphasizes empowerment of the individual.

To accomplish this mission, the Office of Information Technology will:

Context

IUN is committed to establishing and maintaining appropriate information technologies, including instructional technology, in order to serve students, faculty and staff needs. This commitment has several implications. As a regional campus, IUN is clearly an integral part of the Indiana University system, having its own catchments area as well as its own linkages to the wider system. This creates an important dimension of IT, the special linkages to the larger IU system. Increasingly, information technologies are viewed as a single telecommunications system that merges data, voice, and video capabilities.

The entire IU system is in the midst of a major transformation concerning the use of information technologies for learning, scholarship and outreach. IUN seeks to take a proactive approach to supporting the use of technology during this dramatic transition. IUN intends to provide facilities and support for an expanding role of information technologies to faculty, students, and staff who have significantly different needs and experience in the use of technology. This support includes not only technical support of hardware and software, but also what is equally important, training to serve the instructional and curricular needs of faculty and students and to provide an up-to-date system for Internet access to enhance learning, scholarship and outreach.

II. Management of Information Technologies (back to top)

It is crucial for the management of information technologies to create an appropriate organizational structure. This structure has been initiated in the creation of the Cabinet-level position of Vice Chancellor for Information Technology. This position reports directly to both the IUN Chancellor, Bruce Bergland and Vice President and CIO, Michael McRobbie. The VCIT is responsible for all aspects of information technologies at IUN.

The Vice Chancellor for Information Technology is responsible for implementing the Indiana University Information Technology Strategic Plan Architecture for the 21st Century: An Information Technology Strategic Plan for Indiana University on the IUN campus. This position represents IUN at meetings with Vice President and CIO, Michael McRobbie and works directly with centralized IT staff. The Vice Chancellor works with the Strategic Planning Committee and the Technology Council to prioritize, plan, and implement specific Shared Vision outcomes as stated in the Shared Vision documents

At IUN, The Information Technology Division consists of the following operating units: the Office of the Vice Chancellor; the Department of Microcomputer Support Services which provides desktop support and student computer support; the Department of Instructional Technologies which provides audio-visual services, distance learning, and faculty development; and the Department of Technical Services which provides network administration, server administration, programming services for specialized reports, and telecommunications. Other functions include microcomputer applications instruction, and web management. This structure must be complemented by a planning, staffing, and budgeting process for IT that can be integrated into the overall IUN planning and budgeting process.

IT Governance and Constituent Consultation (.pdf)
IUN Information Technology Organization (.pdf)

Technology Council

The Technology Council is a representative body appointed by the Chancellor for a staggered two-year term. The Technology Council's charge is

IUN Student Technology Fee Committee

The Student Technology Fee Committee is an appointed body of five students (names submitted by the Vice Chancellor for Student Services) and five faculty or academic staff (selected by the Vice Chancellor for Information Technology) charged to advise and review issues pertaining to the use of technology fees collected from IUN students. The committee serves in an advisory capacity to the Vice Chancellor for Information Technology. In addition, the committee's mission, as approved by the Technology Council, is to solicit, review, and select proposals for one-time funding from unallocated Student Technology fees.

Faculty Organization Computer Committee

The Faculty Organization Computer Committee shall review policy and practice with regard to funding, acquisition, and management of computers, computer-related equipment, and computer facilities, and make policy recommendations in these areas. The Chairperson on this committee shall be a member of the Technology Council to provide policy input concerning computers and concerning the Technology Plan of the campus.

This committee acts as a conduit between the faculty and information technology organization to advise on operating issues as they relate to the academic mission of the campus and to determine the software configuration (build) in microcomputer classrooms. Often policy issues are first discussed in this committee and then brought forward to the Technology Council for recommendation and approval by the Chancellor's Cabinet.

Faculty Classroom Teaching and Distributive Education Committee

The Faculty Classroom Teaching and Distributive Education Committee shall provide a forum for the discussion of common and unique educational concerns in such areas and objectives as: Teaching methods and practices; test construction; evaluation; statistical data on teaching; the relationships between teaching, research, and service; and philosophies of education. It shall review policy and make recommendations relevant to classroom technology , distance education, and other technology services. The Chairperson of the committee shall be a member of the Technology Council.

III. Overview of Information Technology Resources (back to top)

Student Technology Centers

There are two Student Technology Centers (STC's) at IUN. Marram Hall 103 is the main STC with the manager's office located there. This STC has adjacent bathrooms, a secure entry, special equipment for our visually impaired students, graphics PCs with scanners, multiple high capacity HP monochrome laser printers, a color laser printer, and is open extended hours. The other STC is located in the Savannah Center room 227. The Marram Hall STC supports Macintosh and IBM compatible Personal Computers and both STC's have multiple high capacity HP laser printers. Funding for the STC's come entirely from Student Technology Fees.

Computer Classrooms

IUN's microcomputer classrooms (IU's Type V Classrooms) are located in Marram Hall, Raintree Hall, Hawthorn Hall, the Library, and at the off-campus Portage Commons site. Each computer classroom has an overhead large display video/data LCD projector, which displays the video signal from the teacher's station on a pull-down screen at the front of the room, and one or more networked HP Laser printers. Funding for all computer classrooms comes entirely from Student Technology Fees.

Multimedia Classroom Technologies

There are a total of 50 classrooms on campus and 3 in Portage currently used for general instruction. Of these, 22 have been converted to use similar fixed multimedia equipment consisting of an instructor's console with a networked computer (Mac or PC), video copy stand and VCR/DVD player. This console is connected to an LCD data/video projector(s) and powered stereo speakers. Each room is secured with a keypad entry locking system. Three classrooms in Marram Hall have a small switcher and both Apple iMacs and Dell SX 270 PC's.

Raintree 102 remains our most advanced technology classroom which has an AMX touch pad to control lights, curtains, sound, instructor access to a rack of equipment including Apple Macintosh computer, VCR, video disc, video copy stand and other equipment as needed.

Mobile Multimedia Presentation Systems

IUN has17 mobile multimedia presentation systems that are available for use in the 50 classrooms on campus. There are 14 PC carts and 3 Apple Macintosh carts. The carts are customized before delivery. Speakers can be added as well as VCR/DVD players and/or video copy stands. There are 13 LCD data/video projectors available to be combined with the above carts as needed. We expect the demand for these mobile systems to decrease as we move toward a fixed multimedia concept.

Distributive Education by Video Teleconferencing

IUN has three rooms equipped for academic video teleconferencing. Hawthorn Hall 338 is the smallest holding a maximum of eight people and is equipped with IP Polycom equipment including a video copy stand, VCR, fax machine, and scan converter for Mac or PC computers.

Hawthorn 318, with a seating capacity of 20, is our most sophisticated facility with three robotically controlled cameras and instructor controlled video copy stand, VCR and a networked Macintosh computer capable of running both Mac and PC operating systems (Virtual PC) and application programs. Advanced technologies including chromakey are available through video staff assistance in the adjacent control room. This DE room can connect via IP Polycom, fiber through Ameritech Advanced Video System (AAVS) as well as ISDN and other routes through IUPUI and IU Bloomington MCU's.

Hawthorn 105 has the largest capacity with 39 seats. It has two 54" monitors in the front of the room with instructor controlled networked computer, video copy stand and VCR. An adjacent control room allows our video staff to make connections via IP Polycom or AAVS and control cameras.

Research Computing

AVIDD (Analysis and Visualization of Instrument-Driven Data) is a distributed computing facility with components at IU Bloomington, IUPUI, and IU Northwest (schematic) designed to process data generated by large scientific instruments. AVIDD opens new doors for research at Indiana University because of its novel design, addressing the full life cycle of data analysis including intake, storage, analysis, and visualization. The implementation of AVIDD is aimed at a great diversity of sciences, including the life sciences, geophysics, atmospheric sciences, physics, and chemistry. There are few, if any, similar efforts in existence today.

There are three aspects of the AVIDD facility that are particularly forward-looking in meeting the coming needs of scientists:

Further details on the AVIDD facility can be found on the AVIDD web site.

Administrative Computing

IUN uses computers as an integral element of all administrative activities, including in the Office of Academic Affairs, The Office of Administration and Finance,and the Office of Information Technology. In Academic Affairs, computers are essential to the scheduling of instructional facilities and A/V equipment, to maintain student records including admissions information, grades, student fees and tuition, and placement data. In Administration and Finance, computers facilitate maintaining financial records, human resources records, physical plant records and work schedules. In Information Technology, computers are used to keep track of Help Desk service requests, maintain web pages, maintain an inventory of personal computers and printers, and provide microcomputer applications training.

The IU system is converting older mainframe-based administrative systems to a series of modules from PeopleSoft and implementing community (open) software. This conversion is being implemented in stages and will take a number of years to complete.

Academic Affairs Support of Scholarship Through Technology

The Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning was established at IUN to encourage and support teacher scholarship through collaboration among the Office of Academic Affairs, the Faculty Organization's Faculty Development Committee and FACET members. The Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning, CETL, began formal operations in the Spring of 2002. The Center is under Academic Affairs and is housed in the Library Conference Center. The Director of the Center reports to the Associate Vice Chancellor of Academic Affairs. CETL has established a Board of Advisors and a Steering Committee to provide faculty input on setting program priorities.

IV. Current Status of Information Technologies (back to top)

At present, IUN has the highest percentage of Apple Macintosh computers of any IU system campus. Each full-time faculty and staff member has their choice of a networked Apple Macintosh or PC desktop computer with laser printing services, e-mail, and access to the Internet via Netscape Navigator and Internet Explorer. As already noted, there are networked computer classrooms in Marram Hall, Raintree Hall, Hawthorn Hall, the Library, and Portage Commons off-campus site. There are Student Technology Centers in Marram Hall and Savannah Center. The Library has a computer reference area on the first floor and an 8 station Cyber cafe. E-mail kiosks are placed in Hawthorn Hall on the first floor, Moraine Student Center, and are planned for the Savannah Student Center first and second floor. IUN creates and maintains web pages and list services for both administrative and instructional use. Through list serve software and e-mail, faculty and staff have the ability to communicate with each other, between departments, within the university, and beyond the university.

Desktops

Faculty and staff members have the ability to use word processing, e-mail, and the Internet through their Apple Macintosh or IBM compatible desktop computers. Some departments have purchased additional computers that are not on life-cycle funding. There are a total of 1,446 computers on campus 571are allocated to faculty and staff through life-cycle funding, 580 are for student use. The remaining 295 computers are either departmentally owned or in inventory for replacement or disposal.

Printers

IUN provides access to networked laser printers for all faculty and staff. There are 70 of these HP LaserJet printers, plus 16 HP Laser printers for students in both STC's and computer classrooms. The faculty and some staff have about 140 individual inkjet printers for confidential printing. Life-cycle funding provides for most faculty and staff laser printing needs. Some departments have purchased additional monochrome or color printers that are not on life-cycle funding.

File Servers

IUN has a small number of applications and file servers located in the machine room. These servers, the associated automated tape librarian backup system, uninterruptible power supplies, and operating software are under life-cycle funding. IUN servers currently provide networking services, Cold Fusion, file storage, and other applications. Some departments have chosen to purchase and support department-specific file servers. IUN houses the AVIDD training computer cluster.

E-mail and Web Services

IUN has both IMAP-based and Microsoft Exchange E-mail provided by centrally housed and maintained UITS servers. IUN pays a per user fee for these services. Students use the IMAP service, staff use Exchange, faculty can choose either but generally use Exchange. Likewise, IUN offers official and personal Web services to our departments, faculty, and students from UITS servers. IUN pays a small fee per user account for e-mail and web hosting.

Networking

IUN is fortunate to have a T-3 (45MBps) primary connection to the Internet and a T-1(1.54MBps) secondary or backup link. These connection allow our campus to enjoy high-speed Internet access and relatively fast access to centrally provided instructional and administrative services. IUN has a small modem pool for local access by students, faculty, or staff.

The wiring supplied to many faculty and staff desktops is Category-3 twisted pair cable capable of 10 MBps speed. There are approximate 1,200 network connections encompassing all networked devices, Because the general health of the twisted pair cable plant is poor to fair a wiring replacement project is underway. An estimate to replace the current wiring with an all Category-5E system is about $500,000 as a turn-key project.

Telecommunications upgraded the network backbone to Gigabit Ethernet and replaced all existing Ethernet hubs with HP 4000 switched Ethernet hubs. This backbone upgrade will ease network problems while IUN rewires the campus.

The main buildings on campus are connected by fiber optic cable in conduits. There is a small amount of multi-mode and single mode optic fiber cable placed between buildings. While this cable is adequate now, there are not sufficient spare fibers in place for any unplanned growth, to provide redundancy, or diverse routing across the campus.

The coaxial cable distribution is largely undocumented. Three .500 (1/2" diameter) hard coaxial cables are placed from Hawthorn Hall to each campus building. These hard coaxial cables are converted to RG-59 or RG-6 inside the buildings for risers and TV drops. The current use of these three cables is to provide distribution of the local Cable Company (Comcast) signal on one cable, to provide an origination capability for each building to the control room in Hawthorn Hall, and to provide baseband video signals on an ad hoc basis between buildings. This video distribution system has never been fully utilized and has fallen into disrepair. This system needs to be re engineered to provide a broadband signal with the proper alignment and amplification. New riser cabling and self-terminating connectors need to be installed. A good estimate for this rehabilitation must wait on determining what the faculty needs are for video distribution. An estimate for a complete rehabilitation of the existing cable plant to commercial standards including alignment and F.C.C. certification would cost about $125,000 - $200,000. An alternative is to convert the CATV system to fiber optic cabling.

Staffing Information Technology Departments

Unfortunately, IT staffing levels are at a critical juncture. Budget reductions, while not unusual at regional campuses, have forced the permanent loss of several microcomputer support positions that are essential in providing and maintaining a high quality of customer service. IUN has consistently been unable to attract and retain qualified technical help at salary levels IUN can afford. IUN pays between one-half to two-thirds of the comparable regional salary for qualified technical help. As a result, most of the staff do not have a formal degree in the IT field and appear to lack sufficient formal training on the equipment and software they are responsible for maintaining. Turnover of the microcomputer support technicians approaches 100%.

Student Technology Fee

The Student Technology Fee was created and approved to provide special funds for student-centered IT needs not addressed by the base campus budget. The Student Technology Fee is assessed each student in accordance with a formula that is tied to their credit hour load. Full-time students pay $80.00 each semester. Part-time students pay a graduated portion of the full-time amount. Fees are collected into a general fund account earmarked for student technology use only. These funds purchase computing equipment in classrooms and Student Technology Centers, mathematical and statistical software, and other miscellaneous student technology related expenses, such as laser toner cartridges and paper. The Student Technology Fee also pays salaries for support technicians, the microcomputer applications trainer,and other persons. Funds remaining at the end of the fiscal year are to be retained in the account for future use. Some remaining funds are used for one-time technology requests from the faculty or academic departments. In the past, this funding has been approved for use in creating the two Student Technology Centers, a Geographic Information Systems lab, the Graphics lab, a Modern Languages lab, technology support of student organizations, and in modernizing various computer classrooms.

Some concern has been expressed about maintaining the Student Technology Fees in a general account rather than a restricted account such as Student Activity Fees. When founded, there was a commitment to students that funds would be reserved for non-base budget student needs. The consensus of the Technology Fee Committee is that it must be restricted or resources will be lost to student-identified needs.This conclusion has been repeatedly confirmed by the Technology Council.

IUN's Academic Facilities Inventory

IU's Bureau of Facilities reports these instructional spaces, which include classrooms, teaching labs, and conference center rooms. To this list, facilities in Portage Commons and in the proposed Professional Building have been added. The original Shared Vision Steering Committee had as one of it's outcomes that ALL classrooms would be conducive to learning. This included appropriate technology, seating, lighting, and air conditioning. The Bureau of Facilities inventory reports the condition of this outcome.

V. Progress on Achieving Goals from the Indiana University Information Technology Strategic Plan (back to top)

The following action items found in the recommendations section of the Indiana University Information Technology Strategic Plan Architecture for the 21st Century: An Information Technology Strategic Plan for Indiana University have direct relevance for the faculty and staff on the IUN campus. Other recommendations also have implications for faculty on the IUN campus, however, these action items listed below and the IUN responses are the primary action items affecting IUN IT directly.

ACTION 1: The University should build life-cycle replacement funding into its planning at every level of investment in information technology (including personal, departmental, and central systems, and network hardware and software); and UITS should develop a life-cycle replacement model to use where needed in conjunction with its investments in information technology. Implementation should begin immediately, with full funding of life-cycle replacement phased in over a fixed number of years.

Response - The Vice Chancellor for Information Technology worked with the OVPIT(Office of the Vice President for Information Technology) staff to develop a methodology for periodic replacement of desktop systems, printers, and centralized file servers with essential ancillary components. Each component of this plan has a discrete life cycle. Initial funding for this plan was split 75% IUN and 25% OVPIT. Any additional equipment will be wholly funded by IUN. This plan was put in effect in time to remediate any Y2K problems. The plan's original funding model is shown below:

Component Quantity Cost Life-Cycle Reserve Amount
Intel PC 372 $386,268 3 years $128,756
Apple Macintosh 100 $188,400 4 years* $47,100
HP Laser printer 27 $37,180 5 years $7,436
HP Inkjet printer 132 $19,800 3 years $4,950
File servers 7 $64,000 5 years $16,000
Peripherals/Software N/A $19,000 N/A $4,750

* Modified to 3-year life-cycle in 2003

ACTION 2: The University should budget a standard amount per year, per FTE to support life-cycle replacement of faculty and staff desktop computers, and to cover the cost of providing local support to that desktop.

Response - This Activity Based Costing model is not implemented at IUN. Funds are not budgeted on a per FTE model for support.

ACTION 3: The University's stock of computers should be systematically modernized so that they are all capable of supporting current releases of widely-used software, Web access, and other basic tasks of computation and communication.

Response - This has been accomplished under Action 1.

ACTION 4: The University should review the market compensation levels for qualified IT professionals at each campus and in their surrounding communities, and seek to make compensation competitive with employment alternatives, within the context of overall University salary goals.

Response - This Market Basket competitive analysis and subsequent compensation adjustment of IT staff has not been addressed or accomplished at IUN.

ACTION 5: Response - The University should provide students, faculty and staff with reliable access to computing, data storage, information and network services, on the campuses and off.

Response - This Action is not fully accomplished at IUN. Access on campus is reliable. Off-campus access is limited to a small number of modems. Most students, faculty, and staff use a personal Internet Service Provider (ISP) for access to campus computing resources. IUN continues to look for an ISP that will offer special pricing to students, faculty, and staff across our service area. IU has many services open to web access which providing easy access and reliability to those services.

ACTION 8: Schools across the University should be encouraged to provide more resources for maintenance and training for departmental and school computing environments. They should work creatively and in collaboration with UITS to train, retain and distribute knowledgeable individuals to maintain distributed server and desktop systems (UNIX, NT, MacOS, etc.).

Response - This action is up to individual IUN departments and schools to accomplish. Currently there are five departments or schools providing some computing resources to their students.

ACTION 10: The University should continue to support the efforts to educate and certify IT professionals in needed functional areas of the profession. These programs should be expanded to reach a wider University audience, especially on the IUPUI and regional campuses.

Response - An attempt to train and certify IT staff technicians was begun, but resulted in every newly certified technician leaving IUN for other employment. IT employees are encouraged to request specific formal training. Employee requests for training are almost always granted.

ACTION 11: The Teaching and Learning Technology Lab and the Center for Teaching & Learning should be expanded, and new services developed where needed, to offer a standard level of teaching support services for all faculty at IUB, IUPUI, and the regional campuses.

Response - The Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs has a faculty development program called the Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning with one-half time faculty and one-half time staff to assist faculty in improving their technology skills. This center provides pedagogy support for the Oncourse CMS. The Vice President for Information Technology and CIO has provided matching funds for a technical position to support increased use of technology.

ACTION 21: Beginning immediately, all planning and renovation of classrooms and other teaching spaces should evaluate and incorporate information technology needs. The costs of information technology identified in prior planning efforts as well as future efforts, should be fully base funded to provide for acquiring and installing equipment, as well as for maintenance, repair, life-cycle replacement, and support.

Response - UITS and IUN administration have an agreement to fund classroom improvements. UITS has agreed to provide up to $321,000 in modernization and base funds for classroom renovations. IUN has not provided any supplemental funds for classroom improvements above current operating budget amounts. The cost to provide classroom technology equipment under a life-cycle concept was included in the agreement.

ACTION 47: The University as a whole and the campuses individually should establish base funding for the life-cycle replacement and ongoing development of telecommunications services and infrastructure.

Response - The telephone system is managed as an auxiliary enterprise. The replacement cost for the telephone switch, call accounting system, voice mail system, wiring, and telephones are included in monthly telephone charges. The data communication network has recently been provided $75,000 per year in life-cycle funds from the IUN budget. The budget model for the data network life-cycle funding is:

Component Cost Life-Cycle Reserve Amount
Network Electronics $250,000 5 years $50,000
Network Wiring $500,000 20 years $25,000

VI. Progress on Achieving Campus Goals for Information Technology (back to top)

2010 Shared Vision Outcome 9

"IUN is a recognized leader in northwest Indiana in using technology to support excellence in learning, scholarship, and student services".  In order to achieve this outcome the following individual actions are planned.

Support for Excellence in Learning

1. Completion of Shared Vision Conducive Classroom Committee Goals

2. Network Improvements

3. Expansion of Student Computing

4. Expand use of Oncourse by faculty and students.

Support for Excellence in Scholarship

1. Expand use of advanced computing facilities such as AVIDD.

2. Expand use of technology by faculty.

Support for Excellence in Student Services

1. Expand use of Onestart Portal.

2. Expand use of Student Information System (SIS).

2. Expand use of Student Web Sites.

 
 
[an error occurred while processing this directive]