Archive for June 2018

Desktop computers without DVD players are here

by Anonymous in ,

With the rise in popularity of smaller computing devices manufacturers are building computers that are lighter and less expensive.  One tradeoff with this trend is the elimination of CD/DVD drives.  If you use a computer that does not have a built-in DVD drive but you need one, please contact Dawn Canfield who can arrange a loaner DVD drive for you.


We are currently running a pilot of DVD-less computers in the Del Norte classrooms.  The new instructor machines in this building are small form factor computers mounted directly behind the monitors and they do not have DVD drives.   We’d very much like instructor feedback on these machines to help us plan for the future.  Please send your comments (and/or requests for external DVD players if necessary) to Dawn Canfield.

Monthly Bulletin May 2018

by Anonymous in ,

Our monthly bulletin provides a summary of the Division of Technology & Innovation's activities & accomplishments.

Teaching and Learning Innovations/Academic Technology

  • Media production services is very busy creating support resources with Learning Research Center, PEEPs, Public Safety and more. 
  • Launched ALLY in Canvas. ALLY is a tool to check with accessible materials. It also provides help in fixing inaccessible materials. See http://ally.ac/ to learn more.
  • Integrated Zoom with ShareStream. ShareStream is our internal media streaming service. 
  • 10 Faculty participating in Blended Learning Summer Institute
  • 25 Faculty starting Online Teaching Preparation Program
  • Received funding ($15,000) from Chancellor's Office to continue our work around Quality Assurance in Online/Blended Courses
  • Received funding ($9,000) from Chancellor's Office to support the Chief Innovation Office in developing a badging program.
  • Received funding from Chancellor's Office to continue openCI efforts ($15,000).

User Services

  • Solicited input on software required for teaching in classrooms and labs for Fall 2018.
  • Supported testing of the new document imaging system (FileFlow) and ID card system (Badge pass).
  • Supported commencement by configuring workstations in Aliso 150 and Trinity 1501 for live stream. Three user services staff members provided on-site, day-of support in the live stream rooms, at the EOC, and in the “Welcome” booths.
  • Began a demo period and feasibility study on the potential effect of providing a cloud-printing service as an alternative to Pharos printing.

Project Management

  • New electronic document management and workflow system "CI FileFlow" is live as of 5/29/2018. Go live date was pushed from last week due to some unexpected issues with data migration, which required re-import and re-indexing. Over 500,000 student enrollment-related documents have been migrated successfully from Hershey Singularly into CI FileFlow, powered by Perceptive Content from Hyland Software.  
  • Working with Infrastructure team to launch new Microsoft spam filtering service in replacement of Ironport. Expected go-live for replacement system is June 15. T&I team is piloting the new system with T&I staff and preparing communication to the campus about the forthcoming change. 
  • Working with Information Security team on rollout plan & communication for PhishMe spam training and user education program. PhishMe helps improve the digital citizenship of University employees by teaching them to identify and avoid phishing emails though simulated phishing attempts. Several divisions will participate in the program pilot, expected to commence in late June. 
  • New urgent project required by Chancellor's Office (CO's) for systemwide compliance with environmental health & safety and chemical inventory management is set to begin in June. T&I was only notified of this project by EH&S in May. Risk & Safety Solutions (https://riskandsafetysolutions.com/) will provide each campus with two applications designed to improve laboratory safety: a Laboratory Hazard Assessment Tool (LHAT) for enabling Principal Investigators (PIs) to conduct a hazard assessment relevant to their research environment to ensure that lab personnel are properly protected in their work environment; and Inspect, a customizable mobile inspection tool for safety inspections. T&I is gathering information about the CO's requirements and implementation timeline. 
  • Final draft of the spring 2018 major project review cycle (for projects set to start or continue between 6/1 and 12/31/2018) has been sent to the IT Policy & Planning Committee, and is available here for review. Next major project review cycle (fall 2018, for projects set to start or continue 1/1/2019 - 5/31/2019) is scheduled to open on 6/1/2018. 

Infrastructure

  • Assisted with Commencement
  • Mediated issues after uninterruped power supply (UPS) failure in Ojai Hall Data Center
  • Assisted with finalization of cutover from old ID Card program (ID Works) to new BadgePass system
  • Setup new SMTP server path for mail relaying; part of migrating from Ironport spam protection to Exchange Online, which is expected to go-live in June.
  • Working to bring groupshares to on-premise storage and off of cloud-based Storsimple

Web Services

  • ​Deployed new walking tour within CSUCI's interactive campus map
  • New urgent project required by the Chancellor's Office (CO) to replace the search engine for the CSUCI web site. The CSU has selected SearchBlox (https://www.searchblox.com/) as the replacement for Google Search Appliance (in use for over 10 years). The Google Search Appliance is scheduled to be decommissioned on July 1st. Web Services team members will be attending training on SearchBlox in mid-June.