Internet bandwidth increase

Wireless network upgrade and improvements

Virtual desktop infrastructure pilot

Exchange server and Outlook Web Access 2013—now in place

User Services/Help Desk—help for faculty and staff

Residential Networking—help for students

Ellucian Colleague SQL conversion update

Adoption of Ellucian Recruiter

Ellucian Go—University of Redlands mobile application

Internet security—avoiding phishing

Password change process

Alertus and Bulldog Alert System

Moodle—our learning management system

Integration of library research guides into Moodle

Technology enabled classroom update

Skype-ready classrooms

Response cards (clickers) in the classroom

Document cameras in the classroom

Sustainability efforts continue with print quota

Off campus access

Spatial thinking expands with undergraduate minor

Connecting to e-mail on your smartphone

iPad loaner program for faculty

Employee update

Welcome to Information Technology Services

With much enthusiasm, Information Technology Services (ITS) brings to you this edition of the Information Technology News. During this past year, ITS has made many additions, as well as improvements, to the technology infrastructure and services that are critical to the function of University of Redlands. Our mission is to provide a high quality and comprehensive technological environment. This newsletter is just one avenue we use to highlight the many projects completed by ITS in this past year.

A few project highlights include:

- The development of the Center for Digital Learning, opening during fall semester, will give faculty members a place to experiment and create a variety of media elements geared toward enhancing teaching and learning.

- The creation of Skype-ready classrooms allowing faculty members to bring in subject-matter experts into their classrooms virtually.

- The increase in bandwidth to the main campus and to the regional campuses allowing for faster access to resources, both on and off the campus.

- Establishment of a virtual desktop computing lab which uses technology called a “thin client.” The thin client accesses a server which delivers back the look and functionality of a traditional computer.

- The conversion of an additional six classrooms across campus to technology enabled classrooms (TEC). Additional classroom conversions will be completed during the fall semester.

We thank you in advance for your continued support as we work to improve both the services we provide and the technology infrastructure we support. If you have suggestions and/or recommendations, please do not hesitate to contact me at extension 8303 or by e-mail at hamid_etesamnia@redlands.edu.

— Hamid Etesamnia

Center for Digitial Learning

The new Center for Digital Learning (CDL) will be open during the fall semester.  The CDL is an outcome of the recommendations made by the President’s Task Force on Online Learning established at University of Redlands in Fall 2012. A charge of the task force was to advance our strategic interests and plans for developing online and/or blended courses and programs, with an initial focus on the professional Schools of Business, Education, and Continuing Studies that serve primarily adult working students.

To provide an effective infrastructure for the infusion of technology into existing teaching, as well as the development of online and hybrid offerings, the Center for Digital Learning (CDL) is being established in the Fletcher Jones Foundation Computer Center, room 116. The CDL is a place where faculty members will be able to envision and create educational learning elements. The CDL will be staffed by a full-time instructional designer. The instructional designer, when hired, will assist in the creation of media elements that meet the defined learning objectives of the faculty members. 

With the support of the instructional designer, the CDL has been designed with these capabilities: video recording studio, video editing station, and a video conferencing room.

There will also be check-out equipment for faculty members who wish to develop learning elements in locations other than the CDL. Our “take and make” solution features a PC laptop, camera, headset, and a copy of Camtasia, a top tool for creating screen recordings, voice-over PowerPoint files, and more. There will be five of these “take and make” set-ups for check-out.

The goal of the CDL is to support various pedagogical models including the flipped classroom. Gaining elevated attention in higher education, a flipped classroom is a “pedagogical model in which the typical lecture and homework elements of a course are reversed. Short video lectures are viewed by students at home before the class session, while in-class time is devoted to exercises, projects, or discussions” (Educause, 2012). The CDL will provide the necessary tools and support to create video clips that may be used to augment instruction, thereby giving faculty members the means to explore and implement the flipped classroom model.

For more information, contact Catherine Walker at extension 8321 or Shariq Ahmed at extension 8352.

Source: Educause. (2012). 7 things you should know about flipped classrooms. Retrieved from http://net.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/eli7081.pdf