SUFFOLK COUNTY COMMUNITY COLLEGE
COLLEGE COMPUTING COUNCIL
MINUTES
March 7, 2014
1:30 p.m., Distance Education Rooms
Members Present:
Paul Basileo, Steve Clark, Christopher Conzen, Davorin Dujmovic,
Ed Hassildine, Liz Foley, Joseph Gansrow, Troy Hahn, Nina Leonhardt, Susan
Lieberthal, Faye Lourenso, Jeffrey Pedersen, Steve Rios, Gary Ris, Jane Shearer
Members Absent:
Nicholas Bosco, Denise D’Ambrosia, Pete DiGregorio, Cheryl Eldredge, David
Quinn, Helen Wittmann,
Representatives
Present:
Grzegorz Fabiszewski, Susan Gambale o/b/o Gail Vizzini, Laura Levine, Alicia
O’Connor o/b/o Louis Petrizzo, Drew Rabinowitz
I. Minutes
a) The minutes from the previous meetings held on October 11, 2013 and
December 6, 2013 were approved.
II. Campus Computing Council and Technology Deans Reports
a. Ammerman Campus – No Report
b. East Campus – No Report
c. Grant Campus – Joseph Gansrow
a) BlackBoard
(1) Will there be student workshops?
(i) The Grant Campus Computing Council’s inquiry
on this topic is discussed in Section IV. Old Business,
g. BlackBoard conversion status, c).
(2) Formats of student documents
(i) The Grant Campus Computing Council’s inquiry
on this topic is discussed in Section IV. Old Business,
g. BlackBoard conversion status, d).
b) Faculty Technology Guide
(1) The final draft is close to completion and will be circulated
among the three campuses by the close of the academic year.
(2) GR explained that the guide is needed in the summer for
Faculty Orientation and suggested recommending the guide to
Troy Hahn for inclusion in D2L and BlackBoard.
d. Technology Dean’s Report - No Report
III. Subcommittee Reports
a. Academic Computing Subcommittee – No Report
b. Standards Subcommittee – Steve Clark o/b/o Peter DiGregorio
a) Electronic Classrooms Pilot Project
(1) In response to a charge to develop standards for the
electronic classrooms, solutions were presented to the Standards
Subcommittee.
(a) Extron Pole Vault and Wall Mount systems were
chosen by unanimous vote of the Standards
Subcommittee.
(b) The use of White Board Paint was presented to
the committee as an possible alternative to the use of
whiteboards. A discussion ensued regarding a pilot to
test the use of white board paint. SC explained that
whiteboard paint is applied to an entire wall after some
preparation to provide additional space for writing as
well as the ability to be projected upon, allowing users
some flexibility within the area. Since it is paint, when
the area needs refreshing it simply gets repainted
instead of reinstalling a new white board. More
research is needed to determine if this is feasible in all
areas and how much preparation will be necessary.
Faculty teaching in the pilot classrooms will be
surveyed and a report will be provided to the
committee.
(c) The committee agreed to the recommended use of
these standards for the pilot classrooms, to move
forward with faculty feedback, and report back to the
CCC the findings of the pilot project and a plan of how
they will proceed.
(2) Phasing out of VCR and DVD units
(a) The proposal of the Standards Subcommittee to
no longer purchase VCR and DVD units and, as they
fail, to not replace them, was presented to the CCC. A
discussion ensued resulting in the agreement that the
Head Librarians would meet and discuss this proposal
and report back to the CCC.
c. Student Technology Fee Subcommittee – Paul Basileo
a) The committee did not meet. The next STF Subcommittee meeting will
be scheduled prior to the next CCC meeting.
b) STF Purchases delayed
(1) New account codes were issued by the Purchasing area for
fixed assets below $5,000 causing STF purchases to be delayed.
The STF requested that the Purchasing area advise departments of
these types of changes prior to their going into effect.
c) STF funds allocated for Capital Project report requested
(1) PB requested that the CCC Chair follow up on STF requests
for an itemized list from Facilities Management of what the STF
funds are intended to cover and what the time frame of the
intended expenditures will be for the new Science and Technology
building classrooms.
(a) PB will forward copies of the previous requests to
GR for follow up.
d. Training Subcommittee – Nina Leonhardt
a) The committee did not meet.
b) VMware Training
(1) The committee is working on plans for the VMware training
in June. We are looking at June 3, 4, & 5. The approximate cost
of training sixteen people has been provided to VP Vizzini. Three
quotes have been obtained and a proposal package will be
forwarded to VP Vizzini and the committee members involved.
e. Networking Services/ Wireless Subcommittee –Steve Clark
a) ISP and Voice Upgrades
(1) The committee met and discussed the status of the ISP and
Voice upgrades. The cable and infrastructure builds are at
approximately 65% completion. The Eastern campus will be
completed today and Selden will be completed next week. At this
point all the cable will be in place and then some equipment will
be installed. Once the equipment is installed, a test of both the
intercampus links and the voice systems prior to cut over will be
performed. The anticipated target of spring break is not attainable
so all testing will be done during, and a few weeks following,
spring break.
(2) The SUNYnet redundancy connection is in place. We are
now waiting for SUNY to build a tunnel. Following a meeting
with SUNY next week, the secondary component is expected to be
in place.
b) Video On Demand (VOD) Library Pilot Project
(1) The pilot is on target and will meet March 11th to discuss
changes to the pilot project plan such as the addition of two
licenses for specific courseware. This should provide enough time
and enough material to produce a fair assessment. SC requested
that the Library committee build an acceptable use policy and
within that policy reference that it is not guaranteed throughput,
and we are not guaranteed to have a connection to those remote
sites. The committee will begin working on a notation and report
back.
c) NAC and ISE
(1) The Networking Subcommittee discussed the possibility of
Active Directory Trust being used for a dump of the Student
database into the domains that the educational side currently uses.
There were a number of different points and questions that were
raised so it was decided to form a subcommittee to the
subcommittee and discuss it further. This new subcommittee will
be comprised of the ETU coordinators, one strong Active
Directory person from the ETU on each campus, the Computer
Center, Networking and Telecommunications, and hopefully a
representative from Desktop Support and will evaluate and review
any problems that may occur with students signing in at the
desktop using Active Directory.
(a) GR requested that IT meet and report back to the
group with a possible schedule and timetable.
d) New Web VPNs
(1) The Networking Subcommittee showcased the new Web
VPNs during the last meeting and a number of questions arose
regarding sharing files, manipulating files, using customized web
interface, etc. A newer VPN platform is in place for continued
testing however, it is not ready for production. SC offered to
showcase it to CCC members. It was agreed upon that interested
members would stay to view the showcase following the meeting.
f. Policy Subcommittee – No report.
g. Planning Subcommittee - Gary Ris
a) The Planning Subcommittee’s report on this topic is discussed in Section
IV. Old Business.
IV. Old Business
a. Student Computing Webpage – Gary Ris
a) Resources were limited for setting up the Student Computing Webpage in
the RedDot environment due to the new portal going live. GR projected
approximately two weeks until this could be completed.
b. Faculty Technology Guide
a) The link to the Faculty Technology Guide has been removed and a
message has been posted is in its place to notify users that a new guide is
under development. The link can be revitalized upon completion of the new
Faculty Technology Guide.
c. Campus SAN Installation Status
a) DE and Networking will meet to discuss a software configuration within
the month.
d. iTunes/Enhanced YouTube –Troy Hahn
a) Enhanced YouTube use is okay for now. Evaluation of Enhanced
YouTube will begin once the work with BlackBoard has been completed.
e. NAC / ISE Status – Steve Clark
a) This topic is discussed in Section III. Subcommittee Reports, e.
Networking Services, c).
f. Homework software not working in the browsers
a) DD reported that the issue was primarily a browser issue and is mostly
resolved now that IE 10 has been installed. There remain a few issues with
different publishers that are becoming apparent and we do not know if it is
campus wide or if it’s just a lead to particular machines or things of that
nature. DD will present the inquiry at the Grant Campus Computing Council
meeting in April to determine if there are any other important issues.
g. Blackboard conversion status - Troy Hahn
a) A newsletter will be distributed to all the online, web enabled and hybrid
learner classes pertaining to training updates which explains that all training is
available through the new portal. These training sessions are limited to fifteen
seats so we ask everyone to go through the sign up process. Sessions have
been held on each campus alternating between the three campuses every
week. Weekly one hour Q&A training sessions for people who have been to a
training session and have questions, will be held Wednesdays on the
Ammerman campus and will be broadcast in the Distance Education
classrooms.
b) Concern over BlackBoard updates and security patches
(1) ITEC recently ran an update without providing notification to
SCCC rendering students in the BlackBoard pilot unable to access
BlackBoard for a six hour window. TH is currently working with
other institutions and ITEC to address the necessity of ITEC
sending an alert or an update patch schedule to avoid future
occurrences.
c) BlackBoard training for students
(1) Student training will be offered but cannot be forced. Ideas
to encourage faculty to include it in their syllabus are being looked
at to encourage students to go through this training.
d) Students not using standard formatting when submitting work
(1) TH responded to the inquiry of the possibility of having
instructions posted on the D2L &/or BlackBoard homepage that
talks to students about submitting in certain in certain standards,
that this could be included in the training. A discussion ensued
and concluded in agreement that this should be the faculty’s
responsibility due to certain curriculum requiring unique formats.
V. Tabled for future discussion:
a. Technology Plan
b. Print Management Software / NAC Authentication – Academic Computing
Subcommittee – ETUs (Awaiting NAC / ISE implementation)
VI. New Business
a. New email storage capacity
a) JG asked what the new email size is. GR responded that it is now 2G.