Coffee cake and computer upgrades will go hand-in-hand at the “What’s New in OIT, Spring 2014” event Wednesday.
The Office of Information Technology encourages students and faculty to stop by Baker Room 240-242 between 9 a.m. and noon to learn about the new technology being implemented throughout Ohio University.
“It’s all morning, people can walk in whenever you want and there will be techs there who know about all the new services.” said Sean O’Malley, information technology communications director.
O’Malley also talked about the three breakout sessions planned for the event:
9 a.m. - Qualtrics online survey tool
10 a.m. - Telephone upgrades and WebEX
11 a.m. - Blackboard upgrade
The breakout sessions highlight the biggest improvements and additions OIT is implementing.
Qualtrics, a new service being made available to everyone, allows students and faculty to create powerful online surveys quickly and easily. These surveys might look familiar to some, as some colleges were using the tool previously.
In addition, all eligible telephones throughout campus are being replaced by newer voice-over Internet protocol units. Phones such as elevator emergency phones, fire alarm panels and fax machines will not be eligible for the upgrade.
The new phones have a host of new features, such as allowing faculty to video call each other from their office phones in a similar manner to Skype.
Students will also see new technology updates in the form of a new Blackboard interface, O’Malley said.
The class management system is being upgraded this summer to Service Pack 13, bringing a modern look for the outdated system. Professors will also notice upgraded content management and grading systems.
These changes are a welcome sight for some students.
“I think (Blackboard) isn’t uniform enough from class to class.” said Megan Molnar, a sophomore studying English and French. “I also don’t know if my assignments are ever submitted. You don’t get a preview of your work, just a standard message which isn’t always clear.”
The Blackboard update will fix some, but not all, of these issues.
“The biggest thing that faculty and students will notice is that it now uses a Facebook-ish menu system,” O’Malley said. “You have a little red button with your notifications, and that’s how you navigate through your courses. It’s pretty cool.”
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