Information technology, Georgia. University System of Georgia. Board of Regents. Office of Information and Instructional Technology

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May - July 1995: Volume 7, Number 1
Contents
z From the Vice Chancellor z Update: Connecting Teachers and Technology z Georgia Awarded Postsecondary Educational Grant z Zenith Selected as Workstation Vendor for Library Initiative z BANNER News z Ring Around Georgia z Sneak Preview: University System Annual Computing Conference
From the Vice Chancellor
*** The Division of Business and Finance Systems (BFS) has completed development and testing of an interface to allow the transfer of data from the BANNER Student System to the CUFA accounting system. The interface, tested at Brunswick College and Armstrong State College, automates the process of posting registration receipts, withdrawal refunds, and financial aid disbursements into the accounting system.
*** The component of Connecting Students and Services initiative related to BANNER is being reviewed to determine the most effective way to implement each of the individual parts. The EPOS Voice Response System was chosen for automated phone registration. Other enhancements include FOCUS, BannerQuest, and EDI Smart. More information will be announced as it becomes available.
*** EDP audits have been completed at Georgia Southern University, Fort Valley State College, and BFS central support. Preliminary results are encouraging, with recommendations indicating certain needed improvements in internal procedures. The findings will be incorporated into the disaster recovery plan, recently developed for standard financial systems.
*** The OIIT has established a new contract with Oracle Corporation. The contract, Network Server Option (NSO), allows for enterprise computing: the capability for distributing users across multiple servers. Instead of purchasing software licenses for each server, the licenses are purchased one time, and a server fee is assessed for the number of servers that contain the RDBMS.
*** Within the next few months, the business administration functions of OIIT will be moved from Cochran to Atlanta. We want to acknowledge Ms. Janet Kirkpatrick and Ms. Monica Holder and thank them for their valuable service in the Cochran office. We would also like to acknowledge Middle Georgia College for its support of OIIT.
*** Ms. Julia Perren has been selected to fill the new position of Director of Administration in OIIT. Ms. Perren had worked in the business office at Southern Tech, in the budget office of the Board of Regents, and for the last two years as software Support Manager in BFS.
*** Ms. Lina Brennan will fill the position of Software Support Manager in BFS. Ms. Brennan had worked in BFS from 1985-1992 and has extensive experience in supporting the standard CUFA accounting system and the Regents

budget reporting system.
J.B. Mathews, Vice Chancellor
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Update: Connecting Teachers and Technology
by Kris Biesinger, OIIT
Some components of the Connecting Teachers and Technology Initiative are well underway. A brief update on several of the subsections of the initiative follows.
Faculty Development
Sixty-one faculty from the thirty-four System institutions, plus Skidaway Institute of Oceanography, have been selected as participants for the faculty development workshop, which will be held from August 20-September 1, 1995. During this two-week period, faculty will be involved in activities which prepare them to integrate a variety of technologies into instruction: key presentations, demonstrations, hands-on training seminars, electronic discussions and sharing, and project development. The workshop will be held at the Georgia Center for Continuing Education in Athens. aculty will be expected to integrate active learning strategies and various technology tools into an existing course that can be offered winter quarter. In addition, they will be expected to partner with other faculty interested in using technology to support instruction.
Instructional Technology Specialist Position
Each campus has been notified that it will receive funding to hire an instructional technology support specialist, effective August 1, 1995. This funding ensures that each campus will have at least one person responsible for troubleshooting equipment problems, determining compatibility between hardware and software, handling scheduling of electronic classrooms, managing electronic classroom facilitators, and training and supporting faculty who use technology to deliver instruction.
Campuses were provided some flexibility in hiring. Those that already have such a specialist on campus may define a different position, but one supporting instructional technology. Those with additional campus funding may expand the existing description. Approved residence centers may receive position funding upon request.
Technology Classroom
All institutions and centers will receive funding up to $90,000 for a technology classroom. Campuses have been asked to identify the type of classroom to be installed-two-way interactive video (GSAMS) or computer. Institutions with only one GSAMS installation are expected to install a second; institutions with two, may vary the type of installation. Universities will receive two new installations. Residence Centers may submit a request for a GSAMS installation if they have none or for either type of installation if they already have one two-way interactive video room. A summary of the Connecting Teachers and Technology Initiative may be found on the University System Web within the Board of Regents section.
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Georgia Awarded Postsecondary Educational Grant
In January 1995, Georgia was one of three pilot states to join the SHEEO/FIPSE (State Higher Education Executive Officers/Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education) grant project, "Gaining State Commitment to a Redesigned Delivery System." The following article describing the Georgia project is reprinted with permission from Redesign, the newsletter of the State Higher Education Executive Officers.
Georgia Funding Policies for Distance Learning

A conjunction of funding sources for educational telecommunications has given Georgia an enormous opportunity to tap technology's potential for extending access and improving student learning.
The Georgia Lottery program, the Distance Learning and Telemedicine Fund, and a $50 million refund from telephone companies have enabled Georgia to expand its technology infrastructure within and among the 34 institutions in the University System of Georgia (USG) and within the state as a whole.
The new information infrastructure in Georgia will provide access to a variety of information resources and services from almost anywhere. Included will be television (broadcast and two-way), voice, data, video, and multi-media. USG will from now on treat technology as "infrastructure" rather than as opportunistic embellishment and will develop more routine methods of resource allocation and management.
Before the full educational benefits of this infrastructure can be realized, however, USG must address many policy areas. For example, educational structures, resources, and services will need to be reorganized based on the productive deployment of these tools.
USG created a University Committee on Distance Learning and Instructional Technology in fall 1994. With FIPSE project support, this committee will develop policy to govern the financing and costing structures associated with offering distance learning programs. Areas of fiscal policy to be addressed include operational funding, legislative budget requests, separate tuition/fee structures, standards for cost justification, and budget incentives for institutions.
Georgia will hold a multi-state meeting designed to help and to learn from other states also developing fiscal policy to support distance learning and instructional technology. An additional outcome of the project will be a documented process or "road map" that other states might consider when embarking on a similar redesign process.
Anyone wanting more information may contact Dr. Joan Elifson, interim Senior Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs, at 404-657-6674.
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Zenith Selected as Workstation Vendor for Library Initiative
Zenith has been selected as the workstation vendor for the statewide library initiative. As a result of negotiations, Zenith will offer the library workstation configuration to University System institutions at the special price offered in the original initiative contract. Available on the state microcomputer contract, the pricing will be effective from July 1, 1995 through August 31, 1995, for a minimum order of twenty-five units per institution.
In addition to the library workstation packages, Zenith has added two multimedia packages to the state contract. These may also be ordered during the sixty-day window, twenty-five minimum order per institution.
Vendors also supplied pricing for multimedia machines with a CD-ROM. The lowest multimedia pricing was offered by Apple Computer, Inc. Even though the library steering committee did not adopt that configuration, Apple is extending the offer to institutions participating in the systemwide CPP1 program beginning June 10, 1995, with no fixed expiration (excludes the University of Georgia, Georgia Southern, the Medical College of Georgia, Georgia Tech, and Georgia State, which have individual agreements). The minimum order from Apple per institution is three units.
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BANNER News
by Dan Shealy, OIIT
Approximately half of the BANNER student system training offered by OIIT to schools in group one (Brunswick College, Clayton State College, Fort Valley State College, Georgia Southern University, Valdosta State University, and West Georgia College) is complete, and classes for institutions in group two (Bainbridge College, Dalton College, Darton College, Floyd College, Macon College, and Savannah State College) have begun. Group one

institutions are well into the implementation cycle and are currently learning BANNER functionality, reviewing institutional policies and procedures, and integrating business practices into the BANNER system. Group two institutions are not far behind. Most have finished their implementation plan and are now fully underway with the project. All institutions are addressing typical issues, such as technical readiness, staffing, functional training, division of responsibilities, system integration, policy issues, and project management.
BANNER 2.0 Registration Brunswick College
Brunswick College tested a full year's registration data at one time with the BANNER system by simulating an actual registration for each quarter. On Wednesday, June 21, Brunswick went live, registering students for summer 1996. During a three-day period, over 1300 students were registered. Some of the tasks that Brunswick accomplished included on-line fee assessment, refunding (handling part-of-term), printing of schedules and bills, taking payments, and placing holds. Brunswick decentralized registration allowing students to go to their advisor's office to register.
Armstrong College
Armstrong had a live registration for summer quarter during the week of June 19. In spite of some technical difficulty, all students were registered through the system, and registration was completed on time.
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Ring Around Georgia
by Fred Dyer, OIIT
Personnel from the Georgia Center for Advanced Telecommunications Technology (GCATT), a division of the Georgia Research Alliance which is a research and economic development partnership of government, education, and industry; the Office of Information and Instructional Technology (OIIT); and the Georgia Department of Administrative Services (DOAS) are cooperating with the Economic Development Institute and others to develop the foundation for a statewide information infrastructure, Ring Around Georgia.
The Ring Around Georgia project will develop a plan for offering every Georgia community access to an advanced telecommunications infrastructure. The project will address governmental and commercial needs. Ring Around Georgia organizers are currently meeting with civic leaders and providers of telecommunications services to gather information on networking solutions and to promote concerted use of municipal, state, and commercial networks to extend the benefits of new network technologies.
Project funding comes from the National Telecommunications and Information Administration, with matching funds provided by the Georgia Board of Regents and DOAS. Further information may be obtained by way of the World Wide Web at http://eagle.gcatt.gatech.edu:80/ring/ring.html.
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Sneak Preview: University System Annual Computing Conference
by Marie Lasseter, OIIT
October and the University System Annual Computing Conference at Rock Eagle may seem light years away for those of you enjoying summertime activities, but staffers at the Office of Information and Instructional Technology (OIIT) have autumn on our minds. Preparations for this year's conference are well underway, and a sense of excitement is stirring as plans are made for the event.
The presentations of this year's conference, Your Technology Makeover! DOs and DON'Ts, demonstrate the knowledge and expertise of University System faculty and staff and vendors who offer products for higher education. Sessions, in general, focus on insights gained from implementing computer usage in innovative ways.

Approximately 65 presentation proposals have been accepted. Here are some highlights.
The theme is reflected in sessions which offer the benefit of hindsight to those of us who may find ourselves facing the same challenges as the presenters. Sessions will cover a broad range of topics, such as problems and solutions encountered in integrating e-mail into classroom instruction, experiences gained by implementing the PALS serials module, and the use of the Internet as an information resource in the classroom. You will hear how one university site learned through trial and error to set up a functional and effective high-tech classroom and the issues related to the use of the room. The presenters of these sessions offer insightful suggestions regarding the problems and solutions encountered in attempting to implement technology in traditional situations.
A too-familiar topic deals with keeping up with rapidly changing technology. The abstract for this session suggests tips for support personnel, including methods for supporting software and hardware that someone has never used nor ever seen before. Several sessions will address networking topics, such as converting servers from 3.x to Netware 4.1 and current networking standards which affect classroom educators and administrators.
If your interests lie in Internet applications, whether from the end user's point of view or from an administrator's role, you won't want to miss the following sessions about the benefits of using Linux as a platform for serving Gopher and World Wide Web (WWW) information to the Internet and how to implement an inexpensive e-mail and Usenet News server for your campus. Some sessions will discuss the successful integration of computer-mediated communications into classroom instruction using various Internet tools. One session offers a discussion related to adapting existing courses to the WWW, using it as a vehicle to explore communications in high-tech environments for publishing student work.
If you have concerns about campus computer ethics policies, you may want to attend the sessions describing how to establish a campus-wide policy on computer ethics and security issues. One session will offer instructional materials and suggestions related to designing a systematic approach to teaching social and ethical issues in computer science classes.
A topic of interest to all units of the University System is the discussion of issues related to the Statewide Library Initiative. The enhancement of Georgia's libraries will provide a range of information resources, including electronic full-text sources. Those in the know will discuss and demonstrate this exciting new resource.
As the instructional technology applications of computer technology expand rapidly, there is an increasing need for topics addressing the uses of computer-mediated instruction. Educators from all disciplines are increasingly developing computer-assisted classroom instructional materials. Examples of sessions which address these issues include the use of educational technology training for pre-service teacher education, implementing Internet resources into an instructional program for undergraduate political science majors, using e-mail applications in English courses, and the innovative use of computers in a sea turtle conservation research program. The experiences of these presenters promise to generate lively discussion and ideas for the further enhancement of computer-mediated communications in instruction.
No technology conference would be complete without sessions related to the use of multimedia applications. A sampling of proposed topics includes demonstrations of multimedia and authoring software packages, the hardware and software components of successful interactive multimedia instruction, and multimedia presentations from start to finish.
We hope this sampling of proposed sessions for the conference has piqued your interest. Registration brochures will be mailed September 1 along with a schedule and further descriptions of sessions. The conference is scheduled for Wednesday through Friday, October 25-27, 1995. Dr. Richard A. Skinner, president of Clayton State College, will present this year's keynote address.
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