Higher Ed Tech Sessions at CES - Wrap Up

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By Eric Neumann on January 9, 2010 12:59 AM 0 0 Vote 0 Votes
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Today was a day filled with various sessions surrounding higher education technology.  Many sessions focused on how technology plays a role in higher education and how can we as educators and professionals harness the power of technology to augment the learning style and not necessarily replace it.

Many of the sessions carried similar themes about integrating technology into the classroom and recognizing that we need to be adaptive to what our students are looking asking in our colleges.

An interesting concept was presented that while many people think that technology will replace our faculty and we will just end up being taught by robots, that could not be further from the truth.  We need to capture the knowledge of our faculty, apply technology, and then watch our students thrive with innovation.

Technology is not just about the coolest gadgets and the latest and greatest toys, it is also about building an infrastructure of moving knowledge form one medium to another.  Many people talked about how the present day classroom is just like it was in the 1950's and probably just like it was in the 1850's!  Why is that?  If we see technology shaping our personal lives more and more everyday, how can we not see that the stye of teaching in a traditional classroom is not following the same path? 

Today's sessions were filled with good information but I was waiting and waiting for someone in higher education to just say "we need to change higher ed" but it did not come.  I have my opinions and I am very biased when it comes to technology.  I firmly believe that we as an institution of higher education need to wake up and see how innovation excels in the business world simply by utilizing technology and work to apply those same principles.  Why do we continue to place historic classrooms and teaching styles up on a pedestal?  I will be the first to say that I have no answer, but please let me hear that same frustration from a few speakers at some conferences once in a while.  It will be refreshing.

High Tech U Session @ Higher Ed Tech

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By Eric Neumann on January 8, 2010 11:48 AM 0 0 Vote 0 Votes
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This blog entry will be the first in many today while I attend the Higher Ed Tech sessions at CES 2010.  I plan to create a separate blog entry for each session with some highlights and useful information for Higher Ed.

High Tech U Session

Moderator - John Fischman, Chronicle of Higher Ed, Senior Editor
Presenter - Robert Franek, SVP Publisher, Princeton Review
Presenter - Jeff Keltner, Biz Dev Mgr, Google, Education

Rob: There are 3 unique colleges that you should look at: 

Guyenet College.  They are using cell phones to check in with GPS for security, checkout library books, reserve rooms, and watch classes on streaming video.

Stanford. iCollege program

Abiline Christian University.  Gave out iPods with their own apps that can capture classroom lectures. 

Jeff: Google apps for education.

Classrooms look the same as they did 50 years ago.  Technology needs to be integrated in the classroom more.  Three things that a student expects: 

1. They expect to engage
2. They expect access everywhere
3. They expect continual innovation

Indeed there are some questions that cannot be answered by Google.  But they are trying.  You can reach Jay @jkeltner on Twitter.


CES - Day One

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By Eric Neumann on January 6, 2010 5:29 PM 0 0 Vote 0 Votes
Today was the pre-show day.  A day for press and bloggers alike to attend various sessions and  select press conferences.  I intend to break apart my schedule over the next few days to focus on various components of what CES has to offer.  Today was a social media day.  I know I know, I am a tech guy right?  That is what tomorrow, Friday, and Saturday are for.  I could not miss some of the best Social Media presenters today, so I decided to attend the Social Media Jungle.

Instead of offering my opinions on what these sessions were all about I decided to re-post some of the notable threads and discussions from Twitter.  You can also search on Twitter for the hashtag #smjces.

ksablan @jeffpulver has four important words for Twitter: Listen. Connect. Share. Engage. #ces #smjces

jp1113 Twitter empowers strangers to help anyone at any time. Everyone has the opportunity to experience some level of serendipity. #smjces #ces

neumanngroup Do not shout to a large crowd, listen to a small crowd. Good advice. #smjces @saas #ces

jp1113 Social media is listening on steroids. We are flies on the wall for 1000 conversations. You hear the truth, not what u think it is. #smjces

mahanay @sass says 'when u engage your customers w/ soc media, they can become an army of evangalists' #smjces #ces

neumanngroup H.E.A.R. Helpful, Engaging, Accessible, Responsive. Good advice for companies in the social media space. @saas #smjces

mahanay 'Brands are no longer static. They are a conversation' via @weave #smjces #ces

RT @setlinger @scobleizer on @foursquare "Somebody w/ enough data and enough time is going to do sthing interesting with that data." #SMJCES

LGatCEA What does it all mean?? Get involved, be active and don't ever say "ah, that'll never work" cause it probably will#smjces #ces


I think the main takeaway from these sessions is to remain open-minded and receptive to what your customers are saying and doing regarding your product or brand.  All of this logic can apply to just about any industry including Higher Education.  In fact, I would concur that Higher Education has a higher (excuse the pun) level of responsiveness in the medium as the average customer is usually in their late teens or early twenties and perhaps is already in this space already.

Tomorrow will be even more busy and crazy!

Stay tuned.

Eric

Getting Ready for CES 2010

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By Eric Neumann on January 4, 2010 9:58 AM 0 0 Vote 0 Votes
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It is almost time to head off to Las Vegas for the annual Consumer Electronics Show.  This year I plan to attend a number of conferences as a registered Blogger and I also will hit the show floor and look at plenty of new products.  Here is my short list of what to see and what to attend:

- Social Media Jungle conference sessions
- Higher Ed Tech conference sessions
- The new iLounge exhibits
- Mobile computing
- Hopefully some Twitter and Social Media parties

Stay tuned for more info as I plan to blog and post from the conference!  I will be there between January 6-9, 2010.

Eric

Music, McNally Smith and Me

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By Sarah Greer on December 4, 2009 4:44 PM 0 0 Vote 0 Votes
(I'm baaaaacccckkk. *smile*)

Some of you might recognize me as a McNally Smith vocal performance alum (Spring 2008) and since I'm still on campus pretty regularly (actually every week *smile*), you may or may not have realized that I'm currently working for the college as their interim web person.

(I hear you thinking web work? What about singing?)

Don't worry, with the help of my many MSCM mentors, I've been busily building my music career since I graduated in spring of 2008. And it includes a LOT of music. Take a look.

Right now my work consists of:
• Performing -- individually (www.sarahmgreer.com) and with my a cappella women's group Spices: A Women's Ensemble
• Working as the music director for an area middle school's annual musical production
• Directing my ensemble and teaching individual voice students
• My Songtaneous project: Those who know me know that I'm big into vocal improv and all about getting people to sing. In fact, I became so fascinated with the concepts of improvisation and how I could use them in the non-singing parts of my life that I began writing my own blog about "spontaneous singing" shortly after graduation.
   Songtaneous is the word I created for the vocal improv process I facilitate. It's a combination of the words spontaneous and singing (song). Since graduating, I've presented Songtaneous workshops at conferences, private events, for other singing groups and hosted regular community sessions in South Mpls.

...

The rest of my work is non-music stuff, mostly contract work and short-term projects (like this one). In fact, I'm currently writing a series for my blog about how I'm combining what I love and what I know to make ends meet.

I call it Passion Pays The Bills: How to Turn Your Heart Thing Into a Smart Thing. You can read the series at the Songtaneous Blog. I'd love to hear your thoughts.

I have to say ... I'm happy to be back ... even though in some ways it feels like I never left.

Topology and All Things Technology

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By Eric Neumann on December 3, 2009 8:57 AM 0 0 Vote 0 Votes
Have you ever taken the opportunity to step back and look at the depth of what you do?  More importantly what you support, purchase, delegate, procure, implement, and design?

Recently I have decided to take on that task.  What better way to start than to organize your "signal flow".  How can I possibly know if we are overtasked or understaffed if I have no visualization of our overall topology?  It was time to design a topology of our technology.  Not just our network, but also our servers and the connection types.  Why not throw in some specs too like server name, OS name, model, and location too?  So this topology became something that encompassed the following info:

- Network
- Hardware
- Software
- Cloud Computing

I wanted to use a simple piece of software to insert nice little boxes with information but really could not find much other than Microsoft Visio, but I use a Mac.  Strike One.  Then a quick Google search yielded some rather not so good results.  Strike Two.  It was time to break out Illustrator and design from scratch.

I am very glad I designed this topology as it will help plan for the future.  What better way to plan on future projects than to have a reference guide for what you support, purchase, delegate, procure, implement, and design?

I would share our topology but then the competition would know what we do ;)  Let's just say that it is probably 20 times larger than it was when I first started in 2003.

Some interesting stats:

  • In 2003 we had 2 servers, we now have 14 servers (7 Windows and 7 Apple)
  • In 2003 we had no wireless, we now have two networks with over 20 AP's
  • In 2003 we had about 25 email accounts, we now have just over 1500
  • In 2003 we had 2 really old switches, we now have 8 major switches and about 6 minor
  • In 2003 we had a single T1 connection, we now have a 10.5 bonded solution
  • In 2003 we had no fiber at all, we now have over 3 fiber connections
  • In 2003 we had 1 data room, we now have 3
I wonder what our topology will look like in 6 years?  Stay tuned because I will post that on this blog.  You just need to keep reading....

Vocal Audition Seminar

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By Whitney Shaw on October 13, 2009 2:05 PM 0 0 Vote 0 Votes
So everyone knows as a vocalist to get a job (or even into McNally Smith) you typically must audition for the space, but just because you're a great singer does that mean you are great at auditions? Do you know what you look like in front of a camera? How is your stage presence? What pieces to you choose to best show your range and talents?

The Vocal Department at McNally Smith is holding it's first "Vocal Audition Day." This seminar will be held once a semester and teach students about each part of the audition process. Additionally each vocal student will be able to take away a video of themselves singing a song and doing a monologue. This video with be used as a teaching tool, as well as a press kit piece if they want to.

It's going to be an exciting day, and is just another way McNally Smith aims to help the whole student get an edge in the competitive music industry!

Help! - Our New Email-Based Help System

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By Eric Neumann on October 7, 2009 1:34 PM 0 0 Vote 0 Votes
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About a year ago when we were developing our Intranet, we purchased a product from Smarter Tools, Inc called "Smarter Track".  This web-based ticket tool was originally supposed to be integrated with our Intranet so employees could login and submit IT-based tickets and search our growing knowledge base.

After our Intranet project's scope changed numerous times, we ultimately decided to drop the ticket system from within our Intranet and the Intranet became primarily a place to house documents, search the directory, and submit stories, gigs, etc.

We still had Smarter Track and all that was included with the online web software.  So we decided to open it up and allow our employees to submit tickets.  The interface is really easy to navigate and follow, but one special feature is the ability to submit tickets via email.  This would allow our employees to have one central place to ask for help.  What about other areas of the college?  How could they benefit from this application?  Does it only have to be IT?

After some research and discussion with our Campus Resource Director and our Maintenance Department, we decided to have IT monitor all tickets and "transfer" tickets to the appropriate agents.  These agents would be: IT, Maintenance, Classroom Support, Campus Resources, Admin Support, and Printing Services.  Each party involved decided to jump on board and fully support the system.

Since its launch about four months ago, we have received over 200 tickets with an average response rate of less than 24 hours.  Our faculty and staff are very happy that all they need to do for support is send a quick email to one single address.  Response has been amazing and we are very happy with the overall ease of use for this product.

Setting it up was fairly easy.  We needed to establish one primary email account that receives all tickets and then that person needs to login to the web interface and transfer the ticket to the agent.  That agent then gets an email notifying them of the ticket and then can work on it, respond to the original customer via email, and eventually close the ticket.  The web interface has plenty of features we have not even dove in to yet, but someday will.  We also have not officially announced this to our student population but we will not turn down a ticket from a student if they submit one.  Installation on our web server was also fairly easy.  The system runs with IIS and on a SQL database, pretty normal stuff.

The ideal situation for us is to have this web-based system work as an application on our iPhones.  I have talked briefly with Smarter Tools about this and some other users have expressed an interest in the ability to respond and interact with tickets via an iPhone app.

Overall we are excited to begin to grow our support services over time with this product and look forward to improving and enhancing this web-based software solution. For more information about Smarter Track, checkout their website.

Upcoming 2009 Educause Conference

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By Eric Neumann on September 14, 2009 10:01 AM 0 0 Vote 0 Votes
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McNally Smith is getting ready to attend the annual Educause conference in Denver this November.  I am excited to participate as McNally Smith has never attended in the past and I hope to learn, share, and network with many other information technology education industry leaders.

Some of the sessions I plan to attend are closely related to what we are doing here at McNally Smith.  For example:

Snow Leopard Server - We plan to do more with Snow Leopard Server in the coming year including podcasting, open directory, etc.  Some of which we are already utilizing on Leopard Server.

Deploying the iPhone and iPod Touch in Higher Ed - Something McNally Smith has been looking at for many years.  With the advent of new apps in the app store and an emerging consortium of higher education developers, this could be an amazing tool not only for a freshman experience, but augmenting the learning experience.

Blackboard, Moodle, and Sakai - We use Moodle here at McNally Smith for distance learning courses and we are slowly starting to integrate Moodle as a fully functional course management system.  Any information from other colleges on how Moodle has worked for them, will be an advantage for us.

Statewide K-20 Collaboration on iTunes U - Did you know that McNally Smith was one of the first (if not the very first) private for profit college on iTunes U?  We have been working with Apple for almost three years now on developing and establishing McNally Smith on iTunes U.  We have some great content and the goal is to share our content with other colleges, and them with us, in order to make the learning experience for students more robust.  If McNally Smith could get involved with other schools (namely high schools) that share similar mission and vision (ie: contemporary music) that could be a perfect match!

How to Use Social Networking as a Retention Tool - Need we say more?  McNally Smith has been using Facebook, MySpace, and Twitter for years now to help spread our message and our mission and vision to not only incoming students but the general population.  This session will hopefully shed some new light on what other colleges are doing and to make sure we are on the right track ;)

The list goes on and on.  Some others include: IT Security, Faculty WIKI's, Mobile Technology in Higher Education, and Using Twitter for Higher Education.

There will also be some excellent Keynote address by:
Jim Collins - Author of "From Good to Great" (he will be talking about how a College becomes great)
Lawrence Vessing - Professor, Stanford Law (he will be talking about Copyright)

The conference is November 3-6, 2009 and I have my flight and hotel booked.  I am ready and excited to attend this year and plan to write another blog once I get back to share my experiences.  Stay tuned!

Eric

Choose Your Tools

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By Whitney Shaw on September 11, 2009 11:16 AM 0 0 Vote 0 Votes
logo.gifHere are McNally Smith we work hard to both stay on the edge of new technologies, as well as offer help/advice to others looking at new technologies. We want our students to not only keep up with technology demands, but know to to adapt and use new products that are coming out, so it's important that we know about the newest trends.

Last year McNally Smith attended CES 2009, it was my first time and I quickly captured and blogged everything I could! I wanted to share with everyone back here about the new technologies in music, entertainment, and recording gear. I also jumped into a couple sessions on Billboard trends, social media tricks, and keynotes.

I will be headed back this year to CES 2010, so if you're interested in technology be sure to follow McNally Smith, we'll let you know about the cool new stuff, before anyone else does!
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