CollaborationTechnology and Learning Convenes Inaugural Faculty Steering CommitteeThe Information Technology (IT) department hosted the inaugural Technology and Learning Faculty Steering Committee on Wednesday, March 7. The purpose of the committee is to improve student learning by obtaining faculty leadership and guidance when determining concomitant effective teaching practices and choosing instructional technologies at Pepperdine University.

Committee membership includes faculty representation from all five schools of Pepperdine. The IT department is grateful to the committee members who have volunteered to serve: Sharyl Corrado, Jim DiLellio, John Durand, Chris Heard, Doug Leigh, Greg McNeal, Bob McQuaid, Greg Ogden, Margaret Riel, Michael Shires, Margaret Weber, and Dana Zurzolo. Ex officio members include Lee Kats, Jonathan See, Michael Lucas, Gerard Flynn, Jerry Hoover, Brian Bowen, Jenny Cha, Mark Giglione, Hong Kha, Landon Phillips, and Alan Regan.

This meeting included conferring on the committee charter, electing officers, identifying a need to survey Pepperdine faculty on technology and learning issues, discussing faculty professional development opportunities, and establishing methods for reviewing and voting on proposals asynchronously.

Bob McQuaid of the Graziadio School of Business and Management and Dana Zurzolo of Seaver College were elected co-chairs of the committee. Mike Shires of the School of Public Policy was elected vice-chair.

For more information or to suggest agenda items, please contact Gerard Flynn, director of Technology and Learning via e-mail: techlearn@pepperdine.edu.

1 Information Technology Activity and Status Report, March 2012

Information Technology Activity and Status Report

March 2012

Contact InformationTechnology

Pepperdine Help Desk

Available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week

(310) 506-HELP (4357)or (866) 767-8623

Technology and Learningfor Faculty

http://community.pepperdine.edu/

techlearn/

Chief Information Officer

(310) 506-4173

IT Website

http://community.pepperdine.edu/it/

PartnershipsInformation Technology Partners with Seaver College Enrollment Management Office to Seek a Customer Relationship Management SolutionInformation Technology (IT) is partnering with the enrollment management offices of Seaver College (Undergraduate Admission, Financial Assistance, and the International Student Services offices), to find a solution for a customer relationship management (CRM) solution. This solution will help track, evaluate, and generate reports to be used to define better communication strategies to building and nurturing relationships with prospective and current constituents of Seaver enrollment. IT hopes to find a solution from a reputable vendor to provide a robust tool that not only meet these needs but also optimizes enrollment resources and time while increasing response rate to students and office efficiencies. In addition, the solution needs to be scalable and flexible for other schools and departments to use if they have similar needs. As this project is in the beginning stages, IT will update the community on its progress in the future.

Mobility Technology Strategy Development Group Constructs Phases for Mobile StrategyBack in December 2011, Chief Information Officer Jonathan See and Chief Technology Officer Michael Lucas convened a group to begin discussions on mobile technology at Pepperdine University. This IT group, in collaboration with Integrated Marketing Communications, is charged to developing the strategy for mobile technology and producing a road map for its deployment.

To date, the core team, which includes representatives from major areas within IT and IMC, has defined a seven-phase process on achieving a mobility road map for the University. Currently in phase IV- the discovery phase, the group has completed analyzing current higher education trends

in mobility, best practices for mobility in higher educations as defined by other institutions, and general mobile technology trends and will now move on to begin to reach out to key individuals in the Pepperdine community. The tentative timeline is to begin piloting a new mobile platform at the end of the spring 2012 term. To learn more about the Mobility Technology Strategy Group contact Vic Suphasiri at vic.suphasiri@pepperdine.edu.  

Information Security Briefings for Managers to be Held this MarchThe Information Security Briefing for Managers 2012 is a seminar sponsored by Information Technology and Finance to provide updated information on external compliance requirements, University policy and new resources to solve departmental information security challenges. All University managers should attend to learn about what your department or division can do to help preserve trust in the University. Any computer system or account could be used to harm the University or its students if not thoughtfully secured. This briefing is especially vital for the manager of an area that handles restricted information, such as social security numbers, drivers license numbers, passwords, or credit/debit card acceptance.

This year's Information Security Roadshow will cover topics including mobile device security and tips, University Records Management Policy – 2012 update, and electronic device transfer and disposal standards.

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The Information Security for Managers 2012 briefings are presented at diverse locations and times. Visit the IT training calendar to sign up for any of the following sessions.

• Wednesday, March 21 at 10:30 a.m. – 12 p.m. Malibu Campus - Fireside Room - Tyler Campus Center

• Thursday, March 22 at 1:30 – 3 p.m. Malibu Campus – Plaza Classroom 188• Tuesday, March 27 at 1:30 – 3 p.m. Malibu Campus – Plaza Classroom 190• Wednesday, March 28 at 10:30 a.m. – 12 p.m. WLA Graduate Campus - Room 212

If you have questions about these meetings, please contact Kim Cary, chief information security officer at extension 6655 or Janet Vogel, director of Credit and Accounts Receivable at extension 4328 (credit/debit cards questions only).

LeadershipPictured from left to right: Guanhua Huang, Ting Ting Liu, IT staff Jose Juan Hernandez, Student Leader Harish Reddy Sidda, Shuran Yang, and Shumpei Fukui

West Los Angeles Student Tech Team Improves Process of Monitoring Classroom TechnologyThe graduate student team at the West Los Angeles (WLA) campus helped redesign IT’s process of managing the upkeep of technology within the 30 classrooms at West LA. Called to attention by a survey response from IT’s 2011 TechQual survey, West LA IT staff decided, with the help of their student workers, to re-examine the business process of maintaining classroom technology. The student tech team, including Guanhua Huang, Shaobo Zheng, Zhaohua Zhong, Siddharth Venugopal, Roshni Muraleedharan, Shuran Yang, Aditya Khurana, Peng Zeng, Ting Ting Liu, Varun Khanna, Shumpei Fukui, and led by Harish Reddy Sidda, devised a process that would anticipate the technical needs of the classrooms. Sidda created a system based on scoring maintenance issues in classrooms that can be used to analyze and forecast possible problems prior to faculty reporting them. “The work that the graduate students have done this academic term has been nothing short of extraordinary,” mentioned IT staff member Jose Juan Hernandez, who manages the student team in West LA. “Through their efforts, our team in West LA has not only been able to better anticipate the needs of our faculty but by working with our talented students has helped us build upon IT’s mission... ‘to serve and empower the University community... to offer simple and effective solutions.’” 

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Much of the data collecting and managing of the classrooms is done by the students over the weekend to fix and prepare these learning spaces for use during the week. IT is proud of the exceptional work that all of the student workers do for the department. To learn more about this project, contact Jose Juan Hernandez at jose.j.hernandez@pepperdine.edu.

West LA Graduate Campus Technology Support Student Employee Leadership TrainingOn Thursday, March 1, Jerry Hoover, director of Anytime Support, provided “Customer Service Skills” training to IT's technology support student employees at the West Los Angeles Graduate Campus. Jose Juan Hernandez, who initiated the training idea, also participated in the session. Hoover and Hernandez felt it was important for these graduate students to hear about important “people” skills such as communication, time management, and customer service to help prepare them for the leadership roles they will be entering after graduation this April. These skills will serve them well in their business and personal lives.

IT Staff Alan Regan to Serve as Chair on Sakai-Jasig Program CommitteeAlan Regan, manager of the Technology and Learning group, was asked by Ian Dolphin, executive director of the Sakai Foundation, to serve as the program committee chair for this year's joint Sakai-Jasig annual conference. The conference is an opportunity for the global open-source community to gather, discuss and promote innovative technologies for higher education. The Sakai Foundation produces two powerful platforms for teaching and learning: the Sakai Collaborative Learning Environment (CLE) and the Sakai Open Academic Environment (OAE). The Jasig consortium offers numerous technologies, such as uPortal, CAS, Bedework, uMobile, and others. Pepperdine University uses two of these technologies, Sakai and CAS (Central Authentication Service). Pepperdine’s learning management system, which IT has branded Courses, is powered by Sakai. CAS offers the single sign-on experience for Courses, iTunesU, email.pepperdine.edu, and many other university services.

As chair, Regan will organize the review process for conference proposals and assist the conference planning committee on developing the final program for the conference. The program committee includes members of academic and non-profit organizations from around the world. The call for proposals for the conference is now open and will close on March 18. Faculty and staff members are encouraged to submit presentation proposals. The conference will be held June 10-15 in Atlanta, GA. To learn more about the conference, please visit http://www.jasig.org/jasig-sakai-conference-2012.

Information Technology Welcomes Ian Rowell to the IT TeamPepperdine's Information Technology (IT) recently welcomed Ian Rowell to the IT team. Rowell will serve as WiFi technician for IT's Systems and Networking department. One of his main goals will be to help optimize WiFi performance for Pepperdine's students, faculty, and staff. Prior to his position with IT, Rowell worked for British Telecom and graduated from University of California, Irvine with a bachelor's degree in information computer sciences. Please welcome Rowell to the Pepperdine community.

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UpdatesFaculty Share Their Experience at the ELI Conference in FebruaryOne of Information Technology's strategic initiatives is promoting faculty professional development. This February 2012, Information Technology invited several faculty to the EDUCAUSE Learning Initiative (ELI) Annual Meeting in Austin, TX. This year's ELI conference titled Taking the Pulse: Connecting, Assessing, and Innovating, served as a wonderful opportunity for Pepperdine faculty to learn about how other institutions are integrating technology into their teaching to enhance student learning.

“The ELI Conference was a valuable experience for me,” said Professor Gregory McNeal from the School of Law. “First, it was great to see how the challenges and opportunities we face at Pepperdine are shared on campuses across the country. Second, I enjoyed meeting my colleagues across campus and learning about innovations their departments have adopted.”

The conference routinely offers an excellent showcase of current and emerging technologies. There were many sessions on topics like mobile and cloud learning, faculty development, ebooks, and others. This venue also offers the chance to speak with peer instructors as well as instructional designers, librarians, administrators, consultants, and technology companies.

“A conference session can offer new ideas, or more often it serves as a catalyst to reorganize knowledge into new patterns for action,” mentioned Professor Margaret Reil. “I found the session on multiple pathways to learning focusing on what is happening in the brain by Janet Zadina, very helpful in this regard. I have linked her website to our Courses library. Teachers are shaping brains and it is important for them to be aware of their role in developing both minds and brains.”

IT sponsored five faculty members – one from each school of Pepperdine University – to attend the event. A few others joined the group as well. 

Help Desk Request ImprovementsDid you know there are a number of types of technology requests that you can make directly to Pepperdine Information Technology personnel without calling the Help Desk? The forms are on our Technology Request Form web page: http://community.pepperdine.edu/it/forms/.

We are also improving the logic behind what happens when you click the "Submit" button on each form. Soon all of the forms will automatically cause a request ticket to be created and assigned to the correct support group. And coming in the near future is a custom service request form with drop-down lists of request and incident choices. This is another way we are trying to make it easier for you to make and track your technology requests.

Did You Know...?Did You Know 83 Percent of Email Received by the Average Pepperdine Email Address is Spam?Pepperdine’s spam filter blocks 83 percent of email addressed to the average Pepperdine student or colleague. Pepperdine email addresses receive about 3 million messages a week, but about 2.5 million of those emails are spam. If these messages weren’t blocked by the spam filter, that would mean the average user would get five times as much email, all of it spam and other nasty messages. The Information Security Office updated Pepperdine’s spam filter in May 2011 to a more advanced version, which offers additional virus check and improved capacity and

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reliability. For more information on the Pepperdine spam filter, see: http://community.pepperdine.edu/it/tools/email/spam/.

In the graph to the left shows the activity of the spam filter.

Events‘Talk to I.T.’ Table in Seaver Cafeteria Resumes on March 12Information Technology (IT) will hold a ‘Talk to I.T.’ booth in the Seaver cafeteria for students to ask questions about technology around campus or IT services available to them. This initiative was created in response to feedback from students in the 2011 TechQual+ survey. Students said they were unfamiliar with the technology services available to them at Pepperdine.

IT hopes this monthly booth will help raise awareness of the many technologies IT has to offer to community including online secure storage, wireless printing, software and hardware discounts available through the Computer Store, and tech support through Tech Central and the Help Desk.

Faculty Speaker SeriesIn fall 2011, the Technology and Learning group launched a faculty speaker series. This series of workshops helps Pepperdine faculty see what technologies their colleagues are using in the classroom and gives them a chance to learn from the experience of their peers. The spring 2012 schedule is now available.

• March 14 - Using Technology to Put Students at the Center of Learning. Dr. Michael Shires of the School of Public Policy will discuss how he uses technology to increase student engagement in the classroom. Register now.

• April 4 - Photoshop for Faculty. Ms. Hong Kha of Seaver college will share tips on using Photoshop to create powerful images for presentations and learning activities. Register now.

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To watch recordings of last year's events, please visit http://community.pepperdine.edu/techlearn/teaching/speaker-series/.

Future PlansSelect Faculty, Staff, and Students Invited to Participate in TechQual 2012This month Information Technology released the 2012 TechQual+ survey to a randomly selected group of faculty, staff, and students. TechQual+ is a national higher education survey instrument, which measures community satisfaction with university technology services. Results from this survey are used to develop technology strategies, assess priorities, and monitor the effectiveness of technology services. Past TechQual+ surveys have led to IT initiatives including significantly upgrading wireless capabilities at all Pepperdine campuses and providing improved notifications of outages and downtime. The survey will close on Sunday, April 1. For more information about the TechQual+ survey instrument is available at www.techqual.org.

Benchmarks and AccountabilityAnytime Support Desk - During February 2012, there were 1843 requests for support managed through the Anytime Support Desk. Of these requests, 62 percent were resolved within two days and 94 percent were resolved in fewer than five days. The average wait time for individuals calling the Anytime Support Desk was 19 seconds. 87 percent of requests were resolved by the Anytime Support Desk on the first call.

Online Requests - In February 2012, there were 211 additional requests for support managed through online web request forms. The top two types of online requests were: audio-visual service (67) and Network Resources Requests (51).

Anytime Support User Survey - Through an automated feedback process, all Anytime Support Desk callers have the opportunity to complete a web-based satisfaction survey. In February 2012, 200 of 1673 survey requests sent to customers were submitted. The four-question survey uses a “1 to 5” sliding scale with “4.00-5.00” equal to Excellent.

Month ResponseRate

OverallSatisfaction Competency Customer

ServiceResolutionTimeliness

December

January

February

15% 4.54 4.62 4.43 4.56

12% 4.57 4.61 4.49 4.60

11% 4.62 4.70 4.53 4.64

How to Subscribe to this Report. If you would like to be added to the distribution list for this report, please contact Tiffany Yu, communications specialist, at tiffany.yu@pepperdine.edu. The Monthly IT Status Report archive is available online at http://community.pepperdine.edu/it/about/status-reports.htm.

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