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ARTICLES
CourseEvalUM:
Results and Plans
Last fall students completed more than 84,000 course evaluations
in the new CourseEvalUM system, about 63 percent of the nearly 135,000
possible evaluations. Most colleges had a 61 percent or better evaluation
return rate with three achieving more than 70 percent return and no college
falling under 53 percent. Full article
OIT
to Create a Virtual Digital Forensics Lab
OIT received funding from the CyberWATCH consortium to
establish a regional Digital Forensics Lab (DFL) through a grant from
the National Science Foundation. The DFL will be a “virtual lab”
that will serve as a resource in the teaching of digital forensics. Full article
The
Increasing Threat of Spear Phishing
Most people have received phishing messages alleging to
be from a financial institution directing the recipient to a particular
fraudulent Web site. Spear phishing is a highly targeted form of phishing
in which locally relevant facts are used in an attempt to gain the confidence
of the recipient. Full article
ELMS
Fall 2008 Updates
By fall 2008, there will be a number of major changes to
ELMS (powered by Blackboard). Full article
Tips
for Creating Strong and Memorable Passwords
Protecting your information should be a priority, and creating
a strong password is not as complicated as it may seem. But what makes
a strong password memorable but not guessable? The strongest password
looks like a sequence of random characters. One way to create this sequence
is to choose a pass phrase instead of a password.
Full article
New
WAM Lab Macs; Multimedia Development Stations Coming Soon
During the winter
term, OIT updated the Mac computers in the WAM computer labs. The former
Mac G5s have been replaced with new iMacs. Coming soon for students this
spring is the addition of four multimedia stations. Designed for both
individual and collaborative projects, each station will have two monitors
to allow easier editing of video, graphics, and animation projects.
Full article
University
Portal Set to Expand
The university’s
portal is set to enter its second year in production and, though portal
development will continue to focus primarily on student applications,
the time has come to also concentrate on faculty and staff services. Full article
OIT
Hosted University Forum on File Sharing
PlayFair Campaign Provides Information on Online Piracy
Dozens of students
and staff joined OIT on February 27, 2008 in the Stamp Student Union Atrium
to discuss file sharing with an expert panel that included a GRAMMY award-winning
artist, other talented musicians, and a university attorney with an expertise
in copyright law. Full article
Wireless
Network Footprint Continues to Expand
The rollout of building-wide wireless coverage in all University
of Maryland residence halls and Fraternity Row houses, as well as the
South Campus Commons and University Courtyards communities, was completed
in December - a full eight months ahead of schedule! Full article
Rogue
Access Points Prohibited
Just as a rogue agent in a movie or television show creates
a security breach for his or her organization, a rogue wireless access
point on campus can create one for the university's data network. Hosting
one could pose a very real and dangerous threat to the university's network
security. Full article
High-Tech
Products at Low Prices!
OIT and the university have negotiated several technology
discount programs that faculty, staff, and students can benefit from.
Full article
iTunes
U Arrives at Maryland!
Earlier this spring, Maryland's customized iTunes U section
went live, offering podcasts from various colleges, schools, and administrative
units from all around the university. Full article
OIT
Helps Put Undergraduate Catalog Online; Print Version Will Be Discontinued
Last fall, the Office of the Registrar and OIT Portal and
Web Services released a Web-based version of the Undergraduate Catalog
to complement the printed version distributed to students and visitors.
Full article
OIT
Maryland Day Event
This year, OIT is contributing
to the annual Maryland Day festivities by hosting the Technology Tent
on the lawn of Glenn L. Martin Building. Full article
Discounted
Software Available for UM Faculty and Staff
OIT Software Licensing
has made numerous popular software products available for university faculty
and staff members' personal and work-at-home use, including programs for
graphics, Web design and development, desktop productivity, and more.
Full article
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Message
from Jeff Huskamp, Vice President and CIO
OIT
2.0
Ten years after
the founding of the Office of Information Technology (OIT), a new
chapter in its history is about to be written. We’ve dubbed
this initiative “OIT 2.0” to reflect that an entirely
new re-engineering of how OIT functions is underway. Although OIT
has enjoyed success in a number of areas in the past, we are looking
to make the foundational underpinnings of OIT’s operation
more rigorous, more measurable, and more uniformly excellent throughout.
The major cornerstones of OIT 2.0 are described below.
- ITIL (Information
Technology Infrastructure Library) is a process for managing information
technology that provides guidelines for implementing fundamental
information technology processes including configuration management,
incident management, change management, and problem management.
The implementation of ITIL will enable OIT to carry out a proven
“best practice” set of processes that are coordinated
rather than a set of processes that are created in silos.
- Metrics
will be created, archived, displayed, and made public for each
of OIT’s operations, programs, and initiatives. The metrics
will be used to iteratively refine and improve the operation of
the organization.
- Professional
development is necessary for OIT to move forward with new technologies
and ideas. Professional development will be very rigorous with
detailed plans created for each individual to provide the skills
he or she will need for both current and future initiatives. Professional
development is no longer an option for an agile and forward-looking
organization, but instead is a requirement.
- Research
computing support is required to provide faculty with access to
the expertise they need to be most effective in their research
and grant applications. This is a service that can benefit from
economies of scale across the university rather than requiring
each department or college/school to create its own.
- Software
development is essential for implementing creative ideas to put
the university ahead of the technology curve rather than relying
totally on integration of existing products. A software development
group will be created and staffed through a reassignment of existing
resources within OIT.
This endeavor
will require an extensive retooling of OIT to meet the university’s
changing needs and rising expectations for OIT. OIT 2.0 is achievable
with hard work and dedication. The result will be an efficient,
effective, customer-oriented service that will be able to fully
support the new university strategic plan. We invite you to join
this journey to excellence by providing your input.
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