ITforUM Spring 2008: The Information Technology Newsletter for the University of Maryland

Spring 2008

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

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.

ITforUM is the Information Technology Newsletter of the University of Maryland, published by the Office of Information Technology.
Letters to the editor and article suggestions are welcome. Please send correspondence to ITforUM@umd.edu.
Staff Credits | Archive. © 2008 University of Maryland.