From Dave's Desk: Dr. David Schmidt, Computing and Telecommunication Center Director, provides an update on current activities at the CTC.

The Stats Track: Spam Filtering, TigerEnroll, TigerTracks, and TigerNetStudent

Tablet Requirement for New Students Continues as FHSU Enters Second Year of Mobile Teaching and Learning Initiative

Enhancements to TigerTracks Online Services Continue

Software Center Highlights

Basic Routine Maintenance for Your Computer

New Learning Management Systems Administrator Joins the CTC

Data Communications Coordinator to Retire in June

Spotlight on a CTC Employee

CTC HelpDesk Hours

Help Us Help You!

Other HelpDesk Headlines

From Dave’s Desk:
Dr. David Schmidt, Computing and Telecommunication Center Director, provides an update on current activities at the CTC.

The CTC will be working on a variety of projects this summer. I’ll try to give a brief description of some of them.

Before launching into the projects, I want to recognize Dan Pfeifer for his role in creating the Ethernet network on campus. He took the lead in bringing this technology to campus, expanding it across campus, and in supervising the wireless buildout. I want to thank him for all of his good work and wish him well in a richly deserved retirement.

After conducting a search for his replacement, we are very pleased that Derek Johnson agreed to step up to become the new Network Administrator. He has been working hard with Dan to learn all he can before Dan retires.

Also, we are pleased to announce the hiring of Ryan Frederick as a new Blackboard/Learning Management Systems Administrator. Ryan worked with computing at Kansas State University-Salina, and we are delighted that he has joined us. Blackboard is a big, complex system, and it has taken a lot to support it in the past several years. We were delighted that a joint CTC-CTELT Action Plan funded this position. Ryan will also support Angel, another course management system, as his duties expand. CTELT (Center for Teaching Excellence and Learning Technologies) is still the place for faculty to call for setting up courses, setting up student accounts, etc. Ryan will work directly with Blackboard for bug fixes, upgrades, and other issues.

Replacing the University Core Router. Shortly after classes are out and grades are in, Dan Pfeifer and Derek Johnson will bring a new Enterasys core router on-line. Basically this is the heart of the campus data network. All data communications flow through the core router. We need to replace our aging Enterasys router with a new one because the processor in the old one has trouble keeping up with heavy network traffic. The new core router will also help us with better security and allow more fine-grained control over network traffic. Various kinds of traffic can be given higher priority to provide bandwidth where it is needed most. It can also easily handle the increasing wireless data traffic that is being generated by student tablets and laptops.

Campus Moves. Because Picken Hall is being renovated and repurposed, the Microcomputing staff and the wiring staff will be very busy with a variety of moves. INT is moving to Tomanek Hall, so TH127 and TH125 will become INT labs (and TH123 will become office space). The wiring staff is working to make these labs all Cat5e labs. The Kelly Center (Prometrics Testing), Personnel, Graduate School, Academic Advising, Center for Civic Leadership, and the Docking Institute and Survey Center will all be moving over to Wiest Hall temporarily. We need to rewire most of these areas with new data wiring, and the Microcomputing staff is involved in the physical moves and setup, too.

Microcomputing Projects. Mark Orth will create an image to be used for new machines going into the Biology Lab. The Microcomputing staff is configuring the new Campus Calling Center in the Robbins Center. This features nine PC clients that will use new customer relations management software. The Provost’s Action plan funded approximately 25 tablets that will be purchased and configured for faculty use. A small robotics lab needs to be setup in Davis Hall. Creating images for new versions of the Geosciences software and CAD (Computer-Aided Design) software will be time-consuming as well.

Athletics Event-Management and Ticketing System. We are working with Athletics on their new event-management and ticketing system. As I understand it, some of this will be web-based so people in the community can purchase tickets on-line. We expect that this software will also work with event-management applications that use card readers. We are working with Athletics and Shana Meyer (Assistant Vice President of Student Affairs) to pick the right kind of technology for the card readers. The university will be getting new identification (ID) cards sometime in the future, and there are a variety of technologies available. There is a magnetic stripe on the ID cards we use now. In the future there will probably be uses for a “contactless” card with a small transmitter in it (a wireless card) that will be used for event access and tracking.

Student E-Mail Upgrade. Jeff Mayo is working on upgrading student e-mail. He is working with a new server that will make student e-mail faster and provide more storage for individual accounts. He has installed Cyrus on this machine. It is an e-mail management system that should be quite robust. Over the summer he will be working with an open-source system called Squirrel Mail (I’m not sure whoever came up with this name had a major in marketing). We want to integrate this web-based e-mail system with single sign-on and TigerTracks. Getting this accomplished and tested will take some time. There are complexities involved in working with single sign-on, account maintenance, and directory services. The end result will be a system that is attractive and flexible. Because it is made to work natively with HTML (HyperText Markup Language), it will be very compatible with browsers on Macs, as well as PCs. Because it uses a standard calendaring protocol, it will be able to work with a variety of e-mail clients (such as Microsoft Outlook). When fully configured, calendars can be made public to selected individuals or “to the world.” There are a variety of plugins available to assist with spam filtering, file management, spell-checking, and other functions so the system should prove quite flexible.

Epsilen . We will be working with CTELT on a product called Epsilen. The New York Times now has the majority interest in this e-portfolio product. Epsilen is hosted at a server farm located in Indiana, and the designer is the person who created Angel (a course delivery system). FHSU has a unique opportunity to influence the direction of Epsilen, because they are interested in us helping conceptualize ways their product can work together with Blackboard. For example, if a student wants to post a paper they have written from Blackboard to Epsilen, a Blackboard Building Block needs to be created to provide this function. Students can post a lot of different material and types of files to Epsilen, and we want to make this kind of file transfer easy. We have been looking for a good e-portfolio product for the past several years, and this appears to be a good fit.

New Programming. The Programming team continues to work on improvements for TigerEnroll and on providing new functionality in the Degree Audit system. Luci Williams (Degree Analyst, Registrar’s Office) and Daryl Carswell have been working hard on integrating the BGS (Bachelor of General Studies) into the Degree Audit system. The New Development programmers have worked on or are working on a variety of enhancements: “what if” functionality (for new majors and minors), additional search options, security fine-tuning, tailored e-mail notifications, a “notes” system (for administrative offices to share information about students), improvements to student financial information on the web, and on-line approval workflow.

Disaster Recovery Planning. We are in the beginning stages of planning for a disaster recovery site at the Sternberg Museum. Suppose a tornado hit only Tomanek Hall and wiped out the Computing Center (at least this is one type of scenario). We want to be able to bring up mission-critical services at Sternberg so the campus community could keep functioning. We will be doing a lot of planning for this during the summer. We will also need the help of various units on campus to help us identify critical services. We have made some progress on this project because we spoke for and received a mainframe from Wichita State University, and we plan to refresh our student system on that mainframe periodically to be sure that it is ready in the event of an emergency.

Server-Based Systems. Cheryl Helget set up the server for the calling center in Robbins Center. Susan Bartlett will be setting up a server for the new student union scheduling software. Ryan Frederick and Jeff Mayo will work on a Blackboard upgrade during the summer. Cheryl continues to configure a variety of virtual machines using VMWare as needed.

We hope that you enjoy your summer.

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The Stats Track: Spam Filtering, TigerEnroll, TigerTracks, and TigerNetStudent

Here are some statistics we thought would be of interest to our readers.

Lotus Notes Spam Filtering Stats. Figure 1 displays data from the Barracuda spam filtering system that scans FHSU’s Lotus Notes e-mail (the email system used by faculty and staff). Statistics given are from the beginning of the school year (from August 20, 2007 through April 30, 2008) for blocked e-mails (without viruses), blocked emails containing viruses, emails allowed but tagged, and “clean” emails allowed. The Rate Controlled number represents messages that are blocked when over 100 emails have been sent from one sender within a specified period of time (ex. 30 minutes). Emails Allowed but Tagged represents messages that are allowed to be delivered, but because there is a possibility that they may be spam, they are labeled as “BULK” when received in your Lotus Notes Inbox.

Figure 1:
Spam Filtering Statistics for FHSU Lotus Notes Email from 8/20/07 to 4/30/08

When a comparison is made of the number of emails blocked to the number delivered, you can see that over 91% of all emails sent to the Lotus Notes system are blocked by the spam filter. Approximately 7% are actually received as regular email, and a little over 1% of the email is tagged and delivered as “BULK”, indicating that the email is “probably” spam.

TigerEnroll Course Action Stats. Figure 2 includes a few interesting stats regarding TigerEnroll, which is an application used by almost every student at FHSU. Total Course Actions as of April 30, 2008 for the Spring, Summer, and Fall 2008 semesters are listed. Course Actions include course additions and removals from a schedule, not a worksheet. They also include course approvals or denials by an advisor.

Figure 2:
Course Actions Processed Through TigerEnroll (as of April 30, 2008)

Total Course Actions (for all semesters) from April 30, 2007 to April 30, 2008: 178,389

Web and Network Stats. Here are some notable website and network usage statistics provided by Derek Johnson, Network and Server Administrator / Data Communications Coordinator. Figures 3 and 4 display Website data for the TigerTracks portal and the TigerEnroll systems. Figures 5 and 6 display network usage and device registration data for the TigerNetStudent on-campus wireless network. TigerNetStudent device registrations are cleared out once each year between the summer and fall semesters.

Figure 3:
Web Stats for TigerTracks in 2007 and 2008 (as of 4/30/2008):

Figure 4:
Web Stats for TigerEnroll in 2007 and 2008 (as of 4/30/2008):

Figure 5:
Current Network Usage Stats for TigerNetStudent (as of 4/23/2008):

Figure 6:
Device Registration Stats for TigerNetStudent (as of 4/23/2008):

What FHSU computing statistics would you like to know more about? Click here to let us know what you would like us to feature in our next Stats Track!

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Tablet Requirement for New Students Continues as FHSU Enters Second Year of Mobile Teaching and Learning Initiative

In Fall 2007, FHSU began requiring all new, on-campus students to use tablet computers. This change is intended to enhance the learning experience by allowing students and faculty to create, access, process, store, and communicate information without being constrained to a single location. Mobile technology has become an important part of the educational process, and more employers are looking for graduates with these skills.

Tablet computers come with a touch-screen technology that allows the users to write with a stylus or pen, directly on the screen. Included with this feature is built-in handwriting recognition to translate your handwriting directly to text to be used in a word document. This technology has opened the doors to new methods of learning and working.

Students using Macintosh computers are not subject to the tablet requirements, as there are no Macintosh tablet products available. For more in-depth information regarding the requirements, please visit www.fhsu.edu/mobilecomputing/.

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Enhancements to TigerTracks Online Services Continue

Members of the CTC’s New Development group (Jackie Ruder, Chad Dague, Susan Bartlett, Pamela Carney, and Doug Storer) have been hard at work developing various improvements and new features for the Online Services section of FHSU’s TigerTracks Web portal.

Degree Audit “What-If” Analyses. Students are currently able to view Degree Summary information under the Online Services tab of TigerTracks. A new enhancement to the Degree Requirements section will soon provide students with the ability to do “What-If” analysis by applying completed and in-progress coursework to other degree programs. The estimated completion date is July 2008.

TigerEnroll Improvements. The TigerEnroll system, also accessed under the Online Services tab, was introduced as a pilot project for Spring 2007 enrollment, and then went “live” approximately one year ago for enrollment for the Summer and Fall 2007 semesters. Following a successful launch, developers are continuing to add enhancements to the system. In addition to plans for new “targeted” online help functions, here are some features that were recently introduced or that are coming soon to TigerEnroll:

Single Sign-On. To access TigerEnroll, students must currently log in twice; once when accessing TigerTracks and another when logging into the TigerEnroll application. Two logins are required for security purposes at this time, but a change that many students will appreciate is set to arrive during the summer semester. Developers are working on improving the system to maintain the high level of security currently present, but at the same time, only requiring one login. This change is currently in progress and is nearing completion.

E-Mail Log. Under the Pre-Enroll/Schedule Changes tab, students now have the ability to view a log of all e-mails sent to their Scatcat account from TigerEnroll. The log can be accessed by clicking on the View e-mail log link located in the lower right corner of the “Student Schedule” text box. Students will recognize these emails with subject lines such as, “Schedule changes processed” or “Finalize your enrollment”.

When the log is accessed, another window opens, showing all emails sent to the student’s Scatcat account during the last week. By using the drop-down list, users have the ability to show all e-mails from the past week, month, or year, for all semesters or for a specific semester.

Printable Course Schedule. A new Printer-friendly Schedule link was recently added under the Enrollment/Payment tab. Students are now able to print a copy of their course schedule in a printer-friendly format.

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Software Center Highlights

Check out FHSU's online Software Center to find GREAT prices on Adobe, Microsoft, and statistical software!

As new products become available, you will be able to view product information, prices, eligibility information, and system requirements by signing in to the Software Center. For information about FHSU’s Software and Hardware Purchase Recommendations, click here.

The following new products became available in April 2008:
Microsoft Office 2008 for Macintosh
Minitab Quality Companion 2 (6-month, 12-month, and Perpetual)
SPSS 16 for Windows (6- and 12-month Career Starter and Graduate Packs)

The following Adobe products were added in October 2007:
Adobe Acrobat 8.0 Professional (both for Mac and Windows)
Adobe CS3 Design Premium and Standard (both for Mac and Windows)
Adobe CS3 Master Collection (both for Mac and Windows)
Adobe CS3 Production Premium (both for Mac and Windows)
Adobe CS3 Web Standard (both for Mac and Windows)
Adobe Photoshop CS3 Extended (both for Mac and Windows)

New Storefront. When signing in to the Software Center, you may notice that it now has a new look. E-academy recently updated the Software Center storefront. We hope you will find that it is even more attractive and easier to use than before.

More Information. For information about eligibility requirements, how to sign in, and other frequently asked questions about the Software Center, see our information page or the Software Center Help page.

If you have forgotten your Software Center username and password, simply go to the Software Center Sign In page, and click on the Forgot your password? link.

As always, if you have questions, please feel free to contact us.

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Basic Routine Maintenance for Your Computer

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New Learning Management Systems Administrator Joins the CTC

The CTC Staff is pleased to welcome Ryan Frederick as our new Blackboard/Learning Management Systems Administrator. This new position has been jointly funded by a CTC-CTELT Action Plan. Ryan will work directly with Blackboard to fix bugs, install upgrades, and handle other server issues that may arise.

Ryan, originally from Wichita, has lived in Hays for about one month. He has family in Wichita and Hutchinson, and some also here in Hays. He attended Wichita East High School, and most recently worked for Kansas State University-Salina in system support for two years while completing his education there, earning Bachelor’s degrees in Computer Systems and Technology Management.

One of the reasons Ryan accepted the position here at FHSU was to “continue in the academic environment.” He believes it is important to keep our talent within the state, and not contribute to the ‘brain drain’ that occurs when college graduates leave Kansas to work elsewhere. Ryan is definitely excited about what the job has to offer, and hopes to expand on the knowledge he has already gained at K-State-Salina.

When asked what he had to offer the university, Ryan replied, “An open mind. Agility: the ability to adapt in a changing environment. Also, a desire to change our academic environment for the better.”

Ryan also shared a few fun facts with us. He has played the violin in the Hutchinson symphony for five years. On the opposite end of the spectrum, he plays rugby for the Salina Crusaders and referees for the Heart of America Rugby Football Union.

We welcome Ryan to the CTC and know he will be a valuable asset to our computing staff. We are delighted to have him aboard!

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Data Communications Coordinator to Retire in June

June 13, 2008 , Dan Pfeifer will be leaving the CTC to pursue retirement. He joined the FHSU staff in 1987 by working as the Coordinator of Data Communications, and will leave here doing the same. A huge accomplishment of Dan’s career was managing the deployment of the TigerNet Wireless Network.

A driving force throughout most of Dan’s career was “Dr. Hammond’s top priority to ‘electrify’ the campus…” Dan remembers when there were a few personal computers and some “dumb” terminals connected to the IBM mainframe via co-axial cable. Prior to his arrival, the installation of unshielded twisted pair cable made it easier to connect computers to form a network for ubiquitous sharing of information. Over his career, Dan installed, managed, and made several upgrades to the campus network as technology provided better equipment to inter-connect computers. Today, of course, nearly all students, faculty, and staff have their own computers, and can connect wirelessly from almost anywhere on campus.

Following his retirement, Dan plans to remain in the Hays area. This will also give him a chance to travel and visit family, as he and his wife Emily have sixteen grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.

There is no doubt that Dan has played an essential role in the development of networking and mobile technology here at Fort Hays State University, and we will be sad to see him go. We will remember all he has done for us and how he has helped guide our campus through the information age, right from the beginning.

We wish him well in his retirement!

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Spotlight on a CTC Employee: Derek Johnson

Old position: Network and Server Administrator
New Position: Data Communications Coordinator

1. Q. How long have you worked for the Computing and Telecommunication Center?
   A. I began as a student in 2003, and moved to full-time in 2006.

2. Q. Hometown?
   A. Clay Center, KS

3. Q. What is your favorite hobby?
   A. Video games.

4. Q. What CD is in your CD player?
   A. Mix MP3 -- a little bit of everything.

5. Q. Favorite Food?
   A. Oriental

6. Q. Most visited website (besides FHSU.edu)?
   A. neowin.net

7. Q. Cartoon Character?
   A. Brian Griffin

8. Q. Favorite TV show?
   A. House

9. Q. Actor and Actress?
   A. Bruce Campbell

10. Q. Favorite Movie?
    A. The Fifth Element

11. Q. Fun Fact?
    A. The largest toy distributor in the world is McDonald’s.

12. Q. Favorite Sport's Team?
    A. Don't really have a favorite, but I follow Kansas schools.

13. Q. What kind of car do you drive?
    A. BMW 325ci

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CTC HelpDesk Hours

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Help Us Help You!

Have you recently contacted or visited the CTC HelpDesk? If so, how did we do?

If you have ideas, concerns, or other feedback, let us know! Contact us, complete our survey, or use our secure comments form to give us your suggestions. Thank you in advance for your feedback - we look forward to hearing from you!

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CTC HelpDesk News is a semi-annual newsletter published by the
Fort Hays State University Computing and Telecommunication Center HelpDesk.
Nancy Cunningham and Michelle Schlyer, Editors