Student
Survey 2004 Results
Roberta Lembke, Director
The annual IIT student survey on student ownership and use of computers took place during registration in November. Most students participate in the survey and provide us with valuable data and feedback.
Last fall IIT completed our 15th year of surveying the students about their ownership and use of computing. Student ownership is now up to 92% compared to 87% last year. Ownership is up 10% from the 2001-02 academic year! Ninety-four percent of the incoming first-year students brought a computer with them to campus. One of the continued areas of concern is the disparity between the "haves" and the "have nots” among student owners of computers. IIT is watchful to ensure that the college-provided computing resources are adequate to support the students who can't afford to own a computer, as well as support the needs of those that do. This year, for the first time, IIT gathered data from those students enrolled in the SSS program. The SSS program serves low income, first generation and/or students with disabilities. Although only 43% of the SSS students responded, of those that did respond we found computer ownership to be only 75%. This is a concern and something that IIT will work with other offices on campus to address.
Student Computer Connection Changes
During January and February, IIT will be changing the way student-owned
PCs connect to the Novell servers Sven and Brit. These changes do not affect
Macintosh users, nor do they affect college-owned computers.
These changes were originally scheduled to take place over the summer in 2004.
However, due to Sven's instability during the fall semester, IIT staff decided
to move this project up. Student computers must be migrated by March 1, 2004.
After this date, computers that have not migrated to the new connection method
will no longer be able to connect to Sven and Brit.
Currently, student computers use the Client for NetWare Networks. This piece
of software is one reason there were problems with Sven last semester.
As part of the change, this software will be removed and student computers will
use the Client for Microsoft Networks software that typically comes pre-installed
on computers. This will allow IIT to support of connections from computers with
Windows XP Home Edition, which was not possible previously.
You can find instructions on changing your computer's connection at http://www.stolaf.edu/services/iit/resnet/. Again,
this should only be done on personally-owned PCs, not on college-owned equipment.
At the same time, IIT will be installing additional server hardware to provide
increased fault tolerance. To the end users, this means if one server has a problem,
the services hosted by that server (e.g. student home directories or public printers)
will fail over to another server. This will provide uninterrupted service to
users in the case of server problems.
As always, if you have any problems changing your computer's connection, please
contact the helpdesk at x3830 or helpdesk@stolaf.edu .
Administration Building Data/Voice Wiring
Beginning on February 2, 2004, the Administration Building will be re-wired to accommodate current standards for data, voice and video. The company that is performing the work will be working after business hours, starting at 5:00 PM. This should minimize the interruptions to college staff. However, some furniture will need to move away from walls to accommodate their schedule.
The plan is to start with the 3rd floor during the first week, move down to the west end of the 2nd floor, continue with the entire 1st floor by week 3 or 4 and finish with the east end of the 2nd floor. The entire process will most likely be completed around Spring Break.
New Student Information System Update
Mary Cisar and Jeff Dixon
A major portion of the new database and Registrar office applications
have been completed, though significant work remains. Staff are now beginning work
on the new web interface that students, parents and faculty will use to access
the database. The web system provides access to authorized users for such things
as class/lab schedules, grades, bills, and class rosters.
As the database and software are being developed, a faculty group, the Student
Information System Task Force, has been meeting since February 2003. The
current members of the task force include Laurel Carrington (Humanities), Jim
McKeel (Fine Arts, Academic Advising Center), David Lesniaski (Interdisciplinary
and General Studies), Rob Rutherford (Natural Sciences and Mathematics), Rosie
Pfarr-Baker (Social and Applied Sciences), and Margaret O'Leary (Norwegian Department
Chair, former Registrar), with Mary Cisar (Registrar) and Matt Richey (Mathematics
Department Chair) convening the group.
With the return of off-campus programs, along with new computers received for Christmas, IIT is seeing a rebound in the number of virus-infected computers as students are reconnecting to the network.
To protect your computer and the campus network, as well as all of its data, it's critical that you have anti-virus software installed on your computer and keep it up to date with the latest virus definitions. IIT has installed Symantec anti-virus on all college-owned computers and and servers and scans all incoming e-mail messages for viruses, but students need to purchase software for their personally-owned computers.
Personally-owned computers that are identified as being infected and/or spreading viruses will be disconnected from the network for a minimum of two weeks. Do not get cut off! Virus software can be purchased (and downloaded immediately) from the Internet or purchased from the Bookstore.
(Not-so-) New Staff Member Joins the IIT Team
In December, IIT welcomed Tim Frederick to the staff as the new Classroom
Technology and A/V Consultant. Tim comes to us from Juntunen Group where
he was the Operations and Resource Manager.
Tim is no stranger to St. Olaf as he worked in Media Services several years ago, so he is already familiar with the campus and the people.
He lives here in Northfield with his wife, Julie, and two boys, Evan and Aidan.
Tim replaces Geremy Olson, who left in November.
Spring Seminar
Series
Learn a new skill at one of the many seminars offered this spring.
This spring, IIT is offering a wide variety of computing seminars for faculty and staff. The seminars include such topics as using Microsoft Excel, PowerPoint, how to create web pages, image editing with Photoshop, using class folders, calendars, and remote access.
Complete seminar descriptions and schedule are available online. Space is limited, so be sure to reserve your place online if you plan to attend.
Spyware
Do you know who's watching you?
Pop-ups and generally slow responses from your computer are usually symptoms that you may have "spyware" on your computer. Spyware is a general term for a program that surreptitiously monitors your actions. While they are sometimes sinister, like a remote control program used by a hacker, software companies usually use it to secretly gather information about the user and relay it to advertisers or other interested parties. Spyware is both a performance and privacy concern for computer users.
There are several programs that can find and remove spyware from your computer. Two such programs are Ad-Aware and Spybot Search & Destroy . Others can be found by doing a Google search for "spyware."
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