|
|
|
Campus Computing News
The
campus computing environment continues to be dynamic. All
sorts of exciting projects, software acquisitions,
training opportunities, etc. are going on across campus.
Following are some of the more noteworthy developments in
recent months.
Desktop
Application Software Guidelines for the
campus were approved by the Information Resources
Council on February 17th (on the Web
at http://www.unt.edu/irc/policy/deskapps.htm). The guidelines generally recommend
that UNT adopt to the Microsoft Office suite
(Word, Excel, and PowerPoint), but each college
or administrative area will decide what mix of
applications it will support internally. Also,
the Guidelines say that unless you make prior
arrangements with the receiving person(s),
WordPerfect 5.1 is the preferred format for
transferring word processing files on campus
until September 1, 1998. After that date, Word
6.0 will be the preferred format. The intent of
the Guidelines is to prevent problems caused by
incompatible versions of software being used,
such as one person not being able to read another
person’s word processing file.
- The Microcomputer Maintenance Shop
has started selling and supporting two models of
Dell laptop computers. A campus committee
evaluated five different brands of laptops and
came to the conclusion that the Dell models best
fit our general needs. Information on ordering
the laptops is at http://www.mms.unt.edu/prenotebook.htm. Faculty, staff, and students can
purchase personally-owned machines from Dell at
the University-negotiated price, although
you’ll have to get support from Dell
directly.
- Academic Computing recently
purchased an upgraded version of the Web-based
testing package that has been available since
October. The new version, called
"QuestionMark Perception," does
automatic grading of tests (but not,
unfortunately, of essay question answers!,)
randomized selection of questions from test banks
at the time of testing, and has extensive
reporting capabilities. A description of the
package will be found at http://www.unt.edu/teachtech/, under the "Web testing at
UNT" heading. The new package might not be
fully installed and running by the time this
issue of Benchmarks is published, but
will be available by the fall 1998 semester.
Contact Maurice Leatherbury (x3854, or leatherb@unt.edu) if you have any questions about Web
testing.
- The Interactive
Learning Team
from Academic Computing put on a 16-session Distributed Learning Curriculum for Faculty from January 27th
through May 12th. The purpose of the
course was to introduce faculty to the
possibilities of distributing their courses on
the Web and via two-way videoconferencing. An
abbreviated version of that series of courses
will be offered immediately after the end of the
Spring semester – watch for an announcement
in your mailbox soon. Jenny
Jopling at
x4662 can tell you more about the courses.
- A "Computer Advantage" program, similar to the Service
Advantage program run by Human Resources, was
established in the Fall by Sandy Burke. The
Computer Advantage participants have been working
hard to get themselves trained so they can offer
computing short courses and have already offered
several courses such as Microsoft Word, Excel,
and GroupWise 5.2. They will be offering an
expanded curriculum of courses in the future,
including Microsoft Access classes in the Summer.
Contact Sandy Burke
(x3856) if you want to join Computing Advantage
or if you have questions about the course
schedule.
- The Registrar’s office and
Academic Computing have cooperated to establish
and equip a new computer training room in the Eagle Student Services Center(room 152.) The new facility has
23 student workstations and will be used for SIMS
training, etc. as well as for the short courses
that Academic Computing and the Computer
Advantage program offer. Sandy
Burke (x3856) is the
contact person in the Computing Center for the
use of the room, and Dallas Newell (x4604)
handles the Registrar’s use of the room.
- The Instructional Program Group of
the IRC is forming a campus-wide committee of
persons who are interested in adopting a Web
course management system. The goal is to get a
system in place by the fall semester that will
provide a framework for delivering Web-based
courseware, tracking student progress, and
administering Web tests. At the time of this
writing, TopClass and WebCT were the
two packages that Academic Computing have
identified as the best candidates for our use.
Let Maurice Leatherbury know if you have any thoughts on that
type of software or would like to join the
evaluation committee.
- An extensive set of
computer-based-training packages has been
purchased and installed on campus for student,
faculty, and staff use. A description of the
software can be found at http://www.unt.edu/training/CBTSystems/CBTSystems-Instructions.htm. From a campus PC, you can take
training courses on the Microsoft Office
products, learn how to program in C++, and even
learn Novell networking. Plans are currently
underway to sell CD-ROMs containing this software
in the UNT Bookstore.
- The Computing Center recently
completed a new installation package for the
Internet software that is used for dialing into
campus computers. The package includes a recent
version of Netscape, the student E-mail client Simeon, and
several other packages. Available in the
Bookstore on CD-ROM for $10, it works on Windows
95, Windows NT, and the Macintosh and makes it
very easy for you to set up your computer for
free or Premium Remote Access
to UNT’s dial-up Internet services. More
information about the CD-ROM can be found at http://www.unt.edu/helpdesk/inet/internet.htm#Software
for Basic Internet Service
- Academic Computing recently
purchased a 4-user version of the MatLab software
package for use on Sol, the Unix research computer. That
package will add some capabilities for
mathematical analysis that Mathmatica and Maple
(which we already have) doesn’t provide.
Contact Philip Baczewski (x3886) or Marc
St.-Gil (x3408) if you
have any questions on those packages.
- Research
and Statistical Support Services is
evaluating the latest version of SPSS for Windows
(v. 8.0). The new features of the software
include HTML conversion of output files, pivot
table output, interactive graphics and new
statistical procedures. Other software supported
by the office is:
- SAS 6.12
- LISREL 8.2
- Eviews 3.0
- DBMS/COPY 6.0
- In February, the Computing Center
had to order additional phone lines to
accommodate the demand for Premium Remote Access
Service subscriptions. Twenty-four (24) lines
were added to the 168 lines in the Denton area,
giving us the capability of supporting 1344
dial-up users at our guaranteed
seven-user-to-phone-line ratio. PRAS costs $45
per semester for plain old telephone service
("POTS") and $90 per semester if you
want ISDN service at 128Kb/sec. At the end of
March there were 1200 subscribers in Denton and
276 in Dallas/Ft. Worth (out of the 329
subscriptions available there.) n
|