Author Archives: Bryan Carson

Web Services & Systems Librarian

Languages Advisory Group – Notes from Fall 2009 Meeting

The Languages Advisory Group met on December 10, 2009

Attending: Bryan Carson, Florence Feiereisen, Brigitte Humbert, Enrique Garcia, Joy Pile, Alex Chapin, Carol Peddie.

The topics of this meeting were:

  1. Updates and announcements
  2. Impacts of budget reductions on LIS
  3. Old items – recapped answers to question from last meeting.
  4. New business – questions from faculty.

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Languages Advisory Group Agenda, Fall 2009

Agenda for the Dec. 10th meeting:

1. Impact of the current financial crisis and budget cuts on LIS services and resources. (Carol Peddie)

2. Updates and announcements:  LIS and the CTLR are looking for examples of innovative uses of technology to feature in our new Teaching with Technology Blog and to participate in the Pedagogy and Technology Fair next spring. (Bryan)

3. Status of new College web site and departmental support.

4. Old items:

  • What is the policy on PC to Mac switch (for faculty)?
  • What’s the upgrade schedule for XP to Vista?
  • What’s faculty equipment replacement schedule going forward in the new fiscal climate?
  • answered here

5. New business

Items for Consideration from May 2009 meeting of the Languages Group

These questions were raised in the Languages Advisory Group’s May 2009 meeting.

What is the policy on PC to Mac switch (for faculty)?

If the faculty member’s primary computer is due for upgrade, s/he can choose from either of our standard models, Windows or Mac, for her/his new primary computer.  If the end of the four-year replacement cycle has not yet been reached, and there is a desire to switch platforms, LIS will do what we can within budget limits to meet the request, but we cannot always guarantee that we can supply a brand new model.  LIS is committed to providing all faculty with the equipment they need for their teaching and research, within the limitations of the budgets we have available.

What’s the upgrade schedule for XP to Vista?

There is no upgrade schedule to Vista.  LIS has decided leap-frog over Vista and go directly to Windows 7 when the time is appropriate.  We have ordered all new equipment to date with a downgrade to Windows XP Pro with service pack 3.  Our reasoning:  Vista introduced too many challenges to our support structure and to our end users.

What’s faculty equipment replacement schedule going forward in the new fiscal climate?

There is no change to the LIS replacement schedule.  The replacement cycle is based on a four-year deployment.  The only caveat is that LIS will more closely scrutinize requests for any additional machines (i.e., beyond the standard “one primary computer per faculty/staff member.)

Notes from May 2009 meeting of the Languages Group

The Languages Advisory Group met on May 14, 2009.

Attending: Co-conveners Bryan Carson (LIS) and Brigitte Humbert (French), Tom Beyer (Russian/FLAC Rep.),  Kyoko Davis, Enrique Garcia (Spanish), Larry Yarbrough (Religion/Arabic), Alex Chapin (LIS).

Topics for this meeting were

  • College Web Makeover information and discussion
  • Future Plans for Course Management Systems (Segue)
  • Follow-up on Previous Action items
    • Web-based recording (Wimba/Clear)
    • Moodle/Measure demo and discussion

Alex Chapin was the guest star of the meeting giving a short presentation and answering questions about Moodle/Measure, our online testing system for languages. Continue reading →