Technical Support

The presenter will demonstrate the features of Adobe ConnectNow and share how this free online tool can help to enhance online or blended teaching and learning from four perspectives including visual instructional support through screen sharing between instructor and eLearners; efficient communication in various formats (text/visual/audio) through chat, webcam, whiteboard, and Internet telephony; active and collaborative learning by providing opportunities for eLearners to work together and technical ease (that is no additional software downloads required but just a web browser and the Adobe Flash Player).

Web conferencing is used to conduct live meetings or presentations via the Internet. There are hundreds of different web conferencing tools out there ranging from $50,000 to free and it can be overwhelming to know where to start. I will show you the process we went through in choosing multiple systems that work for our varied needs across different departments. It is a wonderful world of strange names, so whether you DimDim, WIZIQ, Vroom, Yugma, oovoo, or Ilinc, you will learn to save money not only in fuel costs but also budget costs.

Support models can only be judged by the (lack of) end-user's struggles. This presentation will cover the evolution of a traditional 1-man deep support structure into a more complex and diverse model that utilizes both technical solutions and shared ownership of support requests. Through experimental consideration of solutions (some adopted, others abandoned), the session will explore the considerations and rationale involved in trying to create noticeable progress in a short timeframe. The current model will be demonstrated as an example of a successful implementation.

Wordpress is well-known as a blogging system, but many people may not be aware that it is viable as a content management system (CMS) for building and maintaining a website. Before deciding on a large-scale CMS like Joomla or Drupal, one should consider if a simpler platform like Wordpress will meet your needs. The process of evaluation, preparation and transition to Wordpress as a CMS will be presented.

Learn how development frameworks can help you or your web developers quickly design, develop, and deliver highly customized, web-based applications—without having to reinvent the wheel. This presentation will offer a non-technical introduction to development frameworks like Symfony, Django, and Ruby and Rails. You'll develop a simple application in just a few minutes and discover how a development framework can simplify software development, reduce licensing and deployment costs—not to mention keeping your programmers happy!

PowerPoint’s strength lies in the use of visual content, but everyone has seen their share of bullet points. Your strength as an educator and communicator lies in story-telling. Using 4 simple techniques, you'll move away from bullet points and enliven your presentation for your audience.

An inbox often controls people instead of people controlling their inbox. The result is an overloaded inbox, warnings from Information Services, important messages being missed, and a feeling of being weighed down by too much email. By managing an inbox effectively, faculty and staff can become more productive, accomplish more, and be free of the issues caused by an overflowing inbox. Simple techniques useful to email users will be demonstrated.

In a span of three semesters, the University of Kansas Edwards Campus went from 3 video conference courses per semester to 22. To insure a quality experience, training materials and surveys were developed. At the end of each semester, the results of the surveys are shared with faculty members and their departments, used to improve equipment, technical support, and to gain a better understanding of the teaching techniques required to create a quality educational experience. The presentation will cover equipment improvements, support issues, teaching tips, and student survey comments.

In August 2005, the University of Kansas Medical Center launched its new 135 seat Computerized Testing Center (CTC). Since that time, the facility has successfully hosted over 30,000 individual high-stakes test sessions using LXR. This presentation will discuss the challenges involved in planning and managing such a facility including pilot testing, security, reliability, scalability, scheduling and support. It will also address the impact the CTC has had on paper/pencil testing.

Quality technical support services are critical to successful implementation of instructional technology.
Discussed are the findings of a study to benchmark community college services and identify best practices in the areas of distance learning, help desk services, and classroom technology support services. The study included a survey and interviews with technology services leadership and managerial support staff from League for Innovation board member colleges.