John Ellinger
Chief Information Officer
Bowling Green State University

• Office: 213 Hayes Hall
• Phone: 419-372-7712
• Email: cio@bgsu.edu

The Office of the CIO provides leadership, direction, and advocacy for information systems and information technology for the University.  

You are invited to review the 2012 ITS Strategic Plan for insight into our vision, mission, and strategic initiatives for 2012.

• System Issues
• Fall 2012 Lab Hardware and Software Upgrades
• 2012 Office of the CIO Golf Outing - July 27  
• Academic Software Advisory Committee (ASAC)
• Canvas - ePortfolio and Learning Management System (LMS)
• Introducing QizBox: A Social Learning Environment

• IT Announcements Calendar
• CIO-Alerts/CIO-Inform/ITS Fraud Notice email messages

As of 4 p.m. on Monday, May 21 the following system/services are known to be experiencing issues:

• • • the www.bgsu.edu homepage and multiple web pages are not working properly
    • on the BGSU home page - the Admissions button is not functioning - services are available by going to:  http://choose.bgsu.edu/welcome
    • on the BGSU home page - the Library button is now functioning with a temporary access measure
    • on the www.bgsu.edu landing page - the Undergraduate Catalog and Undergraduate Student Government links are not functioning
    • multiple links on www.bgsu.edu/sitemap are not working
    • some web applications and self-service items within the portal are experiencing authentication issues - this includes the link to WorkNet
    • from the MyBGSU portal page under Admin/Services - Internal Job Postings and Faculty Job Positions are inaccessible
    • WRL production system is now working and data will be refreshed on the normal early morning schedule and will be ready to use by 7 a.m. Tuesday morning - the WRL test system continues to be inaccessible.
    • some problems in connecting to MyVPN are being reported
    • the legacy Alumni AS400 system is not functioning
    • FMS91PPD and CS9QNA (reports and queries) are not functioning
    • some Bookstore services are not functioning
    • MyTest.bgsu.edu is not working
    • BG1Card connect with the database for PhotoID is not functioning
    • the OnBase scanning for Criminal Justice is not functioning

An interruption in electrical power on Saturday evening resulted in an unplanned outage for the central systems and disk storage contained in the ITS data center in Hayes Hall. This occurred at approximately 7 p.m. on Sat. May 19 and ITS staff members have been working since that time to restore systems and verify services.

Central offices and system owners are asked to test and verify systems that they use that may have been impacted by this unplanned outage. Users are also asked to verify data, particularly data for the 2-3 minutes near the 7 p.m. Sat. outage. Please report any problems discovered to the Technology Support Center (TSC).

This listing will continue to be updated as information becomes available.

In preparation for the fall 2012 semester, ITS will be completing hardware and software upgrades throughout the summer months.

The following software applications are anticipated to be available in most ITS-maintained computer labs prior to the start of fall semester classes.  Other instructional software available in public and department labs will be upgraded on a case-by-case basis.

• • PC only:  Windows 7 x 64 & IBM SPSS 20
  • Mac only:  Mac OS 10.7
  • PC and Mac:  Adobe Creative Suite 6

The labs scheduled to receive upgraded hardware over the summer are listed here.  This listing of software and hardware is subject to change, you are invited to check back and review the listed upgrades to be aware of any necessary revisions made as the project progresses.

In addition to the labs listed, PC systems in classroom technology cabinets will be upgraded to Windows 7 prior to the fall semester.

Any questions regarding may be directed to the Technology Support Center (TSC) at 419-372-0999, tsc@bgsu.edu or by selecting the Live Chat button available above.

The Office of the CIO would like to extend an invitation to all faculty, staff, students and community members to participate in the 8th annual BGSU Office of the CIO Golf Outing.

This event is scheduled for Friday, July 27 at the Stone Ridge Golf Club.  Registration includes 18 holes of golf, complimentary range balls prior to the round, two drink tickets and appetizers following the competition.  Prizes will be awarded.  Teams of four will compete in a best ball scramble format.

Further details and registration information are available at www.bgsu.edu/cio/golf.  The registration deadline is Friday, July 20 - register early to reserve a spot for your team.

In order to provide support for the integration of technology into the curriculum, a program to aid colleges with the purchase of instructional software and databases has been established.  The Academic Software Advisory Committee (ASAC) annually reviews requests and recommends the purchase of software that is to be used for instruction or a classroom activity.  Further information about this program may be found at the ASAC web page.

Any questions regarding the ASAC program may be directed to the Technology Support Center (TSC) at 419-372-0999, tsc@bgsu.edu or by selecting the Live Chat button available above.

BGSU is completing a review of the currently supported Learning Management System (LMS) and ePortfolio systems.  BGSU uses Blackboard for LMS and Epsilen for ePortfolio services.  

This is an Office of the Provost project with technical support being provided by Information Technology Services (ITS). 

An evaluation of five "open source" ePortfolio / LMS systems during the spring 2011 semester resulted in the selection of the Canvas product by Instructure for piloting at BGSU. During the fall '11 semester faculty and staff members, as identified by the deans of each college, learned how to use Canvas and prepared their course materials using Canvas. These materials were then utilized and evaluated by pilot group faculty, staff, and students during the spring '12 semester. The results of the pilot will be used to decide if Canvas will be the system to be implemented at BGSU or if Blackboard will be upgraded to v9.1 and continue to be used at BGSU.

Additional information about the Canvas product may be found by reviewing the April 2011 BGSU Canvas product demo or by vising the Instructure web site:  www.instructure.com.

QizBox is a web application which uses game mechanics to create a social learning environment. Created to enhance the real-life classroom lecture and presentation experience, QizBox offers the presenter the ability to share slides, quiz the audience and provide real-time feedback. When enabled, the audience may discuss the lecture in a chat room, ask and answer questions, and even take notes that are accessible for review through a dashboard interface. QizBox also includes a dynamic award system that honors audience engagement with the presentation. Users can accumulate, create, and distribute awards that contribute to a collaborative and cooperative learning environment.

QizBox is available to all BGSU faculty and students. This web app can also be used to enhance meeting and conference presentations. QizBox workshops are offered through the Center for Teaching and Learning.

To learn more about QizBox, please contact Anthony Fontana at afontan@bgsu.edu.