technology - IT@Rice

REPORT FROM THE
VICE PROVOST FOR
INFORMATION
TECHNOLOGY
FEB. 2008
RICE UNIVERSITY
Fathi Ghorbel, Schlumberger
Paris’s Visiting Chair in
Mathematics and Robotics,
connects with Rice students
and faculty from his lab in
France each week, thanks to
videoconferencing set up by IT.
1440 : 1 is the
performance
increase Dr. Danny
Sorenson achieved
with algorithm
computations on
the Cray XD1.
Welcome. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
List of Accomplishments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
Major Initiatives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Briefs
Campus Network. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
From the Dalai Lama to an Argentinian
dance instructor, IT connects Rice
guests with the community and
other universities.
Network Connections . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Data Centers. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Security . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Disaster Recovery and Business Continuity. . . . . . . . . . . . .
Computing Support. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Support for Teaching. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Support for Research. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
7
7
10
11
12
15
16
Awards, Papers, and Presentations. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
Customer Input
Survey Results
Customer Service. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Teaching with Technology. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
OWL-Space. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Statistics
Campus Migration to the New Network. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Problems Resolved . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
26
27
27
28
29
As a leading research university with a distinctive commitment to undergraduate education, Rice University
aspires to path-breaking research, unsurpassed teaching and contributions to the betterment of our world. It
seeks to fulfill this mission by cultivating a diverse community of learning and discovery that produces leaders
across the spectrum of human endeavor.
IT Mission
The division of Information Technology supports Rice University by working with colleagues within and
beyond the campus to enhance teaching and learning, support research and collaborations, facilitate outreach
and foster strategic partnerships.
IT Goals
• Work with the Rice University faculty, staff and students to provide information technology services and
solutions that enhance teaching and learning. (Vision for the Second century [V2C], Point 2)
• Provide leadership, planning and support for Rice’s research and collaborative initiatives. [V2C, 1]
• Foster strategic partnerships at local, regional and national levels to leverage Rice resources. [V2C, 4 and 10]
• Constantly improve the customer IT experience through our professionalism, courtesy, consistency and
commitment to excellence. [Rice University Mission Statement]
Welcome
“Commitment to excellence,” a phrase from our mission statement,
describes the Office of the Vice Provost for Information Technology (IT)’s
paramount theme over the last two years. Several significant objectives
have been accomplished, including installation of a new network, creation
of a new data center, and increased classroom and teaching technology
tools and applications. Improved performance in overall customer support
and shortened response time to assistance requests were also targeted
objectives. Clarification of core support expectations was key to achieving
improved customer support, and an IT service catalog was proposed and
outlined by December 2007. Support for research computing continues its
growth pattern; leveraging existing and new research infrastructures created
opportunities for additional research computing resources.
I am excited about sharing our accomplishments with you through this
report. With this publication, I’ll also be communicating our current goals
and themes and illustrating how our commitment to excellence embraces
and supports Rice’s Vision for the Second Century. I encourage you to
communicate with me or other members of the IT organization in an
ongoing campus dialogue as we shape the Rice information technology
environment together.
Kamran Khan
it advisory committee
Chairs
Kamran Khan
Moshe Vardi
Members
Randy
Castiglioni
Katherine
Crosswhite
Joe Davidson
Blair Doneske,
grad student rep.
Robin Forman
Tony Gorry
Arthur
Gottschalk
Chris Kelty
David Kilgore
Jordan Konisky
Siva Kumari
J.D. Leonard,
undergrad rep.
Erzsebet Merenyi
Albert Pope
Gus Scuseria
Qimiao Si
The Information Technology
Advisory Committee (ITAC) facilitates
the continuous communication required to
address the complex issue of technology
usage on the Rice campus. Created in
the fall of 2004, ITAC provides advice
on technology priorities for academic
computing and communication facilitation
across the Rice community. Faculty, staff
and student representatives advise the
Vice Provost for IT on the development
of campuswide IT strategies. Committee
discussions address issues such as
institutional priorities, security, the
campus network, support for classroom
technologies, research computing and
digital library requirements.
Kamran Khan
Vice Provost for Information Technology
[email protected]
it directors
William Deigaard
Networking, Telecommunications
& Data Center
Gary Kidney
Academic & Research Computing
Andrea Martin
Enterprise Applications
Yemeen Rahman
Administration, Planning & Finance
Barry Ribbeck
Systems, Architecture
& Infrastructure
Marc Scarborough
Information Technology
Security Office
1
Accomplishments
Installed new campus network
Opened new data center
Transferred naylor data center equipment
Installed new storage and e-mail systems
Implemented emergency notification system
Received Innovators (Campus Technology) Award
Received ComputerWorld Storage Award
Focused on service and support (SLA)
Improved connectivity to the network superhighway
Moments with a Master
Yo Yo Ma offered a master cello
class in Florida, but Shepherd
School students attended the
class in Houston, thanks to the
streaming video connections set
up by IT.
Enhanced security and awareness
Improved disaster recovery/business continuity
Established campus portal
Installed Facilities Management System
Implemented single sign-on and account management
Spam Mitigation (RBL and DSpam)
Campus Agreements
Supported research computing
Supported teaching and learning
Established open learning systems (Sakai, Dspace, Connexions)
2
Rx for Research News
At 4 p.m. on Fridays, the
Keck Seminar connects Rice
researchers and grad students
with health science professionals
at the Texas Medical Center,
Galveston’s Medical Center and
other research institutions. IT
runs the weekly videoconference
for the Gulf Coast Consortia.
Fiscal 2007 Major Initiatives
Service and Support
•
•
•
•
Establish protocol for classroom and lab computer images
Add additional metrics to evaluate performance of Help Desk and Client Support and Services
Reduce delay in initial response to Help Desk requests
Improve online classroom database
Network and Data Center Projects
•
•
•
•
•
•
Plan future Telecommunications architecture and services
Finish data center migrations
Complete RiceNet1 removal from all buildings
Complete border firewall architecture changes
Deploy comprehensive monitoring infrastructure into Data Center Network Operations Center
Add all NTDCO documentation and project plans to the IT wiki
Security and Awareness
•
•
•
•
Implement intrusion detection system on new network
Implement centralized password system to manage system passwords
Develop tools and strategies to protect mobile data
Enhance centralized management of desktop firewalls and antivirus installations to prevent and react to
network threats
Storage and Backup
• Complete migration of deprecated mail systems to Rice Mail
• Complete RN2 migrations to storage and consolidation of old file servers
• Consolidate backup services for department servers
Facilities Management System (FAMIS)
FAMIS was launched by Facilities, Engineering and Planning (FE&P) with assistance from IT in July 2007. This
integrated facilities management system enabled any member of the Rice community to request FE&P assistance and
track work orders online. Customers can log in to check the status of their request, review estimates or accrued costs,
or even approve a utility outage for their area. The 18-month collaboration between IT and FE&P on this single
project led to a successful FAMIS implementation with links to secure NetID authentication through Kerberos single
sign-on and to integrated billing processes with the Banner financial system. Coming June 2008: Space Survey.
https://famisweb.rice.edu
3
Fiscal 2007 Major Initiatives (cont’d)
Support for Research Computing
• Provide support and manage high performance computing
• Implement plans for a computational farm and cost/service center for research computing
• Expand the use of research computing resources to a significant number of additional Rice faculty
Support for Teaching and Learning
• Expose faculty to alternative methods of using video resources in teaching and learning, such as digital
storytelling, video cases and problem-based instruction, and multimedia assignments (in partnership with
the Digital Media Center and the Center for Technology in Teaching and Learning)
• Continue the Educational Technologies at Rice University marketing campaign
• Test and deploy the MediaForge institutional media transcoding utility
• Make improvements to the webcast database and media archiving system for increased usability and
management
• Publish Rice Events video podcast feeds in addition to audio podcast feeds
• Provide a standard suite of Instructional Technology offerings in the remaining eight registrar-controlled
classrooms
• Restructure Owlnet
Open Learning Systems (Sakai, Dspace, Connexions)
• Expand the toolset available in Owl Space, including the addition of the Media Management Collection,
CANS social awareness software and the institutional citation sharing system (Web 2.0 application)
• Support the Digital Library Initiative
• Create e-portfolios
Single Sign-On and Account Management
• Add Oracle Calendar functionality
• Implement two-factor authentication for higher security applications
• Enable single sign-on for applications
Blogging My Internship in Africa
Global network access came in handy for Rice students
in the Beyond Traditional Borders program. From remote
locations in Africa, five students updated their blogs with
journal entries and photos. The Web site, designed by IT’s
Web Services, was created to track the students’ experiences
during their eight-week summer internships as they studied
health care in the developing world and implemented health
technologies and educational programs of their own design.
http://owlsbeyondborders.rice.edu
4
Fiscal 2007 Major Initiatives (cont’d)
Communications
• Hold “Conversations with IT” in every department
• Increase student awareness of IT support
• Establish https://docs.rice.edu for IT communication, collaboration
and documentation
• Implement IT internship program
• Document process changes in IT
Applications
Collaborative Projects
To support the university’s
initiatives, IT engages in a
variety of projects with other
departments, including:
Jesse H. Jones Graduate School
of Management

Relationship Management
System
• Provide enrollment and campus imaging services
• Implement the Facilities Management System (FAMIS), Event
Management System and Guest Account process
• Provide Web.rice.edu hosting for static html, plone, wikis and blogs
• Provide Web services for Rice student clubs
• Offer collaboration services
• Support the offices of Institutional Effectiveness with campus
survey and analytic tools
• Assist the Office of Public Affairs with campus branding
• Support incoming student-processing working group

Faculty evaluations

Purchase order IDT

Event registration

Event management system

MS Exchange server

Portal pages for students and
IT Support of Construction Projects
Online credit card billing


System for international patron
• Work with FE&P and building constituencies during design and
construction of the Collaborative Research Center, Duncan and
McMurtry Colleges, Brochstein Pavilion and the South Utility Plant
IT Asset Management
IT Infrastructure Life Cycling
IT Staff Initiatives
• Establish the VPIT Innovation Program
• Create soft and technical skills curriculum
• Perform hiring, retention and salary analysis
Disaster Recovery/Business Continuity
• Install disaster recovery systems into SMU facility
• Facilitate Rice Emergency e-mail Broadcast Service
• Integrate Mir3 with the Rice Person Registry (Owldb) for
emergency communications
• Synchronize mirrored data storage between PDC and Mudd
• Off-site vaulting of backups at Iron Mountain
• Server consolidation
faculty
Fondren Library

Museum of Houston

Archive-It (Web archiving
system)
support

Acquisition of Isilon video
storage system
James A. Baker III Institute for
Public Policy

Customer relations management
software

Acquisition of Isilon video
storage system

Web site, events

Publications, work flow,
graphics
Technical consulting and

feasibility
Administrative Systems

RightNow Web

Facilities management system

Course evaluations
5
Briefs
Campus Network
zz Moved all critical systems from
Mudd and Naylor to new Data
Center
zz Established dark fiber
connectivity to new data center
zz Deployed and activated
RiceNet2 into all academic and
administrative buildings
zz Removed RiceNet1 from 10
buildings
http://www.rice.edu/ricenet/
Rice began implementing an entirely new network infrastructure
for the campus community in August 2005. Replacement of all the
network electronics and almost all the physical wiring meant IT staff
members and contractors had to visit every campus building, including
the off-campus data centers. Copper wiring inside buildings and fiber
connections between buildings were upgraded to network fiber-optic
cabling with a capacity 100 times greater than that of the old network
wiring. Enterprise class servers and storage systems were installed to
create a reliable, high-performance computing environment. Within two
years, IT had completed the physical replacement of wiring in all but a few campus buildings. Due to asbestos
complexities, a handful of buildings could not be rewired in 2007. The most recently completed construction
projects, including Martel and Wiess Colleges, were built with future-ready wiring in place. IT also works
closely with Facilities, Engineering and Planning to ensure that current and planned new-build and remodeling
projects include future-ready network wiring, wiring closets, network ports and wireless connectivity. Wireless
connectivity is now available throughout the campus and a wireless visitor network allows Rice campus guests
to access the Internet while protecting the Rice network from accidental or malicious tampering.
Once the physical network was in place, individual computer migrations could begin. IT-managed classrooms
and labs were migrated to the new network before classes began in August 2006. When undergraduates arrived
on campus that same month, crews of IT staff and student workers were on hand to assist with personal
computer connections to the new network. For staff and faculty, teams of migration specialists scheduled
individual appointments to move their computers to the new network. Security restrictions on the new network
also required updating computer operating systems and anti-virus programs on each computer. A few remaining
buildings are scheduled for migration of individual computers to the new network in early 2008. A history of the
migration and projected dates for the final migrations can be found online in the RiceNet Web site.
Relationship Management
Rice’s Jesse H. Jones Graduate School of Management tracks its students,
staff, company contacts, partners, alumni and much more. Determining how
to track all this data presented a major problem, so IT’s Web Services worked
with administrators and staff for more than six months to develop a customized
Relationship Management System. This system holds 10,000-plus records and is
the tool more than 30 internal users depend on for current information.
http://jonesschoolrms.rice.edu/
6
Network Connections
The new infrastructure furthers Rice’s participation in research and
educational networks like the Research and Education Network of
Houston (RENoH), the Lonestar Education and Research Network
(LEARN) and the National Lambda Rail (NLR). These new facilitiesbased, collaborative networks strengthen and complement existing
activities with the Southeast Texas GigaPOP (SETG) and Internet2. In
particular, the new RENoH fiber infrastructure allowed SETG members
to deploy a new, redundant 10-gigabit network infrastructure for Houston
research and education.
Data Centers
http://www.rice.edu/it/NewDC/
Critical Rice infrastructure servers and systems are stored in data
centers: unique environments that provide a consistent, high power
supply, backup power contingencies, climate control systems and
specialized fire control systems for electronic equipment. Over the
past two years, IT received university support to utilize a temporary
downtown data center as well as funding to build the newly constructed
Primary Data Center (PDC). With the completion of the PDC, critical
systems and servers were transferred from the temporary data center, the
Mudd Data Center and various other locations around campus. At least
two of the systems were of such importance to Rice that their vendors’
technicians came to Houston to nurture the equipment through its shutdown in the temporary data center and subsequent reconstruction and
powering up in the PDC. One of these was the server cluster that houses
Rice’s long-term persistent data storage systems and one was Ada,
the super computing research cluster nicknamed for the first computer
programmer, Ada Lovelace. Due to the services, applications and
research projects supported by these critical systems, the migration from
one location to another was carefully planned to have the least impact
on the majority of the campus. Currently, the majority of critical servers
and systems are located at the
PDC, with Mudd serving as
zz Online and in business
a backup site. In order for the
zz Current operating load
Mudd Data Center to fulfill its
zz 610 kW of power
role in Rice’s disaster recovery
zz Approximately 140 tons of cooling
plan for business continuity,
zz Networking
the building received facility
zz 20 gigabits (load balanced 10
upgrades including cooling
gigabit ring)
and emergency power supplies
zz 8 gigabits (SAN)
in the spring of 2007.
More Time, Faster
IT helped Rice Materials
Scientist Boris Yakobson
secure enough highperformance computing
cycles on the ADA research
computing cluster to create
a virtual environment
capable of modeling the
way nanotubes are formed.
Previously, scientists could
not predict how nanotubes
were formed because it
occurred so rapidly, but
Yakobson realized a type of
shrink-wrapping in his model.
This model of the creation
environment of nanotubes
will allow other researchers to
customize the environment so
that nanotubes can be grown
to specified sizes for specific
jobs, including nanotubes that
can be targeted to destroy
cancer cells.
7
Telecommunications
The Telecommunications group in IT manages and maintains the
centralized telecommunications network. This network provides
telephone service to student college rooms, faculty and staff
offices, classrooms and labs. Maintenance and repair services,
new telephone line installation, billing and other telephone service
program changes are just a few of the types of support work
performed by the Telecommunications staff.
Reggie Clarkson, telecommunications manager, also provides
project management and in-house consulting services regarding
telecommunications issues, training, system expansion oversight,
upgrades and improvements, and strategic planning to identify
and incorporate those technologies that support the mission of the
university.
zz Achieved 100% uptime for campus PBX
zz Migrated telephone infrastructure to new network
cabling in 48 buildings
zz Installed redundant ring of metro dark-fiber to connect
new data center
zz Deployed personal communications assistant to more
than 100 users
zz Installed 16 VoIP phones
zz Installed six construction progress and archive cameras
zz Rolled out free long-distance to undergraduate students
zz Implemented new, higher-quality long-distance carrier
with more international access
zz Supported five construction trailer sites
8
Speeding Up Research
When it comes to research,
Rice’s Dr. Danny Sorensen
thinks big. The Noah
Harding Professor of
Computational and Applied
Mathematics focuses his
research on very large-scale
eigenvalue problems. His
work on the Cray XD1
supercomputer, which is
supported by IT’s research
computing specialists,
resulted in an algorithm
speed-up that reduced
computation times from a
day to less than a minute.
Systems, Architecture and Infrastructure
Running on the backbone of Rice’s new network is a complex grid of systems and applications that provide the
core of the campus’s electronic infrastructure. Just as automobile traffic flows over roadways, e-mail, calendars
and Web applications flow across network channels. The Systems, Architecture and Infrastructure (SAI)
department in IT is the group that monitors this electronic traffic, troubleshoots areas of congestion and tows
abandoned accounts away to archive locations. SAI also manages
Rice’s e-mail, calendar, and personal and electronic shared storage
Applications Using Single Sign-on
spaces.
zz Owlspace (Sakai)
zz Uportal
Utilizing realtime blacklists became an effective deterrent to spam
zz E-mail Cyrus and Exchange
(junk e-mail messages), the majority of which is rejected before it
zz Desktop logins for Windows
can enter and disrupt the campus mail system. DSPAM provides
(Active Directory), Mac,
an individualed, customizable tool for additional spam filtering
Linux and Unix
or tagging. Rice e-mail account holders can increase or decrease
z
z
Request Tracker IT Help
their spam identification level and have any likely spam messages
System
tagged and delivered to their inbox or held in a quarantine queue
z
z
VPN
for periodic review. Messages in the quarantine can be marked for
zz Wireless 802.1X
delivery or deleted.
authentication
z
z
http://apply.rice.edu account
Single sign-on is an application that creates the opportunity for a
management service
reduced number of account names and passwords. By synchronizing
z
z
Oracle Calendar
multiple accounts with an authenticated NetID and password, this
zz Career Services
account/password combination can be used to log in to Rice’s
zz Jabber
computers, e-mail, Oracle Calendar, portal (https://my.rice.edu) and
zz Subversion
several other online applications.
zz https://jobs.rice.edu
zz DSPAM
Using a NetID and password from off-campus, a Rice student or
zz IT Dashboard
employee can connect to the Rice network through VPN and work
zz FamisWeb
remotely from almost anywhere in the world. Locally, the NetID can
zz ESTHER (2/8/08)
be used to access the secure Rice wireless network.
A Broad Solution for International Programs
Nearly 40 percent of Rice undergraduates complete at least one semester
or program abroad. IT’s Web Services worked with Rice’s International
Programs department to create a solution capable of managing more than
500 international program opportunities in 74 countries. The department’s
new Web site includes extensive external information and searches along
with internal data management systems.
http://abroad.rice.edu/
9
Security
http://www.rice.edu/it/security
Established in 2005, the IT Security Office works to detect and
eliminate vulnerable areas in Rice’s information technologies. In
conjunction with the new network, more stringent security measures
were implemented to protect the Rice computing environment.
All computers that attempt to connect to the Rice network must
first successfully pass through the Clean Access application. This
application scans the computer’s operating system for current patches
and checks for the presence of antivirus software. In addition, the
application identifies actual viruses that may be hiding in the machine.
Helping the Rice computing community adjust to the new security
measures was a huge initiative between July 2006 and June 2007. By
the time students arrived on campus in August 2007, the majority of
Rice’s computing community had successfully migrated to the new
network and accepted the new security measures. Educating new
students and employees remains a high priority.
Additionally, the IT Security Office works with the Office of the
General Counsel to increase awareness of copyright infringements.
Rice General Counsel received 270 Digital Millennium Copyright
Act (DMCA) notices in the previous academic year. The IT Security
office is required to track down the individuals named in the notice to
determine if the copyright infringement occurred and to quarantine the
computer until the copyrighted material is removed.
Security Upgrades
zz Implemented Tenable
Security Center, a
vulnerability assessment
scanner, to ensure our
systems are safer from
attack
zz Expanded security and
continuity audits for
critical systems and
services to allow for
better reliability and
quicker recovery
10
Systems administrators across
campus will also follow new
guidelines drafted by the IT
Security Office. Before being
brought into production, every
new campuswide system has
to pass all system auditing
and vulnerability assessments,
including security and redundancy
components. Expect information
from the security office on the
selected assessment tool as soon as
the contract has been finalized.
Computer Cleaning
During the first two weeks
of the fall 2006 semester,
IT helped approximately
1,100 students connect
their computers to the new
network and install and
navigate the Clean Access
software. Another 570
students managed the process
on their own. By July 2007,
approximately 6,000 Rice
students and faculty and
staff members had migrated
successfully to the new
network and its required
security measures. When new
students arrived in August
2007, fewer than 250 needed
assistance from IT staff to
connect their computers to the
new network.
Disaster Recovery and Business Continuity
IT continues to work with departments across campus
to evaluate business continuity technology needs and
contingency plans regarding critical services. For the Rice
Enterprise Storage Service, a mirrored data storage service
instantaneously synchronizes the Mudd and Primary Data
Centers. Backups are stored off-site at Iron Mountain.
The Rice Crisis Management Team worked with IT to
develop two emergency communication systems. The Rice
Emergency E-mail Broadcast Service allows internal e-mail
communication to faculty, students and staff in a rapidresponse Web application.
The Emergency Communications – Mir3 Application Service
Provider integrates with the Rice Person Registry to notify the
entire campus or a specific building’s occupants of an emergency
condition via personal cell phones, SMS text messaging, campus
desk phones and electronic messages to both Rice and non-Rice
e-mail addresses. This system depends on information Rice
community members voluntarily add and maintain in the Rice
Person Registry.
Crisis Preparedness
zz Implementation and semester testing of emergency communications working with the Rice Crisis
Management Team
zz Mirrored data storage for enterprise data
zz E-mail Replication - An independent e-mail system that keeps e-mail synchronized up to the
minute and can take over in case of a catastrophe or major disruption of service
zz Off-site vaulting of backup tapes containing critical data to a bunker facility
zz Virtualization - Using virtual machine software, IT can quickly recover many systems to a
production state much more quickly than before
zz Redundant critical services - Making critical applications resilient to service disruptions due to
hardware failures
zz Server consolidation: Moving forward in 2008, we will be collapsing many departmental servers
into centralized services; This will provide a more cost-effective means of ensuring the protection
of critical university data and operational stability in the event of a disaster with auditable
reliability for granting agencies and compliance needs
11
Customer Computing Support
http://www.rice.edu/it/help/index.html
The Help Desk serves as the initial contact point for
Rice faculty, staff and students who need computer
assistance. Three full-time support specialists and
a number of student consultants handle incoming
requests for assistance. Help Desk staff are trained to
log incoming requests and to resolve problems; issues
are also assigned to other IT staff members by Help
Desk staff, based on the nature of the problem or the
location of the customer.
IT support staff around campus receive notice of
these requests for assistance through Request Tracker,
Rice’s online IT problem management system.
Through Request Tracker, IT can monitor response
time and length of time spent on customer requests
for assistance. During the 2006-2007 academic year,
more than 17,500 issues were addressed, and more
than 75 percent of assistance requests were responded
to within four hours.
In order to increase support staff expertise, IT continually provides training opportunities, such as the Windows
Vista training classes held in the summer of 2007 and the Red Hat Linux certification classes held in September
2007. When Apple released Mac OS X Leopard 10.5, several IT support staff volunteered to test the operating
system and identify bugs or features that didn’t work as anticipated in the Rice network environment. IT support
staff also continue to test personal digital assistants (PDAs) and Smartphones in order to recommend devices
that work well with existing Rice technologies and to better support customers who use these devices.
Simplifying Course Selections
Academic advisers requested an easy way to view course
syllabi and reading lists so that students who were shopping
for their next semester’s courses could gain some insight
into the offered classes. IT was able to populate OWL-Space
with basic spring 2008 course information without hindering
the utilization of active fall 2007 course pages. Instructors
across campus were advised of the new feature and given
simple instructions on how to change the default for OWLSpace pages from private (limited to students actually
registered for the course) to public. In addition to satisfying
the advisers’ request, the public syllabi and reading list
pages provided a new venue for instructors to generate
interest in their courses during registration.
12
Conversations With IT
Themes From the First Four Events
At the end of the fall 2007 semester, IT
launched a campaign to gather information on
the specific needs of customers in each building
around the campus, as well as at the IBC and
Greenbriar locations. Called Conversations
With IT, this initiative aims to move beyond
individual tickets (requests for service) in order
to look at customer needs holistically.
zz 76% of comments were requests to improve or
extend an existing service
zz 14% were requests for a new service
zz 10% were individual or isolated technical problems
zz The 10 topics most frequently mentioned included:
Mobile computing - 20%
Web services - 12%
Classroom/teaching technology - 7%
Authentication - 7%
Marketplace - 7%
OWLSpace - 3%
IT-offered training – 3%
Storage - 3%
Network - 3%
Topics and themes for each building can be found
online: http://www.rice.edu/vpit/news/conversations/
By taking at least an hour to really listen to
our customers in each building and by asking
them questions like “What kind of technology
would take you to the next level in teaching
or research?” we gain a better understanding
of how they use information technologies
and the kinds of tools and applications they
would like to be utilizing. Conversations With
IT also creates an opportunity to expand awareness of a number of IT services that may not be well-known
within the Rice University community. IT tracks each of the items that customers suggest or request during
these conversations: Poster-size notepads are used in each session to write down each item, then the notes are
added to IT documentation and follow-up begins. Tracking the themes in the conversations also allows IT staff
members to become aware of and to respond to any issues which may be lingering.
Our goal is to schedule as many academic buildings as possible before the end of April, then switch for the
summer months to buildings with residents who are not tied to the traditional Rice academic year. After the first
two weeks of the Fall 2008 semester, we will target the remaining academic buildings.
zz
zz
zz
zz
November 27 – GR Brown
December 5 – Athletics
January 11 – IBC
January 15 – Duncan
zz
zz
zz
zz
January 25 – Rayzor
January 29 – Anderson (Archi)
February 4 – Sewall
February 11 - Keck
zz February 25 - Abercrombie
zz early March - Spring Break
zz March 10 - Herring
Electronic Ticketing
Houston Friends of Music discovered that IT’s Web Services could
write payment modules and promptly secured their assistance in
moving from mail-order tickets purchased by check to online ticket
sales. Although the initial aim was to transition to electronic payments,
Web Services created purchasing options for single-show tickets,
multiple ticket packages and season subscriptions along with a secure
online credit card transaction processing system.
http://www.rice.edu/friends
13
OWL-Space: Online Course Management and Collaborations
http://owlspace.rice.edu
The Educational Technologies group in IT successfully launched Rice’s
new course management and collaboration system, OWL-Space, in fall
2006. OWL-Space is powered by Sakai, a free and open-source online
collaboration and learning environment. OWL-Space training is offered
throughout the year and surveys of the system’s usefulness are conducted
at the end of each semester. Survey results are then used to shape future
system refinements and features. Statistics for the first 60 days of the
fall 2007 semester show how popular the system has become and how
frequently it is accessed for course-related resources.
Visits Summary
Visits: 157,255
Average per Day: 2,382
Average Visit Duration: 37:32
minutes
Page View Summary
Page Views: 7,161,383
Average per Day: 108,505
Average Page Views per Visit:
45.54
Hit Summary
Successful Hits for Entire Site:
29,201,747
Average Hits per Day: 442,450
Most common Browsers
Firefox: 44.26 %
Internet Explorer: 41.63%
Safari: 9.5%
Mozilla: 2.07
Most common Platforms
- Windows XP: 62.45%
- Macintosh: 19.37%
- Windows Vista: 13.15%
- Linux: 1.16%
14
Downloaded files
Total number of files 104,974
Including:
- 67,842 Adobe Acrobat files
- 36,540 Word files
- 14,702 PowerPoint files
- 10,348 Excel Spreadsheets
- 1,356 RTF files
- 1,311 Flash Video files
- 1,311 Simple Text files
Total file transfer volume:
276,608,347 kilobytes
Sakai (Powers OWL-Space)
zz Full implementation of
Sakai
zz Usage statistics show
faculty adopting the tool
across the board
zz Completed IBM SUR
grant to integrate
Connexions and DSpace
repositories into Sakai
Live From Paris
When Dr. Fathi Ghorbel,
professor of engineering and
materials Science and of
bioengineering, accepted a
year-long position in Paris as
Schlumberger’s Visiting Chair
in Mathematics and Robotics,
he talked with IT about a joint
class where students from
Grandes Écoles and Rice
could utilize videoconference
technologies to collaborate
on projects and presentations.
Once each week, Ghorbel’s
French students and Rice
students under the direction
of Dr. Brent Houchens
participate in discussions and
presentations and listen to
guest lectures from experts in
both countries.
Computing Support for Teaching and Learning
http://edtech.rice.edu/
In addition to OWL-Space, IT’s Educational Technologies team
supports the classroom and lab instructional technologies that are
used by many Rice faculty members to enhance their teaching.
Instructional technology specialists offer training sessions at the
beginning of each academic year to help new users become more
comfortable with these teaching tools and to introduce new features or
enhancements installed in the classrooms and labs during the summer
months.
Both students and instructors embrace new audio and visual
technologies and IT’s Media Services plays an important role in
providing support for these innovative teaching and learning tools.
Podcasting officially arrived at Rice in 2007 when Media Services
added a podcast feed to provide information about Rice’s academic
and research assets. Currently, more than 40 podcasts are available
through this feed, while Media Services’ archives contain more than
1,000 audio-video recordings
Faculty Development Training
zz Continued Lunch and Learns
on a monthly schedule
zz Deployed technology into
eight additional classrooms
zz Deployed audience response
system technology
Classroom/Lab Readiness
zz Developed and deployed
consistent standard image for
classrooms and labs
zz Hired Aaron Ageitos to
support embedded technology
installations
Videoconferencing continues to thrive as a popular learning technology. Through collaborations with
organizations as diverse as M.D. Anderson and Schlumberger, Rice students take advantage of opportunities
to learn from leading authorities on a wide range of topics. Rice students share videoconference learning
opportunities with students in collaborating institutions throughout the United States and in Latin America
and Europe.
Second Life Simulcast, Videos From Space
The March 2007 DeLange Conference on Emerging Libraries
took place simultaneously on the Rice campus and in Second
Life, a virtual world. Approximately 350 guests attended the
conference at Rice; additional guests participated through the
Second Life broadcast made possible by IT’s Media Services.
Seven months later, 1,700 middle school girls and their
teachers arrived on campus for the Second Sally Ride
Festival to explore careers for girls in science, technology,
engineering and math. IT’s Media Services set up streaming
video (including feed from the International Space Station)
and webcast the event so guests outside Houston could catch
the excitement.
15
Computing Support for Research
http://www.rice.edu/it/research
For Rice research initiatives that require
computational resources, IT created a
specialized group of support staff members.
The Research Computing Support
Group works with individual faculty and
with centers and institutes to provide a
robust computing infrastructure to meet
campuswide research requirements.
Computer-based modeling, simulations,
visualizations, massive digital content
and data analysis, and mining are several
examples of research techniques supported
by this group. Their services include
systems administration, applications
support, user support, data management,
and support of research clusters and
systems at Rice. In a single academic year,
the number of accounts on the research clusters rose from 165 to 325,
indicating the growth in demand for research computing expertise.
Support staff in this group
work to educate researchers
Campuswide Research Support
on how to effectively run
zz Supported CITI in writing
efficient code on secure,
MRI NSF proposal
robust, highly available
zz Hired Chandler Wilkerson
systems. This frees up the
to extend support
researcher to focus their
zz Developed proposal
efforts on conducting research
for SUG@R – Shared
rather than on the details
University Grid @ Rice
of running computers. The
support team also works
closely with the Computer
and Information Technology Institute (CITI). CITI has secured Terascale
computer clusters with two NSF MRI awards and every faculty or staff
member has access to shared, large-scale, high-productivity computing
power at no cost on these systems.
16
Cerebral
Aneurysm Model
Dr. Tayfun Tezduyar,
James Barbour Professor in
Mechanical Engineering,
tapped IT’s resources to
model the approximate
width and extent of a
cerebral aneurysm. Tezduyar
credits the IT specialists’
support. “Using the Research
Computing Support Group’s
resources permits us to
address these new challenges
with a level of modeling
accuracy previously not
feasible because of a lack
of sufficient computational
power.” This research
may soon add a new
tool for physicians that
revolutionizes medical
diagnosis of aneurysms.
Computing Support for Research (cont’d)
http://rcsg.rice.edu
Rice’s participation in the TIGRE (Texas Internet Grid
for Research and Education) project -which recently
completed its final quarter- was led in technical software
development by IT’s research computing support
specialists. The TIGRE grid continues to provide
real-time compute cycles to scientists and medical
professionals across the state. Begun in 2002, TIGRE built
a computational grid that integrated computing systems,
storage systems and databases, visualization laboratories
and displays, and even instruments and sensors across
Texas. Currently, researchers at Texas Tech University,
University of Texas, University of Houston and Texas
A&M University have active accounts on TIGRE’s two
large clusters. Weather, biomedical and geosciences
applications were all demonstrated successfully.
High-Performance Computing
zz Hired Martin Ossowski to support
computational science
zz Moved Ada and RTC to Primary Data
Center
zz Tested alternative queuing timing for
Ada at request of faculty
The Cray XD1 super-computer was nurtured by Cray
technicians through its shut-down in the temporary downtown
data center and relocation to the new Primary Data Center.
Compute Cycle Crunchers
IT’s Research Computing Support Group has been providing highly available, easy-to-use computational
tools to researchers in a broad range of scientific disciplines for several years, but fiscal 2007 saw a
phenomenal surge in new users and
CPU hours
computing resource utilization. From
September 2006 through August
2007, the number of faculty sponsors
increased 66 percent and the number
of users more than doubled, with
an increase of 122 percent. During
this growth surge, 800,000 jobs
were completed and over 5,000,000
CPU hours were used to pursue Rice
research objectives (see table for
Deem
Nordlander
Fernandez
Sorensen
Wittung Stafshede
Odegard
Tezduyar
Vardi
Yakobson
Subramanian
CPU hours used by top 10accounts).
17
IT Communications
The Marketing and Communications group is responsible for
publishing regular updates and important IT announcements
to the campus through several channels. It also collects IT
feedback and input from the Rice community through focus
groups, discussion forums and surveys. This group collaborates
with other Rice departments to achieve common goals, such
as paperless processing for matriculating undergraduates,
evaluation of image management and workflow systems, and
research for campuswide survey solutions. In fall 2007, a new
communication tool, the ITalerts mailing list, was introduced
to distribute important IT announcements to subscribers as
opposed to distribution through the ALLDEPTS or PRES-FAC
mailing lists.
IT Tutorials: Rice Wiki for instructions
http://www.rice.edu/ITtutorials/
In 2007, IT introduced a new knowledge-management tool,
commonly referred to as “the wiki.” Unlike public wikis (such
as Wikipedia), the IT wiki can only be revised by IT staff
members. However, the documents in IT Tutorials are available
to the public. This means that if a student, faculty or staff
member across the globe is troubleshooting a computer problem,
they have access to the Rice documents. All content in the IT
Tutorials site was reviewed and revised within the last year, and
the content will be reviewed and updated every six months so
that it retains its freshness.
VMs in the Classroom
Focus Groups, Forums
zz O-Week coordinators (students)
zz Department coordinators
zz Student college presidents and
secretaries
zz College coordinators (staff)
zz Environment club (students)
zz Rice Web forums (four)
zz Technology marketplace (three)
zz Conversations With IT (eight)
zz Educational Technology focus
Groups (5)
Surveys
zz OWL-Space
zz Mobility
zz IT Annual surveys for faculty,
staff and students
Publicity
zz Rice News (17 articles)
zz The RiceThresher (nine articles,
12 ads)
zz IT Updates (10)
ALLDEPTS, PRES-FAC, and ITalerts
zz ALLDEPTS (74)
zz PRES-FAC (30)
zz ITalerts (53)
Dr. Chris Bronk, Rice Fellow for Technology,
Society and Public Policy, requested and received
two Virtual Machine (VM) instances from IT
for a fall 2007 class, Identity Theft to the iPod:
Technology and Politics in the Information Age.
Under Moshe Vardi’s leadership, Bronk and Derek
Ruths set up and conducted the COMP 301 course,
utilizing VMs for a sandbox. “Our main interest,”
explained Bonk, “was to set up a wiki instance which would do what we
wanted. We used DokuWiki and had students upload assignments, view
the syllabus, organize groups projects and do some other things using
the wiki instance.” More than 40 students enrolled in the innovative
class, and the instructors intend to offer it again next fall.
18
VPIT Innovation Grants
The VPIT Innovation Grant is an interdivisional award designed
to stimulate creative ideas within the IT division. IT’s Executive
Committee (ITEC) will review initial proposals on a quarterly
basis, and funded grants are announced at the IT Town Halls.
Detailed submissions with a full project plan are required for
all funded proposals. The grant amounts and number of awards
are subject to availability of funds and ITEC discretion. Projects
considered for VPIT Innovation Grant funding must improve
IT efficiency, impact the organization or Rice in a positive way,
address specific needs or problems that can be clearly defined
and measured, can be able to achieve complete within six to eight
months. Additionally, multiple participants are required for grant
consideration, with preference given to cross-departmental teams.
Funding for these innovation projects cannot be available from
existing sources.
2007 VPIT Innovation Projects
zz Web.rice.edu integrated Web
environment - Chris Pound,
Dean Lane, Mike Lucas
zz Develop a process to provide
On-Demand Training and
Information about various
aspects of IT for end-users, via
video and audio podcasts
zz Innovation Engine - Jeff Frey,
principal; others ad hoc, based
on input or proposed needs
stemming from Conversations
With IT across campus
VPIT Internships
The Office of the Vice Provost for IT has employed student workers
in various capacities for many years. In 2006, several groups in
the division began considering internship programs as a means
of recruiting talented students for summer assignments. In 2007,
a formal internship program was proposed by the Vice Provost
for IT; the pilot program for VPIT Internships is scheduled for
2008, and the internships can be filled by Rice or other university
undergraduates or recent graduates. By providing introductory
training in various IT jobs for the next generation of employees, the
Rice IT division will assist with personal career growth as well as
generate interest in future work within the division.
2008 VPIT Internships - Pilot Project
zz
zz
zz
zz
3-4 interns
Disciplines:
Security and Networking
Graphic Communications
Leadership and Project Management
Undergraduates - 12 summer weeks
Recent graduates - 12 months
19
IT Administration, Planning and Finance
The Administration, Planning and Finance (APF) team provides project management and business functions
for the IT division. APF creates and maintains employment policies and procedures for the division, manages
preferred vendor relations for technology purchases for the university, and ensures compliance with the
university’s software licensing contracts. APF staff work closely with FE&P, other Rice departments and
contractors to support the technology aspects of facility construction, repair or remodeling. APF also manages
the internal IT High Flying Owls employee recognition program. Recent improvements to the program include
the addition quarterly recognitions, peer selection and increased award values.
zz Revised Cost Model in production
zz Training plans submitted for fiscal 2008
zz Registration for soft skills and technical
courses underway
zz IT Infrastructure refresh projections
zz Fiscal 2009 training plans
zz V2C impact and projections
zz FBR fiscal 2008: Mudd construction for
additional space
zz FBR fiscal 2008: Install instructional
technology in eight classrooms
zz Apple campus agreement review
zz Apple demo center technology refresh
zz IBM matching grant proposals
zz Fiscal 2009 budget book development
zz Campus-wide agreements net discounts
ranging from 12% to 60%
Training
Surveys of IT customers at Rice revealed a need for increased knowledge of current information technologies,
operating system improvements and revisions, and new technologies adopted by Rice community members.
As a result, APF implemented an IT staff training initiative for external systems and service support, and
customized the internal curriculum for technical and soft skills development. In addition, IT staff attended the
national conferences of Educause, Red Hat Users, Sakai, and Apple Developers.
IT Training Highlights
zz
zz
zz
zz
zz
20
Red Hat Linux
Windows Vista
Active Directory
Exchange
SQL
Web Services
The IT Web Services team functions as a campus technology
solutions provider dedicated to empowering Rice
departments, groups and individuals to dotheir best work.
Web Services delivers custom Web sites, applications, hosting
and Web technology consulting, in addition to hosting public
information sharing sessions such as the Rice Web Forum
(co-hosted with Public Affairs).
zz Projects -United Way Auction, E-commerce
Sites, Rice Classifieds, Staff Advisory
Committee, Administrators’ Forum, Branding
Initiative Support
zz Schools - Engineering, Continuing Studies,
Jones School
zz Research Sites - Dr. Pedro Alvarez, Dr. Jamie
Padgett, Dr. Matthais Henze, Dr. Carlos
Bolech, Dr. Hanoch Sheinmann
zz Departments - International Programs,
Humanities Research Center, Registrar,
zz Upgraded content management
(CMS400)
zz PLONE open source Web hosting
zz Sharepoint collaboration sites
zz Online credit card acceptance
zz Portfolio image management
Center for Asian Studies, Computer Science
Faculty Applications, Chinese Language
Institute, Houston Friends of Music,
Institutional Effectiveness, Diversity, Center
for Civic Engagement, Chemistry, (FE&P
Applications, HiPerSoft,) Rice University
Police
zz Conferences - DeLange, ECE Affiliates,
Making Choices: Early Literacy Learning and
the Craft of Teaching, Arc Jet Technology
Workshop, INNOVATE, Lehmann Symposium
Service Catalog
The IT Services Catalog is a reorganization of the Core/Non-Core Service Level Agreement designed to provide
a user-centered focus and consistency with best practices and standards. The IT Services Catalog is currently
under consideration by the IT Advisory Committee (for membership list, see page 1).
21
22
Awards
Best Practices in Storage Rice IT was a finalist in ComputerWorld’s “Best
Practices in Storage” award competition for implementing an innovative campus
storage environment, 10/2007
William Deigaard, director of networking, telecommunications and
operations,
received the Elizabeth Gillis Award for Exemplary Service,
"A?@ DQAF?)ODK
Employee of the Year 2006
2/2007. Also, 2007 Whitaker Award recipient for Jones School MBA
Doug Killgore, media producer, won awards
for two videos at WorldFest-Houston, an
international film festival, 4/2007
Photo by Jeff Fitlow
Campus Technology Innovators Campus Technology
magazine named Rice a Campus Technology Innovator. Rice
was one of only 13 universities chosen for the 2007 award
out of a pool of more than 330 nominees, 8/2007
101 Best Practices Rice ranked no. 57 in Campus Technology Magazine’s list of
“101 Best Practices” for IT’s collaboration with IBM on the development of an
open-standards-based, service-oriented architecture that will ultimately tie diverse
types of academic software applications together, 12/2006
Doug Killgore
23
Presentations and Papers
Kamran Khan, vice provost for Information Technology
• Elected chair for Operations and Services, an executive committee of
LEARN, Lonestar Education and Research Network, 9/2006
• Presented “New Network, On-Demand Computing and Secure
Campus” at EduTech, a national conference on information
technology, in Fort Worth, Texas 11/2006
• Panelist on “The CIO Perspective on Changes and Challenges:
Opportunities for Collaboration,” Educause Southwest Regional
Conference (ESWRC), 2/2007
Kamran Khan
Barry Ribbeck, director of systems, architecture, and infrastructure
• Presented “Leveraging Your Existing Campus Systems to Access
Partner Resources: The InCommon Federation” and “Practical
Tools for Implementing Authentication and Managing Authorization,”
ESWRC, 2/2007
• Taught a seminar at the Educause & Internet2 Security Professionals
Conference called “Identity and Access Management: Understanding
IAM,” Denver, Colorado, 4/2007
• Presented “Identity Management” with Linda Hilton
• Participated in Net@EDU Identity Management Working Group
Barry Ribbeck
Marc Scarborough, IT security officer, presented “Supporting the
Unsupportable: PDAs and You,” with Rick Peterson, ESWRC, 2/2007
Marc Scarborough
Andrea Martin director of enterprise applications
• Presented “Archiving the Institution’s Web Site” with Geneva Henry
• Presented “Marketing Massive Change,” with Carlyn Chatfield
ESWRC, 2/2007
Carlyn Chatfield, IT technical communications manager, presented
“Connecting with Students: New Tactics to Improve Communication”
with Liz Brigman, Senior Technical Writer, ESWRC, 2/2008
Andrea Martin
Carlyn Chatfield
Liz Brigman
Hubert Daugherty
Susan McClure
Barry Ribbeck
Hubert Daugherty, manager of digital media services, Susan McClure,
systems administrator and Barry Ribbeck, director of systems,
architecture, and infrastructure, presented “Enterprise Storage Apples
and Oranges,” ESWRC, 2/2007
Jeff Frey, Web Services manager,
• Presented “The Why and How of Podcasting,” ESWRC, 2/2007
• Presented “The Why and How of Educational Institution
Podcasting;” Greater Houston Education Collaboration
• Taught podcasting class and “50 Useful Activities on the Web”
Susanne M. Glasscock School of Continuing Studies, 2007
• Interviewed for “Podcasting and Education,” Campus Technology,
1/18/2008
• Presented “Creating and Running a Successful On-Campus CostRecovery Technology Solution Department,” ESWRC, 2/2008
24
Jeff Frey
Presentations and Papers (cont’d)
Carlos Solis, manager of Educational Technologies,
• Presented a lecture on “Teaching With New Technologies” for the
Cain Project-Sponsored Extend Teaching Course, 2/2007
• Published a National Foundation-funded study on “Access and
Achievement: Building Educational and Career Pathways for
Latinos in Advanced Technology,” along with Elsa Macias and
Louis Tornatzky (Tomas Rivera Policy Institute) and Davis Jenkins
(University of Illinois), Chicago, 8/2006
• Presented “I Didn’t Know You Could Do That: 5 Tips and Tools” with
Lisa Spiro, 10/2007
• Presented “Audience Respons Systems,plus Video Conferencing at
Rice” with Terry Graham 12/12/2007,
Carlos Solis
Terry Graham
Angela Rabuck, Senior Instructional Technology Specialist
• Presented “OWL-Space Best Practices,” 1/17/2008
• Presented “Open-CLE -- An Open-Standards-Based Collaboration
and Learning Environment Venue” at the 7th Sakai
Angela Rabuck, Dean Lane and Omer Piperdi presented “Rice Sakai
Deployment - Integration, Implementation and Lessons Learned” at the
6th Sakai Conference in Atlanta, GA, 12/2006
Angela Rabuck, Carlos Solis and Terry Graham presented “It’s Your
Turn” with Lisa Spiro, 1/23/2008
Angela Rabuck
Dean Lane
Omer Piperdi
Niki Seratiotou
Katy McKinin
Mustansar Mehmood and Angela Rabuck
• Presented “OPEN-CLE: Sakai Integration with federated
respositories,” Sakai Conference 12/2007
• Presented “OWL-Space: Open Source Teaching, Learning, and
Collaboration,” ESWRC, 2/2008
Carlyn Chatfield, Dean Lane, Niki Seratiotou and Katy McKinin
presented “Rice’s Three-in-One Wiki,” ESWRC, 2/2008
Mustansar Mehmood
AIDS International Videoconference
The Rice student chapter of Americans
for Informed Democracy contacted IT’s
Educational Technologies group to participate
in an international videoconference with
students from other universities and AIDS
experts in Mozambique, Kenya and Ghana.
Using multiple video and audio feeds, students
and experts alike were able to participate in
this global discussion.
25
Customer Input
“ The team is courteous and
Complete results:
http://www.rice.edu/vpit/news/annual_surveys.html
Faculty Survey – March 2007
responsive, even if a question
from me is not the smartest. I
am always amazed at how well
the staff does in responding to
the bizarre array of issues the
faculty has.
”
– Faculty member
“ Podcasts of lectures would be
amazing.”
– Undergraduate
Overall Ranking of IT Service and Support by Faculty
Scale: 1 to 5 (with 5 being the best)
•
•
•
•
125 responses
Scale system: 1–5 with 5=best
Overall rating on IT services and support: 4
Rating regarding network migration process (by
those migrated): 5
• Operating system usage (some have more than one
machine): 65.8% Windows, 46.7% Mac, 26.7%
Linux/Unix, 0.8% Other
• Classroom technology scored 4s and 5s
• IT Staff received 4s and 5s
Student Survey – March 2007
• 595 responses (306 undergraduates, 275 graduate
students, 14 unknown)
• Scale system: 1–5 with 5=best
• Overall rating on IT services and support: 4
• Operating system usage (some have more than one
machine): 86.42% Windows, 20.9% Mac, 13.3%
Linux/Unix, 0.3% Other, 0.3% Don’t own a computer
• Classroom technology scored 4s and 5s
• IT Staff and CCAs received 4s and 5s from
undergraduates
• IT Staff received 4s and 5s from graduate students
Overall Ranking of IT Service and Support by Students
Scale: 1 to 5 (with 5 being the best)
2%
11%
7%
2
16%
Survey Results
1
3%
12%
2 1 5
32%
5
3
28%
4
3
4
50%
39%
26
Customer Input
“Get rid of spam.”
“Consolidate the number of
required passwords.”
“Offer more software classes.
Maybe come to the departments to
teach various programs like Oracle.”
– Suggestions received during IT Discussion Forum for
Department Coordinators and Administrators
OWL-Space Feedback
Complete results:
http://www.rice.edu/vpit/news/Report.pdf
As part of IT’s long-term vision to support online
course management and collaboration, OWL-Space
--the Sakai open source system-- was first made
available as a pilot program in fall 2006. The full-scale
production model went live for fall 2007. Faculty were
surveyed at the end of each semester with a total of 147
faculty responses through June 2007.
When asked about the benefits of teaching with
technology, faculty felt that the most important benefits
were derived from improved communications between
faculty and students (over 83 percent) and increased
efficiency (over 78 percent). However, faculty also
felt that management of course activities, including
planning, apportioning of time and noting successes
and failures of students, were important benefits of
teaching with technology (65.2 percent Fall; 56.9
percent spring). Lastly, more than 70 percent of faculty
members said they believed it improved their teaching
and more than 67% believe that technology has
improved student learning.
Teaching With Technology
Brown Bag Survey Results
Complete results:
http://www.rice.edu/vpit/news/teachwtech_surveys.html
The IT department,
in conjunction with
Fondren Library,
sponsored monthly
brown bag events
for faculty, staff and
graduate students.
Surveys were
distributed among
participants in
February, March and
April of 2007. All of
the participants that
teach said they plan
to increase the use of
technology in future
In August, a discussion forum was held for
department coordinators and administrators. classes by using
additional multimedia,
course management of collaboration tools. In all surveys, the
majority of participants strongly felt that the use of multimedia
makes their classes more interesting and informative (75
percent to 88.8 percent) and none of them disagreed with this
statement. All participants except one stated that multimedia
tools help them achieve course objectives. Attendees observed
that the Teaching With Technology brown bag events had
helped them consider new ways of using multimedia tools for
teaching. In general, participants felt these sessions made them
more confident in the use of multimedia tools.
Members of the Rice community meet with IT staff at a discussion forum.
27
Migration Statistics
(Number of Rice computers on the new network)
28
Service Statistics
Client Support Services by Category
(Amount of time spent on different kinds of issues)
Problem Resolution Time
(how quickly IT resolved issues)
> Week
< 1 Day
< Week
1-3 Days
Significant Growth Trend in Requests for IT Assistance
zz Tickets rose steadily higher over the last four years:
ƒƒ
22,046 service requests in 2007
ƒƒ
25% increase over 2004
zz Response times to service requests remained flat year to year
ƒƒ
4-hour response: 70-75%
ƒƒ
Next-day response: 85-90%
ƒƒ
39% of problems resolved within 24 hours
zz Median open ticket time improved from 2.93 days to 1.9 days
zz RiceNet2 migrations: 4,636 completed in 2007
More support statistics can be viewed online at http://www.rice.edu/vpit/news/SupportStatistics06-07.pdf.
29
Information Technology
Rice University
P.O. Box 1892
MS-119
Houston, TX 77251-1892
http://www.rice.edu/it/