Information Technology Updates

Outage Date & Times: Thursday August 2nd at 12:00 a.m. through Tuesday August 7th at 5:00 p.m.

UNI's existing on-campus Blackboard Learn System (eLearning) will be fully migrated to Blackboard Inc.'s cloud based offering known as SaaS (Software as a Service) from August 2-7, 2018. On August 1, 2018 at 11:59 p.m. CDT, UNI's Blackboard Learn System will be turned OFF for migration and will NOT be available to users during this extended maintenance period. For this migration, we will be doing a full migration of data: meaning all the existing content and entire database records will be moved to SaaS. For more information, please visit our Blackboard Learn SaaS webpage.

Starting on July 16th, 2018, UNI will begin to turn off Google accounts for students, faculty, and staff not currently enrolled in classes or employed at UNI. However, if you graduated from UNI, received a certificate or other endorsement, you are eligible for a free UNI Alumni Google account. For more information and to sign up for your Alumni Account, visit the IT support article UNI Alumni Account.

Some important things to note:

• Your CatID credentials will continue to function for other resources at UNI like the MyUNIverse Portal (for checking unofficial transcripts or requesting official transcripts).
• If you have used your UNI Google account as your primary contact information for any online services outside of UNI (Amazon.com, Facebook, Etc) you will need to update those records prior to July 16th to avoid interruptions in service with those sites.
• You must migrate any personal data in your UNI Google account you wish to keep prior to July, 16th, 2018. For help and assistance in migrating your data, please see the IT support article on downloading your personal data.
• If you will not be eligible for a new alumni domain account and would like to continue receiving emails and newsletters from the University of Northern Iowa Alumni Association, please update them with your new email address. Send an email to info@unialum.org or visit their updating contact information form.

As always, if you have questions or concerns, please don't hesitate to get in touch with the IT Service Desk at 319-273-5555 or via email at servicedesk@uni.edu.

College of Education recently completed a new series of lunch and learn presentations by faculty, called “Big Ideas Small Bytes”. Six presentations were organized by their Educational Technologist, Farah Kashef, and delivered by the faculty, and one graduate student, from various areas of the college. The focus of the series was to share experiences on newly adopted pedagogical approaches that lead to more student engagement and learning _ Big Ideas. There was usually a technology piece that was tied in the experience being presented _hence, “Small Bytes”; pun intended? Maybe! For the TPACK fans, this was more focused on the TPK segment of the concept.

Although the presentations were in an informal environment (most were in the faculty lounge area of the Schindler Education Center), all were exceptionally of high quality, meaningful, and thought-provoking where student learning was first and technology second. College of Education will continue to have the Big Ideas Small Bytes series in the upcoming fall semester. The spring presentations were:

1- Beginning with the end in mind... utilizing technology as a tool; by Dr. Kim Huckstadt

2- Guiding Students to High-Quality Resources: Rod Library research Guides; by Anne Marie Gruber and Katelyn Browne

3- Using free and open-source game development platform, ARIS, to enhance lessons; by Dr. Dana Atwood-Blaine

4- Making professors' implicit expectations explicit to their students through more transparent assignments: A micro-workshop; by Drs. Elana Joram, Shuaib Meacham, and Susan Hill

5- A Techno-Illiterate Septuagenarian's Use of Media Tools; by Dr. Tom Davis

6- Steven’s Journey: The Evolution of Technology for Guiding a Career Path; by Steven Blair –Graduate student.

By Leigh Zeitz and Magda Galloway

Instructional Technology, Curriculum and Instruction, College of Education.

The 20th century idea of a computer lab involved rows of desks containing rows of computers with monitors on top.  The computer teacher stood in the front of the room and the students peered around the monitors to see what computer teacher was sharing on her screen.

When Schindler Education Center was remodeled, we decided to rethink the essence of a computer lab.  The concept of computing has changed. For the past decade, laptops have outsold desktops. A UNI survey found that 97% of our undergraduate students own laptops. What sense does it make to provide computers for students when they are more comfortable using their own?  

So we created Room 133, a computer lab without desktop computers. Notice that we didn’t say “without computers” because we also have carts containing MacBooks, Chromebooks, and iPads .  These computers are available for students who don’t have computers or their laptops are on the fritz. They are also quite useful when we want to engage our students in brand-specific software or we want to provide our students with the Chromebook or iPad experiences that they will probably have in their schools. Room 133 uses the baseline classroom configuration used across campus so teachers and students new to the environment can find familiar resources.

Room 133 includes non-computer resources as well. Our laptop cases store playful hands-on manipulatives (e.g., OSMOS; Dash and Dot Robots; and Bloxels.) It’s close proximity to the IRTS library in Schindler allows us to bring exciting enrichment tools like their Google Expedition cart to engage students in augmented-reality learning.

So what makes it a computer lab if it is not filled with computers?  It is the infrastructure that supports computer-based learning. We have provided a flexible learning space. Our students have their choice of seating arrangements and choice of computer platforms. Integrating G Suite for Education into our curriculum provides us with a virtual collaborative space in the Google Cloud.

Technology’s place in the classroom fulfills the need for the right tools to support class projects. We structure the bulk of our assignments around collaboration, interactivity and striving towards using technology to redefine the learning process. Providing our students with the tools and opportunities to make decisions in their learning creates a student-centered learning environment.  This process of modification or redefinition of the learning tasks is something that is advocated in Iowa’s schools using the SAMR model. We also integrate technology into the learning process using TPACK model where Technology finds a place to support Pedagogy and the Content Knowledge.

Another aspect of Room 133 is the mobile furniture that we have available. Desks and chairs are on wheels and various types of mobile furniture provide choice for our students. The advantage of our mobile furniture is that we can freely arrange the desks and seats as needed for teamwork.  This flexibility is supported by the portable white boards and dry erase markers that are available for each student.

Room 133 is not a finished project.  We like to consider it an ongoing enterprise where we are exploring new ways to provide unique learning opportunities for our future teachers. These experiences will expand their learning now and model possibilities that they can use with their students in the future.