Recent Changes

- Discussion notes, June 10th 2011
- Discussion notes, December 12, 2011
- Discussion notes, May 3, 2012

May 3, 2012
Recording: http://unoconnect.adobeconnect.com/p7yt1d1e0jt/
(1) IT Administration Certificate
discussed in the ISQA faculty. Lots of enthusiasm for it. The only questions were around mechanical things, how students register etc. Unanimously approved here, and also by the IS&T Academic Committee.

May 3, 2012
Recording:
(1) IT Administration Certificate
discussed in the ISQA faculty. Lots of enthusiasm for it. The only questions were around mechanical things, how students register etc. Unanimously approved here, and also by the IS&T Academic Committee.
Now goes to UNO. The chart needs to be rewritten so that people who are not familiar with the European system and our partnership work can understand it. Board of Regents. Moving.
(2) Experiences with online courses this spring
ISQA 4380 (George).
- We need to simplify the "on-boarding" process. Once that happens, got into good rhythm of working. Week starts with video greeting, something due every week (in this class, system integration problems get progressively more complex.
- Contact with UiA student was via email, Blackboard. Good experience overall. Saturday office hours starts 7am, on Skype, which worked well with time difference.. Ad hoc communication via Skype ("if I'm green, skype me")
- UiA student was "group of one," his main concern was time zone difference. Final presentations were sometimes on-campus, others with 4-way skype presentation.
- Overall experience very positive. The UiA student was very patient with the on-boarding, but we should do better. How about a target of one week to get this done? The more resistance we place in front of people, the less likely they will be to adopt.
- Mutual uses Kaizan event to resolve these problems - get the right people in the room, discuss the current process, come up with ideas to resolve, assign resources to get it done, follow up. This also helps to share the sense of urgency.
- Hardest part was getting UNO netid and email.
IS 203 (Peter)
- Eugene was also in Peter's class and was a "group of one". We will need to address the transatlantic groups issue in future.
- Class was all UiA students, as there is overlap between the UNO and UiA and students have not been taking both.
- Weekly rhythm:
meet Mondays in 90-minute synchronous meeting in Adobe Connect for any students who choose to show up (around 12 to 18 do so) - discuss material, work through any questions or issues, work problems similar to homework assignments, help clarify expectations. All students used chat to communicate, not audio/video. Sessions were recorded and links posted in Fronter.
put detailed assignment expectations on Fronter.
- There are teaching assistants on site at UiA who are students who have taken the course before, to help onsite. Challenge is communicating quickly and clearly enough to TAs so they can provide consistent guidance. This model of local TAs might be a recurring pattern for the other courses.
(3) Looking forward - Fall 2012 classes
we have 1 UNO student wants to take IS 204 in fall, UiA does not have enough as of now. Most likely IS 204 will be once a year, in spring. Decision not made yet but probability for fall is low.
ISQA 4300, Peter's DB Admin class is this fall. Students at UiA who have taken 203 get half the credits for ISQA 4300.
George's class is spring only, so this fall we will just have the DB class. Let's consider in future whether 4380 should become a fall course
Hallgeir will check whether Janis' 209 course will be online this fall.
(4) Getting 4350 & 4370 online (Steve)
Should we have both Windows version and Linux version, or is one preferred over the other? Hallgeir recommends both. Fall is Linux, Windows is in spring, currently. Would be reasonable to have Windows version online by Spring 2013.
Bill Mahoney will be teaching starting fall, in addition to Steve. We may want to get him more involved in online development. Let's use some of our funds for this - confer with Steve offline.
Some of the challenges with virtual labs will be tested and solved in a freshman-level class in fall, which will help for use in other classes.
(5) Recognizable Elements
pattern of interaction with instructors - e.g., how frequently is instructor available, when is the instructor available, frequency and nature of meetings with instructor
on-boarding process
organization of the learning management system
local teaching assistants
(6) ACTION ITEMS
a. UNO - rework the process for getting the UiA students into our system
b. UNO - keep moving the certificate through the approval process
c. Peter - continue to be in contact with Steve and Ann for getting system administration classes online for fall
d. Hallgeir - let Peter know if any students are interested in taking DB class in fall
Next meeting of the large group will be scheduled for fall.

Refer to Student Guide and links to individual courses
We are still working on the Security Administration courses, as they are in transition and syllabi are being updated. Will make information available as soon as they are done. CIST 4350, Technical Systems Administration, is offered in fall -- it's turning into Linux. Counterpart course with Windows is following Spring.
[Post meeting note: Steve has updated the course description for CIST 4370 Host System Security Using Windows.]
Note the alternative paths through the certificate in the chart.
Please - everyone teaching a course - - check how your course is described and enhance as needed.

December 12, 2011
Recording from meeting: http://unoconnect.adobeconnect.com/p9mcuq436vq/
1. General progress and updates
(a) Administration of students.

- Discussion notes, May 10th 2011
- Discussion notes, June 10th 2011
- Discussion notes, December 12, 2011

December 12, 2011
1. General progress and updates
(a) Administration of students.
- Refer to IT Administration - Student Guide that Peter has developed. At bottom are steps for student to enroll.
- For now, we have an alternate process for spring. Send names and contact info to Peter for students who want to take George's course in spring 2012 and we will hand-manage the process at UNO. Latest deadline could even be after semester has started, but please do as soon as possible. Note that UNO has holiday closedown from 26 Dec. through 1 Jan. and nothing happens during that time.
In Agder we will register the students. There is a form for exchange students, called ERAS, we`ll send you this
Link for UNO students to register at UiA:
https://eras.uia.no/reg.php?id=328 .
Final deadline to sign up for course is 1 Febr, but we urge them to be ready to start from beginning.
SPRING 2012 offerings:
IS 203 and IS 204 will be offered at UiA
ISQA 4380 will be offered at UNO
(b) Status of courses
Refer to Student Guide and links to individual courses
We are still working on the Security Administration courses, as they are in transition and syllabi are being updated. Will make information available as soon as they are done. CIST 4350, Technical Systems Administration, is offered in fall -- it's turning into Linux. Counterpart course with Windows is following Spring.
Note the alternative paths through the certificate in the chart.
Please - everyone teaching a course - - check how your course is described and enhance as needed.
When advising students, you can provide links to the courses for the description.
2. Experiences with online courses
(a) George - ISQA 4380, Distributed Systems and Technologies (refer to slides)
Overall approach - provided weekly content, email announcements about it, keeping students engaged on weekly basis, to have an activity every week.
Weekly problems worked very well, with positive feedback from students.
Stayed in contact with students through variety of channels - Adobe Connect, gmail, skype, in-person office hours on campus.
Exams - proctored exams.
Class had 11 students. What is a good maximum, to maintain the interaction and activity? Ilze noted that 20 was considered an optimum maximum by some with experience (evidence from recent conference presentation).
This idea of weekly, mandatory activities might be an example of the "recognizable elements" that we have been talking about, that would be consistent across classes.
(b) IS 203 - Calle
Peter will be offering in Spring 2012. Lectures are available on net. Weekly synchronous meeting via Adobe Connect.
Peter hopes for some UNO students to be able to form international teams in the class
(c) IS 204 - Calle
Arne is ready to provide the course. Normal schedule is fall but will be offering online for both UNO and UiA students in spring 2012. Will also be offered fall 2012 per normal schedule, then decide later what will happen following year.
Open question yet is running virtual machine. Recommend we involve George, Steve, or other staff in Information Assurance area. We can make virtual machine available over break - need some specifications.
At UiA, they have used 2003 server, Win XP, and linux. George has experience with linux and open source tools. Amazon hosts just about anything.
Action items going forward:
1. Have detailed conversation on running virtual machine.
2. Ivan, please send email to Peter with elaboration on your needs. Peter and George can look at it and offer guidance. Peter will set up synchronous comm as needed with appropriate people.
3. Get word out to students about the courses offered and provide links to individual courses.
Ivan will be sending a mail concerning these issues tomorrow
THANKS all. Good holidays to all and great new year!

Overview of program, ppt slides, as of 10 June 2011 {IT Administration - Promotion.ppt}
Olsen, J. A. (2011, April 28). Tilbyr USA-kurs på UiA fra høsten av. Universitetet i Agder. Retrieved from http://www.uia.no/no/portaler/aktuelt/nyhetsarkivet/tilbyr_usa-kurs_paa_uia_fra_hoesten_av

Use of Amazon Web Services in ISQA 4380
{Use of Amazon Web Services in ISQA 4380.pdf}
Here is a link to a video which describes how to sign up for the service I used with my class this summer.
http://roycesite.com/george/4380/awsaccount/awsaccount.html