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Tuesday, August 23, 2005

Faculty Help Available with OCM Rapid Responders!

OCM RAPID RESPONSE TEAM - READY TO HELP FACULTY AS SEMESTER STARTS!



During the first days of the Fall 2005 semester, Office of Classroom
Management technicians will be pre-positioned on the East Bank, West
Bank, and St. Paul campuses from 8 AM to 4 PM to provide rapid
in-classroom assistance to faculty in general purpose classrooms.



Any faculty member requiring assistance should contact the Classroom
Support-line/Hotline at 625-1086. The Classroom Support-line dispatcher
is in radio contact with the roving technicians from Classroom
Technical Services, and will expedite response to the request.

UMTC Classroom Tech Upgrades Reach New High!

UMTC Classroom Tech Upgrades Reach New High!



As of the start of the Fall 2005 semester, 78% of all University of
Minnesota Twin Cities central classrooms have been upgraded to meet the
UMTC "Projection Capable Classroom" standard. This is a dramatic
turnaround from just a few short years ago, and demonstrates the
strength of University of Minnesota classroom teaching and learning
programs.



The campus breakdown of tech equipped central classrooms:

East Bank: 131 of 183 classrooms - 72%;

West Bank: 65 of 72 classrooms - 90%;

St. Paul: 26 of 31 classrooms - 84%;

TOTAL: 222 of 286 classrooms - 78%.



The standard includes the baseline level of technology specified for
all UMTC central classrooms: fixed data projector, instructor internet
connectivity, "smart" control system with user-friendly laptop
interface, optional control system networking, various I/O devices
including DVD and VCR, accessibility features, Classroom Hotline phone,
wireless student networking, and other features.



In addition to the 222 central classrooms that have been brought up to
this level of technology, departments and colleges have purchased
another 115 systems from OCM's Classroom Technical Services ISO unit
for use in their own rooms.



All of these systems use the same operator interface and protocols.
This means that our faculty and students can walk into some 340 rooms
across the entire campus and confidently face a proven and reliable
technology system with which which they are familiar and comfortable.
Additionally, the campus benefits from the economies of scale in
production and reduced cost of this essential teaching and learning
technology in classrooms.



For additional details on the Tech Upgrade program, please see the OCM Web site at www.classroom.umn.edu.



Scheduling U a Big Hit!

Scheduling University a Resounding Success!



The first offering of "Scheduling University" successfully concluded on
August 4 after a great two week run that saw more attendees than any
previous scheduling training! Scheduling Unit staff from the Office of
Classroom Management and the OTR PeopleSoft Student Records Team led a
well attended series of workshops designed for departmental schedulers
along with departmental and college administrators.



Seven workshops were each offered twice during the two week period.
Topics ranged from introductions to Scheduling (Scheduling 101) and
ECAS (ECAS basics) to a detailed explanation of how scheduling software
is integrated with the PS Student information system (Scheduling 202)
and a demonstration of how department users can benefit from using R25
(R25 Departmental Rollout). Additional sessions on Using Scheduling
Reports, ECS & Combined Sections, and Topic Titles from ECAS to ECS
were designed and offered based on questions frequently asked by
department schedulers.



Total attendance for all workshops was 380 - an all time high for annual scheduling seminars!



In addition, eight departmental users attended the first R25 Users
Group Meeting which was scheduled to coincide with Scheduling
University.



Well Done to the Scheduling Team and to the PeopleSoft Student Records
Team for a great inaugural "Scheduling U" event. Thank you to the many
attendees and contributors! It was a great success!



OCM's Scheduling Unit plans to offer the second annual session of Scheduling University in August, 2006.