Computer Science Information Systems

Description

• Continue to support CSIS Department and College-wide faculty in developing state-of-the-art classes and experiences for our students.
• Continue to work collaboratively with other departments to develop new courses supporting technology across the curriculum.
• Continue to upgrade all CSIS classrooms with new computers at least every three years with top-of-the-line computer models. This policy has had the distinct advantage of allowing the “retired” CSIS lab computers to remain useful to other constituents in  the College.
• A great deal of progress has been made in utilizing the three existing CSIS labs, for the traditional CSIS classes but with the development of new curriculum and a collaborative effort to develop new cross listed courses, which have specific needs, two new labs have been added. These labs will have an advantage to other departments who require some lab time but cannot maintain their own lab.
• There continues to be significant student pressure to add more open lab time for supervised tutoring labs which leaves very little free time for additional sections and scheduled maintenance. The addition of the two new labs will help alleviate this problem.
• Upgrade faculty office computers when necessary to match the configuration of the lab machines.
• To ease the utilization impact somewhat, the Department plans to continue to offer distance online or hybrid courses, or other collaborative learning opportunities.
• The convergence of computer technology with all forms of digital media presents new challenges and opportunities for the Department and the College, as a whole. New servers and digital communications technologies will be necessary during the next three years.
• There is an increase pressure from business and industry, and the community to develop Information/Network/Internet security courses. These courses will require a teaching lab facility that must be isolated from the campus network. CSIS is working closely with IS and ICS to accomplish this task.
   
   

Curriculum Impact

• Computer technology has arguably been the fastest changing area there is in our culture and economy. Over the past few years, even with the current downturn in the economy there is a continued need for advancement. Keeping the curriculum current to meet new emerging community needs, is a challenge not only in the area of curriculum development but also in the maintenance of our labs. Specifically, new programs in Internet technology (such as the Webmaster certificate) which have previously had high enrollments are now experiencing a downturn in student interest. Media networking, multimedia, video games programming, security, collaborative and distance learning, certification (such as the 3COM and proposed Linux and Microsoft certification programs), artificial intelligence and robotics are in development or are being updated, to enhance changes needed in our existing programs to meet student needs.
• In order to successfully enter the job market, it is essential that CSIS majors develop their skills and abilities using current technology and systems. State-of-the-art facilities and systems must be available to provide incentives for students to enroll in Grossmont programs. The proposed 3 year rollover process will allow the department to support current and projected systems and software found in industry, thus directly supporting and enhancing student success. In addition, faculty will be able to take advantage of new teaching modalities as we explore the challenge of making education accessible to all.
  
   

Approximate Number of Students Served

• CSIS has traditionally occupied about 5000-6000 seats per annum but due to the downturn in the economy we have seem a lower enrollment in  many of our courses. The majority of these students are taking more than one class. This does not include students in other departments that use the CSIS labs. Although the CSIS department had seen an increase in FTES in the past, the last few years shows lower enrollments as the industry experienced a strong down turn after the crash of the DOT COM companies two years ago. It has become evident that unless we offer the skills business and industry are demanding, we will continue to see a downturn in student enrollment.
• The three on-campus CSIS labs were upgraded during the summer of 2002 as part of the three year rollover process. We have since upgraded the operating system to Windows XP, the industry standard, putting CSIS in a good position to offer the latest in current software applications such as Office 2003, Macromedia MX products and the latest versions of the Adobe products. Hardware and software tools, including all software maintenance agreements, will continue to be upgraded to provide our students with opportunities to gain the skills they will need in order to succeed in the classroom and in the workplace. During the summer of 2004 two(2) new labs will be added to the CSIS department.
   
   

Support Impact

• CSIS needs at least two new full time faculty and a number of new adjuncts, who are currently employed in the industry, to work with the new curriculum that is being developed.
• An additional classified support position is required to manage the increasing number of labs. New servers that will be purchased to support the new curriculum will be added and in need of departmental support. Currently, this is being done by faculty, with help from the lab specialist. As the number of servers increases and as more faculty are hired to teach in these areas, support must be centralized. IS and ICS have been supportive in helping the CSIS department attain our technical goals and requirements.
   

Year 1 (2004-2005)

Objective

• The CSIS department will continue to maintain currency by continually updating the existing courses and being able to offer new programs relevant to community needs in rapidly emerging areas of high technology. Keeping current in this explosive field requires significant expenditure of both time and money.
• We will continue to meet the needs of students in both job attainment and transfer to the four-year universities by continuing to develop course articulation with the four years universities and the UCSD extension program. Experience has proven that by not doing this on a continuing basis, results in lower enrollments. We must continue to move forward into new areas in order to attract new students both at the freshman level and  re-entry adults.
• The CSIS Department continues, on an ongoing basis, to plan equipping the classrooms with new technology to support advanced and new course offerings. These classes will include expanded offerings in Internet support, management and security, and administration in networking including wireless technology and network security, databases, computer hardware, computer forensics and video games programming.
• Upgrade software and maintenance agreements in order to keep the software application current.
  1. MSDNAA membership
  2. Adobe Photoshop and Premiere maintenance renewal
  3. SQI server 2003
  4. Cold Fusion
  5. Renewal of Red Hat Enterprise Linux, Proxy, Workstations and server licenses.
• Upgrade CSIS classroom/Lab computers with top-of-the line models as part of the three year rollover plan.
• Maintain the faculty office computers to match the configuration of those in the lab resulting in greater productivity and ease with which faculty can transfer their courses to the CSIS classrooms.
• As the CSIS department continues to offer more online or hybrid courses, students in these classes are expected to require access from off-campus to the specialized servers and software in the labs.
• Continue to upgrade and maintain the CSIS website and to keep the student showcase area current with the latest student assignments as supplied by the instructors.
• Continue to collaborate with other departments on campus to offer cross listed courses
   

Action to Meet Objective

• As stronger support collaboration with CSIS, IS and ICC departments has become available, the Department has been able and will continue to implement the above objectives efficiently and successfully.
• CSIS will add two new labs, one to offer networking, including wireless and security, and hardware classes that cannot easily be supported in the present labs.
• The CSIS Department continues, on an ongoing basis, to plan on equipping our classrooms/labs with upgraded technology in order to support advanced and new course offerings. These classes will include expanded offerings to our existing courses and new classes in .NET, information security and wireless technology.
• The Department plans to acquire and configure the hardware and software server systems necessary to offer a true collaborative learning environment. Hosted on the Internet and modeled after currently available systems, the server will be used to meet the needs of distance learning students.
• The Local Area Network serving CSIS classrooms will be upgraded to allow IP Multicast, segmentation based on classroom requirements, and implementation of virtual LAN and wireless technologies. The purpose of the upgrade will be to support the technologies required to offer collaborative learning experiences as well as to take full advantage of new media. A streaming media (video, audio) server will be acquired, installed, and configured to allow the classroom presentation of new instructional materials. Initial candidates for study and evaluation include Microsoft’s Netshow and Cisco’s IP/TV. Titles and materials will be acquired to support current and new class offerings.
• As our online/hybrid course offerings expand, more faculty will need to be trained in distance learning management software. The CSIS department will continue to support faculty who are eager to develop new course content and online courses to add to our existing curriculum.
• The department will actively market our new programs to both the high school graduates and adult re-entry population in our ongoing recruiting efforts.
• Work in collaboration with local business and industry to develop a wireless technology and information security “attack and defend” lab and the curriculum to support this technology.
   

Year 2 (2005-2006)

Objective

• The CSIS Department continues, on an ongoing basis, to plan on equipping our classrooms/labs with upgraded technology in order to support advanced and new course offerings. These classes will include expanded offerings to our existing courses and new classes in .NET, information security and wireless technology.
  
• Continue to meet the needs of students for both employment and transfer to four year universities by providing classes to support new industry and educational standards.
  
• Continue to support faculty with new technology and upgrade their office computers to meet the needs of the new and updated courses.
  
• Continue to expand online and hybrid courses in both new and existing curriculum.
  
• Explore new industry technologies and add new courses to support those technologies.
  
• Maintenance currency of the software library with maintenance agreements. Timely upgrades of lab hardware and servers is imperative to meet the needs of new and emerging technology.
   

Action to Meet Objective

• Hire a second lab specialist to maintain added servers and new hardware and software and the addition of new labs.
  
• As our online course offerings expand, faculty need to be trained in distance learning management software. The CSIS department will continue to support faculty who are eager to develop new course content to add to our existing curriculum.
  
• Actively market our new programs and recruit new students.
  
• Replace digital cameras, laser printers, scanners and multimedia hardware that are more than 3 years old with the latest generation and upgrade and purchase new software to support newly developed curriculum.
  
• Continue to keep our software maintenance agreements current.
  
• Replace and upgrade old software with the latest versions.
  
• Continue to work collaboratively with other departments to develop new cross-listed courses.
   

Year 3 (2006-2007)

Objective

• Upgrade tech office (529B) outdated hub to a switch which is compatible with IS standards (approx $700).
• The CSIS department will continue to support faculty who are eager to develop new course content to add to our existing curriculum by purchasing a new Windows Vista capable system for support of Windows Operating System course and new curriculum development.
• Upgrade MS Office 2003 with Office 2007 to meet industry standards. 

Action to Meet Objective

• Purchase switch (approx. $700)
• Purchase laptop (approx. $2,500)
• Fund any expenses incurred by upgrading MS Office to version 2007.

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