Grossmont College Technology Plan 2007-2010.

Technology

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.
  •  Continue to allow other departments who require some lab time but cannot maintain their own lab to use rooms 533 and 534.
  • 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 new online courses and hybrid courses will help alleviate this problem.
  • Upgrade faculty office computers when necessary to match the configuration of the lab machines.
  • Provide faculty on a “need” basis addition computers/laptops for research, development and testing of new operating systems, applications, programming languages and attack and defend/security type software.
  • 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, new Vista ready lab computers 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.
  • Continue to build and maintain a strong Strategic Partnership with business and industry and revise, update and expand our curriculum accordingly as new technology is introduced. Possibly of further interdisciplinary courses will be explored.
  • Explore the 3D virtual world such as Second Life(www.secondlife.com) and its implications on future curriculum development.

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, new Web development program, are in development or are being updated, to enhance our courses in our existing programs to meet student needs.

·        Evaluate PDA technology ie smart phones, iPods etc and develop curriculum to support that technology as it becomes more dominant in the marketplace for personal and business use.

·        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 a large number of seats per annum but due to the downturn in the economy we have seem a lower enrollment in many of our courses as well as a lower number of courses offered per semester. 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. It has become evident that unless we offer the skills business and industry are demanding and the upturn in IT hiring, we will continue to see a downturn in student enrollment.

·        The five on-campus CSIS labs were upgraded during the summer of 2004 as part of the three year rollover process. We have since upgraded the all software applications to the industry standard, putting CSIS in a good position to offer the latest in current software applications such as Office 2007, Visual Studio 2005, Eclipse 3.x, 3D Studio Max, Macromedia 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.

·        CSIS courses lend themselves to further integration with other campus courses which will result in increased our enrollments due to the development of cross-discipline offerings.

·        Support Impact
CSIS needs at least two new full time instructors, due to possible retirements, 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 but currently much of the day to day support is being handled by the department lab specialist.
 

 Year 1 (2007-2008)

 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 who want to upgrade their technical skills for job needs.
  • 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 Web development, network and internet management and security,  Microsoft Operating System Vista, Visual Studio, Office 2007, databases, computer hardware, computer forensics and video games programming.
  • Upgrade software and maintenance agreements in order to keep the software application current.
    • MSDNAA membership
    • Adobe Photoshop, Director and Premiere maintenance renewal
    • Macromedia/Adobe Dreamweaver, Flash, and Fireworks
    • SQL server 2005
    • Renewal of Novell Suse Linux, Workstations and server licenses.
    • Microsoft Operating Systems, Vista desktop OS and mobile technology and server products.
  • Summer 2008 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.

Continued outreach to the community to attract more students.

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.

·        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 Web development, Visual Studio Framework, Microsoft Vista OS, Novell Suse Linux, information security and mobile 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.

·        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 new courses and curriculum in support of new technology. 

Year 2 (2008-2009)

 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.

·        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.

·        Maintain currency of the software library with maintenance agreements. A timely upgrade of lab hardware and servers and software application 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 lab hardware that is more than 3 years old with the latest generation of available hardware.
  • Continue to upgrade and purchase new software to support newly developed course and 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.

·        Continued outreach to the community to attract more students.

Year 3 (2009-2010)

 Objective

·        The CSIS department will continue to support faculty who are eager to develop new course content to our existing curriculum

·        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 expand online and hybrid courses in both new and existing curriculum

·        Explore new industry technologies and add new courses to support those technologies.

·        Maintain currency of the software library with maintenance agreements.

·        Continued outreach to the community to attract more students.

 Action to Meet Objective

·        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.

·        Continue to upgrade and purchase new software to support newly developed courses and 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.

 

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