Tag Archives: Cloud

New Web-based File Access Interface Launched

We’ve updated the interface for the Web-based Files Access service which allows our students, faculty and staff to access to their files remotely using a web browser. The Web-based Files Access service is a key service to allow our users to work anywhere, at any time, from any device. Below is the update list from the release notes.

  • Mobile application for iOS (iPhone, iPad) and Android mobile devices
  • Better support for IE 9 and 10 support and other latest browsers
  • Office 2013 tested and some problems fixed
  • WebDav for Mac users fixed
  • Color theme for user interface moved from Blue to Grey
  • 2nd toolbar + large icons
  • Correct Windows authentication termination in Firefox, Chrome browsers.
  • Fixes in Java, Flash, Silverlight uploaders
  • Other minor fixes

Check back for more documentation on the features of this service, including configuring the new mobile apps for iOS and Android.

(What If…) Build a School in the Cloud

Sugata Mitra has won the $1 million TED Prize for his wish to build a school in the cloud. The TED Prize is meant to “inspire dreamers to think bigger about what’s possible.” Sugata’s wish is inspiring indeed.

“My wish is to help design the future of learning by supporting children all over the world to tap into their innate sense of wonder and work together. Help me build the School in the Cloud, a learning lab in India, where children can embark on intellectual adventures by engaging and connecting with information and mentoring online. I also invite you, wherever you are, to create your own miniature child-driven learning environments and share your discoveries.”

Here is Sugata Mitra talking about his wish at TED.

With $1 million, it is now more than a wish. There is a plan and ways that anyone can help. As a part of the plan they are looking for some core technology assistance including “Cloud-based software design to manage laboratory school operations and education resources.”

SCSU might not be ready to dive into Sugata’s wish just yet, but what if we started with a smaller, more local concept? I am excited about the new ISELF building that will house fantastic equipment for our students to use for their studies.

What if… we made some of the equipment available via the internet? It could be used as a “Virtual Lab” by our own students. It could be used by nearby high schools. Or, let’s get crazy, the world. This concept is already being applied today. iLabCentral is a great example project supported by the National Science Foundation.

 

Creative Response to a Nexus of Forces?

Recently Gartner held their annual Gartner Symposium where they discussed what they see as the onset of a “nexus of forces” descending onto businesses and forcing IT departments to change their perspective.  PC Magazine has a great article here.  These forces: cloud, mobile, social, and information are not new forces, but the impact of their peak and convergence in a focused way is new, and presents a real challenge for IT and businesses as a whole.  While Gartner’s focus is often centered around the business world, it is easy to argue that education may be impact sooner given that their customer base is often comprised of a population that embraces new technology and trends.

St. Cloud State University like all other organizations will need to decide how to respond to this nexus of forces.  Responding to the challenge will take more than just finding ways to modify our existing services.  Instead, we’ll need to think outside of the box and develop new services.  Below is a TED talk where Catherine Courage suggests using creativity, experiments, and storytelling.

Adobe Reader – To the Cloud!

adobe_reader_9_appicon

Adobe has a new version of the Reader product out, they are now on version XI.  There are a host of cool new features that you can look at here: http://www.adobe.com/products/reader/features.html

On the technical side there are new deployment options, better integration with SharePoint and Cloud Storage providers, group policy controls, and much more.  For now though, I’m going to focus in on the ability to easily sync your PDFs to the Acrobat.com (aka “The Cloud”).  These screenshots are taken from the Windows installation.

Adobe Reader XI for Windows

Here you can see the basic interface with the Sing in option for Acrobat.com on the right.
AdobeReaderXI

Next you see the Sign In interface where you can use an excising Adobe account or create a new one.
AdobeReaderXI-SignIn

Last you can see the Getting Started PDF that I’ve uploaded to my Acrobat.com cloud storage.
AdobeReaderXI-CloudFiles

 

Adobe Reader XI for Android

Now that you have your PDF’s uploaded to the cloud, you can access them on your mobile device too.  Below are screenshots of the user interface on my Android phone.

AdobeXI-Android-CloudPDFsAdobeXI-Android-UI

Education Technology Transformation

I believe that we can learn a lot from other academic institutions. One of the institutions that I like to check in on is Cornell University. Cornell is going through an Information Technology re-envisioning process and it reminds me a lot of the journey we are on at St. Cloud State University. If you are interested in getting involved in the future of IT as SCSU, I strongly encourage you to look at follow the conversation at Cornell’s IT Strategic Plan site. There are so many good things I could point out about Cornell’s site but I’ll try to focus in on a few.

This year during the Fall Convocation Provost Malhotra asked that we “re-imaging the student experience.” Cornell has put together a Student Experience Innovation Gallery that has a ton of great ideas. Does that spark any ideas for you on ways we can help re-imaging the student experience?

Next, as a part of their process to focus on the future of IT, they held an open daylong meeting and brought in some great keynote speakers: Shel Waggener and Diana Oblinger. Shel Waggener is a Senior Vice President of Internet2 and Diana Oblinger is the President and CEO of EDUCAUSE. (Nerd Alert) From an Education-IT perspective, that is a rock star lineup for an IT planning meeting! I encourage you to read the abstract of their presentations on the Cornell IT Strategic Future site. Or even better watch their full presentation via their streaming video site.

I want to highlight a few key points from their presentation that I think are particularly relevant to SCSU. The first point made by Shel Waggener is that the cloud is real, imminent, and unavoidable. It is like a stampede and Universities can either decide to get trampled or to get on our horse and help direct its future. I believe that this he is dead on in this assessment. Both SCSU and MNSCU are trying to do more with less and there is a new push to try to collaborate and share services. This is a great and noble endeavor, but I believe it’s 5 or more years too late. The cloud players are massive. Trying to go it our own just doesn’t make sense anymore. From an innovation perspective there is no way to keep up. From a financial perspective there is absolutely no way to keep up. I’ve heard many people concerned about outsourcing, losing their jobs, etc. Is see the situation from the opposite perspective. If we try to do it all and compete with services like Google, Amazon, Microsoft, etc. we will lose. And we simply do not have enough people to help our faculty, staff, and students embrace the cloud services that will make them the most successful. Embracing these cloud services is the best way to keep a vibrant technology department that can deliver the results our community needs.

Next, Diana Oblinger shows us that technology and education at our local universities needs to change radically. There are so many innovative services available to our community. Our community will ultimately end up leveraging these services whether or not we embrace them. Diana offers many different ways to consider leveraging new technology services and trends. I think her presentation should inspire us all to reimagine what might be possible with technology and education in the future.

Kudos to Cornell University’s IT department for putting together so many great resources and offering outstanding communication to their community to build a better IT department. Let’s learn from their success!