Welcome Back, Students!

What I love about my job is that technology at GC gets better every year and it makes a difference in the quality of your academic experience.  Here’s a partial list of what we got done this summer:

• Worked out all the logistics for deploying iPads to the incoming first year students.
• Prepped a 50-iPad checkout for upper-level students
• Put Newcomer, Umble and Wyse Hall on the 10 Gb network backbone
• Upgraded NC 12 to 27″ iMacs
• Upgraded UN004 lab to new Mac Mini’s that run Mac, Windows and Linux
• Upgraded VA22 classroom furniture
• Put new color printers in Connector 2 and 4 mini-labs, Schertz lab, Newcomer 43
• Added 50+ new access points across campus.
• Added high density access points to Umble Center so the entire class can use their iPads there.
• Wrote an iPad app for general campus information
• Beta testing SplashTop Enterprise for remote controlling classroom computers from iPads
• Upgraded Comm Hub computers
• Added a Video storage server.
• Put up a Wowza streaming video server to support online classes and other streaming video uses.
• Upgraded WGCS to Audio-over-IP. Renovated Studios A & B.
• Upgraded the ASL lab computers
• Upgraded to Moodle 2.3 and Mahara 5
• Made significant upgrades to the Campus Access Control system.
• Upgraded lab Macs to OS X Mountain Lion
• Various office computer and software upgrades
• Lots of projects related to the Union renovation and railroad underpass work.
• Lots of invisible techie stuff that makes things faster, better, and more reliable.

As always, many of these ideas came directly from student feedback, so let us know when we’re doing great and where we can improve.  Have a great fall!

Michael Sherer, IT Director