Fall 2001 INSIDE ITS

Issue 8, Fall 2001

STUDENTS GIVE HIGH MARKS TO OUR COMPUTER LABS

The Office of Information and Technology Services (ITS) has been awarded high marks by BC students for our Computer Labs. A comprehensive and exacting survey of 2,471 students, tallied and produced on July 25, 2001, validates the excellence of both the human and technical aspects of our labs. The overwhelmingly positive opinions of a large cross-section of computer-savvy and exacting students have proven that BC truly uses technology efficiently to enhance education.

Two criteria were used in the survey: factual information and personal opinions. Some of the many fact-based questions included Which applications do you use? Which computer do you use? Are the computer labs your only access to a computer? Questions requiring an opinion-based responses included Was your call to the Lab handled in a professional manner? How satisfied are you with the Lab Operating Hours? How helpful is the Lab staff? The use of fact-based questions allowed for the creation of the proper context in which to judge the subjective responses. The subjective responses were to myriad itemized questions, about everything from climate control to availability of peripherals.

ITS is proud to say that of the 2,471 BC students surveyed, 99.27% were extremely satisfied with the overall service, equipment, accessibility and design of our labs. Here are some of the highlights of the survey:

• 97.97% were satisfied with the helpfulness of the staff.
• 97.81% claimed that phone calls to the lab are consistently handled professionally.
• 98.50% said the lab is a well-maintained, clean environment.
• 94.86% were pleased with the efficient handling of student ID cards.
• 95.34% said that our operating hours are just fine.
• 99.91% said that the opening time of the labs is consistently punctual.
• 96.23% said the staff has a very high level of expertise.
• 85.43% said the labs have acceptable noise levels.
• 97.24 found the WebPages helpful.
• 95.58 found the tech tutors helpful.
• 100 % were pleased with lab signs and notices.
• 96.19% were satisfied with length of time they wait for printouts.

An additional and interesting result of the survey: a comprehensive list of current classes requiring the most computer time, based on student use. You might be surprised to learn, for example, that Computer Information Science, at 1,764 users, was “nosed out” by Core Studies, which came in at 1,995 users. They were followed by Education (1,540), Math (1,451), Accounting (1,143), Business (1,076) and Economics (980). Some of the classes on the lower end of lab use were Dance (2), Children’s Studies (11) and Classics (29); Anthropology/Archeology and Speech Communications were tied at 63.

Overall, although a few students are too cold and some too hot, a handful would like to be able to buy diskettes on site, and some would like more color printers, we’re happy to report that students find our computer labs greatly beneficial.

Of course, while ITS is pleased with the survey results and praise for our staff and facilities, we continue to gladly accept and solicit feedback and comments. All feedback is taken very seriously and viable suggestions are implemented wherever possible. In fact, student input was a contributing factor to the creation of our new lounge with wireless access, and student suggestions resulted in new signs in and around the labs. The combined efforts of our staff and students assure the continued excellence of our facilities.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, PC!

As the Beatles sang, “It Was Twenty Years Ago Today…” They were celebrating Sgt. Pepper; BC is celebrating the birthday of the PC, which rolled off the assembly line for the very first time on August 5, 1981. IBM sent the very first PCs to the marketplace and the world was immediately and incontrovertibly changed forever.

Brooklyn College has gone from three PCs to over 3,500. We were technology-bound as far back as the late 60s and early 70s, when a computer center was established and a mainframe installed. In the late 1970s the college added Radio Shack Microcomputers, which didn’t even have hard drives and were severely limited in ability. In the early eighties the PC began to arrive on campus in quantities amazingly small, compared to today. The computer department, which quickly became an essential element of the BC landscape and was renamed Information Technology Services (ITS), grew up with the PC. The ITS staff and facilities developed to meet the needs of rapidly expanding computer capabilities and applications. BC/ITS became so proficient that in 1996, our mainframe was dismantled. Now, while we are still connected to the CUNY main frame for certain applications, the college does almost all of its data processing using networked microcomputers and the Web. We have full- and part-time staff with capabilities ranging from technical service to managing networks to creating software programs for a broad range of purposes. We have some 800 CPUs in over two dozen labs around campus and continue to bring technology to the classroom.

Here’s a snapshot of the CPU then and now:

	1981	2001
MODEL:	IBM 5150	Dell Optiplex GX150
CPU:	Intel 8088 Processor	Intel Pentium IV
CPU SPEED:	4.7 MHz	1,400 MHz (1.4 GHz)
RAM MINIMUM/MAXIMUM:	64K Bytes/256K Bytes	64M Bytes/1.5GB
FLOPPY DRIVE:	360K Floppy Disk	1.44MB Floppy Disk
HARD DRIVE:	None	10 GB Minimum
MONITOR:	12” Monochrome: Optional	17” Color, Standard: Included
COST:	$ 2,000, Including Monitor	$ 1,100, Including Monitor

The phenomenal growth of technology is plainly evident at BC, as ITS continues to explore and develop tools to improve education and campus life.

SCHOOL OF EDUCATION + BIG $$$ = SMART MONEY

A two-pronged grant: $500,000 from The NY State Legislature and $250,000 from the New York City Council, will pay for technological enrichment of BC’s School of Education, and some spectacular projects are forthcoming. ITS is collaborating with the School of Ed to create:

A Wireless Access Lab in 2104 James. This will be a complete computer suite, with MAC G4s and printers.

4 mobile classrooms. Specially designed carts, these “classrooms on wheels” will each contain 24 laptops and a couple of printers.

Wireless Internet activity in 12 classrooms.

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