Meeting Minutes
June 18, 2015
I. Announcements
JoAnne Van Tuyl is the ITAC incoming chair, starting in August.
LastPass Security Announcement
A recent LastPass security incident was discussed along with recommendations from the IT Security Office.
Details on the incident can be found at https://blog.lastpass.com/2015/06/lastpass-security-notice.html(link is external) .
WebEx announcement
We've had a large number of disconnects over the past month or so. We've identified a problem with one of the long distance carriers involved in the path between Duke and the WebEx audio bridges. We've pulled that carrier out of rotation and have seen improvement. If anyone is running into significant disconnects, please let us know.
II. Agenda Items
4:10-4:30 - Online Course Development, Lynne O'Brien, Associate Vice Provost for Digital and Online Education Initiatives - (10 minute presentation, 10 minute discussion)
What it is: Since becoming a Coursera partner in July 2012, Duke has offered several Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) , with a more recent trend to develop Specializations with corporate partnerships.
Why it's relevant: Duke's current corporate partnership with Coursera has a Specialization underway - Intro to Analytics and will most likely have a corporate partner for the capstone. More corporate partnerships may be announced later this summer.
One of the things I've heard a lot over the last year or so is, "What are other people at Duke doing and how is it working out? What are they learning from that experience?"
We've put together a collection of the projects we've worked on over the past 2-3 years at https://online.duke.edu/projects ; we'd love for you to share this in your departments.
Today we're talking about the trends.
Things are speeding up in online education. This means very rapid cycles of trying things out, finding what works and what doesn't, and changing models. We've gone from courses that looked roughly parallel to a full-length Duke course; now we're more likely to produce mini-courses or modular courses rather than full-length courses. I think we have one course that's two weeks long; Harvard has one that's 34 weeks long. There's lots more variety in course length. Things that started out as a replica of a Duke course have in some cases been chopped down to a four-week version through Continuing Studies. Videos may have been extracted and made available to alumni. Lots of different course formats and online educational experiments.
Three years ago in July we had the decision: Should we join Coursera or not? Should we join 2U or not? EdX didn't even exist yet. Now there are dozens of MOOC providers through corporations, art foundations, and others; even SAP has a MOOC platform. Technology is much more diverse than before. We've found it important to use online education experiments to learn what tools faculty want to use.
Yesterday I saw a new MOOC platform focused on delivering art courses.
There's a lot of collaboration across groups to deliver online materials.
Example: last year we had a course sponsored by the Advertising Education Foundation. This was a Cultural Anthropology course about advertising, taught at Duke and online. We have a course under development now sponsored by an arts foundation in New York. We found out last week we have been selected and funded by Coursera to develop an course on analytics, offered on their foundation but they're paying us to build the course. There are lots of partnerships in developing courses that didn't exist a few years ago.
Lots of experiments about business models and credentialing:
University of Illinois is changing its regular residential MBA program. They've put some business courses on Coursera and now those courses will remain free for those who want it. Those who want a certificate will have the option of doing additional work in the UI online platform to receive a UI MBA. This will be about half the price of the previous UI MBA. Your three options then are: Free, $49 (certificate only), and $20k.
EdX and Arizona State offer a global freshman year. If courses are taken through EdX, they can be converted from certificates to regular credits for a fee.
Harvard business school offers a 3-course, 11-week Certificate of Readiness, pre-MBA work which takes 11 weeks and costs $1500 total. Initial pilot last year was limited to 600 students. This summer they're planning to have 3,000 students. In addition to the money for doing that directly, they've worked out an arrangement with five liberal arts colleges to offer this curriculum, some of which don't offer this kind of business curriculum. Because they will be taking this through the colleges, students will be eligible to pay for this with federal aid.
Consumer trends are shaping student and faculty expectations.
There's an accelerated trend toward making course materials available on mobile devices. About 30% of Coursera students take their course on a mobile device. We don't expect our students to take their courses on mobile devices, but there's a growing expectation that at least some materials will be available that way. This is not part of the existing mindset; most people don't know how to do it.
DuoLingo is a language-learning app not equivalent to taking a Duke language course; but in two years they have 70 million users and 50 million of those are active users. This has language-learning activities and also constantly consults a database of user behavior across its users base. This allows individualization based on a broad experience base.
Rapid feedback, mobile, personalization, customization; these are not things we think about much in our courses at Duke but we probably should start thinking about them.
An article from MIT's strategic planning process: The future of an MIT education is Global, Modular, and Flexible.
It's interesting to think about those terms and what they might mean for an education at Duke.
Questions and Comments
Should we assume that "mobile device" means "tablet"?
No; smartphones are heavily used in developing countries (where a huge proportion of Coursera students are based). They're also increasingly used as they become more capable.
What about identity verification?
Most companies offer a verified certificate only if you produce photo ID, a webcam photo, and usually keystroke monitoring and sometimes web proctoring.
Comments from a faculty member "traumatized" by this experience a few years ago:
From the student perspective at Duke, there's not much interest in doing online courses. On the other hand, faculty are open to experimenting with lots of different models. Colleges and schools are interested in adding new revenue streams. For Duke faculty to have the ability to offer online courses in a way that money can flow and benefit Duke, the school, the department, may be attractive to a number of players on campus. Providing options would be very beneficial.
Lynne is working with Continuing Studies to adapt some formerly free Coursera courses so they can be offered as continuing studies courses (a paid offering). Participants would get a Duke certificate rather than a Coursera certificate.
Others are offering some things free and open with a residential experience as a follow up.
In all of the online discussions, how questions are framed makes a huge difference in the answers you get; Duke students don't want to replace their campus courses with online courses. Many are using online courses for supplemental learning.
Comment:
Many from other smaller colleges are rather concerned about the economic impact of online learning.
We are also concerned, but looking at others who are responding to the same market changes, they aren't getting rid of their existing degree programs, but they are offering new online education options as an alternative for those who wouldn't pursue their existing degree programs anyway.
Some market responses may maintain existing quality and brand by distinguishing the product from others'.
We tried offering masters-level courses with a live TA as a feature and found that out of 30-plus students, only 5 ever used the TA. Discussion board participation went away when no longer required. Surveys indicated students were looking for a fast, efficient, high-quality way to learn (in this case) statistics.
If we removed payment and credit from traditional course offerings, it would be really interesting to see how that would change behavior.
We definitely get people who take multiple courses from Duke, but I'd say 85% of them are unique.
4:30- 4:50 - Cisco Jabber Demo and Conference Capabilities, Joseph Lopez - (15 minute presentation, 5 minute discussion)
What it is: Cisco Jabber gives people the freedom to be productive from anywhere , on any device, allowing access to presence, instant messaging (IM), voice, video, voice messaging, desktop sharing, and conferencing.
Why it's relevant: Cisco Jabber is an opportunity for Duke University and Duke University Health System to unify communications across platforms (Android, Blackberry, iPhone and iPad, Mac, Windows) and devices (PCs, Laptops, Tablets, and Smartphones). Joe Lopez will provide an overview of the product and demo some of its features.
Jabber is an IM (instant message or chat) service. We've had this deployed by OIT for some time; called jabberd. This allows federation with other sites; you can chat with other schools.
Cisco purchased this product and has been developing an all-in-one client. We're looking at a product suite from Cisco that includes IM & chat; presence (are you at your desk? are you in a meeting?); phone calls; video. This also does a corporate directory; voicemail; and webex. The client is better for the Windows environment; you lose some functionality on the Mac.
As of today, all users in the corporate directory are assigned IM and presence in this system.
We'll do a soft rollout for OIT and DHTS: about 2000 users. This works on our enterprise call manager, 38,000 devices right now doing 5,000 calls a day. This is our Voice over IP (VoIP) environment in use today.
Once you install this application, your presence is available. Do we want presence to be always on? Users are allowed to shut that off; we'll demonstrate in the demo.
Our new architecture allows connections from any good network connection (VPN is not required).
Students are not currently included, but there are some interesting opportunities for faculty.
Calls can be made or received from personal computers or phones/tablets if desired; these calls will originate from or terminate to your normal Duke phone number.
As of today, voicemail-to-email is already available; file a ticket through the Service Desk to enable it.
The Mobility feature also allows your personal phone (such as a cell phone) to ring when your office phone rings, but return calls will come from your personal phone's number.
One of the things we're hoping to launch is a portal to allow self-service for phone features: myphone.duke.edu.
Cisco Jabber replaces the Mobi client; you can join telepresence and bridges from your personal computer. We recently participated on a bridge between Durham and Kunshan.
If telepresence is being offered in a large room but an individual can't make it to that location, they can connect to that telepresence session from any Cisco Jabber device.
Telepresence is increasingly seen as not a Cadillac offering, but a range of offerings.
Instant WebEx: begins an WebEx meeting which pulls in everyone from your chat session or audio or video bridge.
Configurations are provided centrally once you log in with your NetID.
We hope DHTS will be using this by the end of the month; at that point we can consider additional groups. Everyone who wants to use this should have access by the end of the year.
Questions and Comments
Are we stuck with half-a-dozen IM clients due to interoperability concerns?
Anything that uses XMPP will work, although we have some issues with Google Chat.
We're working on URI dialing; with this you can reach anyone at Duke by their email address as listed in the enterprise directory.
Once ready to roll this out to the faculty, you'd be well served to have a short brochure or PDF that explains the basic features and problems it can solve.
We have a quick-start guide and we'll do a train-the-trainer for IT staff.
Is there any chance of a Linux client? In our department anyone below the faculty level uses Linux.
Cisco has only done Mac and Windows. We haven't seen any plans for a Linux client. A Linux XMPP (instant messaging protocol) client should work. Most SIP clients (softphone clients) should work as well.
Please talk to end users before deploying communication; relying on IT staff to publicize the new offering may not work.
Timeline?
Test groups are ready and we hope to have them using this by the end of this month.
4:50- 5:00 - Distributed Antenna System (DAS) Update, Bob Johnson (5 minute presentation, 5 minute discussion)
What it is: The DAS broadcasts cellular signals more directly to campus buildings and cover a much larger area than in-building hardware. We will provide an update on the status of this project, including the remaining schedule and what cellular users can expect.
Why it's relevant: Duke's cellular phone users will see improved coverage throughout all areas of campus as a result of the completion of the Distributed Antenna System (DAS) project.
The DAS project is coming to a close. This is a distributed antenna system to provide cell augmentation throughout all the buildings around Duke that require it.
Last time we talked about challenges and a hold-up in construction. We've addressed that.
Many of our buildings are not RF-friendly; you'll lose a cell signal when walking in the door. This project addresses this concern. LEED-certified buildings, though environmentally friendly, have trouble with radio reception due to the materials used in their construction.
This is a carrier-funded, not Duke-funded project.
The campus build-out has been just above $14 million, on top of what the carriers are contributing.
On the OIT website is a list of 24 buildings that are "in construction". They're substantially complete if not already complete. A load of antennas has come in; they're being put into buildings like French Science and Rubinstein. By the end of June those will be "construction complete" and ready for work by the carriers. We expect this in this first list to be done before July is out.
The second list is still in process. Some buildings will require carrier testing and there are challenges due to existing macros.
There are 10 crews on campus; each goes through a building in 2-3 weeks.
A third-party company, sourced by AT&T, is going through every building on campus, including the smaller ones. People are walking the buildings to ensure no coverage gaps. Some will get femtocells to address gaps.
Some buildings are held up because of existing construction. Lilly library, West Campus Union, and the stadium are included, as are the regional hospitals.
One building not mentioned here is Law School; it will be included in the June/July batch.
Of the approximately 200 buildings on campus, more than 150 are complete; about 20 are due soon; another 15 are not very far off; and a handful for various reasons will roll out as the opportunity emerges.
After DAS deployment coverage works very well. This project allows for coverage of spaces the carriers wouldn't normally cover well, like tunnels and stadiums. There have been lots of additional benefits from the project such as ending old radio systems we don't want to replace. Carriers are "on the hook" to expand new technologies within 90 days of general availability within the region. This is a 20-year solution for Duke.
This solution is more robust than the old radio system, which could be taken out by a lightning strike.
Questions and Comments
Is there any hope for carriers not among these three?
Sprint is slow, but coming up now. T-Mobile is not at the table. T-Mobile has given conflicting messages but also has expressed interest.
What about offsite locations?
Not included in this project. We'll poll and see if they're attractive to the carriers; we will see if they pick them up.
One of the big holdups is the need to build a new "head end". We can begin to use that "head end" for areas around here we can reach by fiber.
Comment: Jabber plus wifi gives phone coverage anyplace you have campus wifi.
5:00- 5:30 - Windows 10 Support/Feature Update, Paula Batton, John Straffin (20 minute presentation, 10 minute discussion)
What it is: Windows 10 will be released July 29, 2015.
Why it's relevant: We will discuss the test plan for Windows 10 and discuss/demo notable features spanning Windows 7-8-8.1 and now 10.
Demo of latest technical preview of Windows 10.
Just as feedback from Windows Vista was incorporated into Windows 7, feedback from Windows 8 has been incorporated into Windows 10.
Windows 10 can use either Start Screen or Start Menu mode; Start Screen is less visually jarring, and the Start Menu can be customized to give a more familiar appearance.
With Windows 10, the old "Metro" or "Modern" apps are no longer completely separate from desktop applications; "Windows Apps" can be used alongside existing desktop applications, complete with widgets at the top.
New web browser called "Edge" replaces Internet Explorer; it's based on WebKit, with no ActiveX, and more closely follows existing browser standards.
Voice integration "Cortana" is now added. This is similar to Siri on iPhones. It ties into Windows Search as well as internet search, which will allow queries about local content
Action Center reminds me of my phone to allow easy access to frequently-used settings.
Convertibles can be used as a tablet or a laptop. Switching to tablet mode will provide a full-screen interface.
Windows Media is dead and DVD playback will not be available immediately.
Games will not be installed by default but can be obtained from the Windows Store.
This is freely available for retail versions of Windows 7 and 8.1 for the next year. It will be included in our campus agreement as well.
Out of 5700 Windows machines monitored by our central management tool, 6% are using retail Windows instead of our enterprise versions. 80% of those are in six departments, and 40% of those are in one. The other 5500 are using enterprise versions.
Support timelines:
Public release July 29; historically we might expect a one-week lapse before we have it for campus use.
We expect a few student computers that will get it over the summer.
After about 4 weeks of testing application compatibility, early builds will be made available to departments via the SCCM central management tool.
By the end of the year, we expect to make Windows 10 the standard OS for new images and new purchases.
Kernel version has changed from 6.3 (Windows 8.1) to 6.4 (early builds of Windows 10) to 10.0.
The Windows 10 compatibility matrix will include about 100 applications. We've learned that the testing must be done on the final release version of the OS; pre-release testing was not helpful for Windows 8.
We hope that by the end of the year we can begin to offer this as our main operating system for new machines.
Questions and Comments
Can Cortana recognize technical terms from, say, a particular academic discipline?
Cortana learns as you use it.
Has the proliferation of Windows editions changed?
Expect Windows Home, Pro, and Enterprise. Here, we should all be running Windows Enterprise.
Are we notifying departments about their retail versions?
We will be. However, this only includes those machines registered with the central management system.
What is the breakdown on campus, Windows, Mac, and Linux?
We generally report in the fall. We believe there are slightly more Macs than Windows machines on the network (including students).
Is Internet Explorer history?
We've seen no mention of IE for Windows 10. That said, web sites that work with Chrome will work with Edge.
When does support for Windows 10 end?
2020. But Windows 10 is being heavily promoted by Microsoft because it will bring a more frequent update cycle.