New Web site, downloadable lectures in the works
By Maureen Inouye
While students and staff planned for Focus the Nation, Information Services (IS) has been focusing on making sure UP is up to date on the Internet. In the next several months, students will be able to view the new UP Web site, download lectures using iTunes, and vote for the ASUP Executive Board online.
New Web Site
In March, UP plans to launch a new and improved www.up.edu Web site. The new version of the site will feature an updated design and more interactive features.
The Web site was last updated in 2001. Jenny Walsh, the director of Web and Administrative Systems, said the time for change has arrived.
"The Web has grown a lot - people expect more from the Internet now. So the Web site needs to grow, too," she said.
The current Web site's design is not ideal - the site is too dark and the fonts are too small Walsh said. The new site will be brighter and have more photos. Each time a user refreshes the page, a new photo will appear (as it does now on PilotsUP) and the photos will change based on the season.
"We want the Web site's pictures to give people a feeling for the campus," Walsh said.
The site will also be easier to navigate and improve accessibility. The new design is very open and flexible.
"We can do anything with it," Walsh said of the new homepage's format, which has a white background and lots of space for university announcements and events.
The department has been working on this project for more than a year. An outside designer hired to create the new look gave the design to Administrative Systems in October, and now UP's employees are working to finish and launch the site.
PilotsUP will eventually be changed to match the look and feel of www.up.edu. In the future, UP plans to improve PilotsUP's intranet (the private network) as well, to allow for more communication between students and faculty.
iTunes-U
IS hopes to institute a new program called iTunes U, which will allow faculty to podcast lectures for students.
"That could be useful, depending on the class and teaching style - maybe for a science class where there are lots of lectures," said senior English and German major Laurel Yecny.
Once the lectures are recorded, students with iTunes will be able to download them using their usernames and passwords. Because iTunes is a free service, IS is confident that many students will want to use the program once they have downloaded iTunes onto their computers.
UP now owns the recording equipment necessary for faculty to record lectures, but faculty have been slow to respond to the new technology.
"I'm not very technologically proficient. But it would be nice to have the option (to podcast) on special topics," communication professor Michael Mulcrone said.
Walsh emphasized the multi-facet aspect of the technology.
"Athletics can record videos of the games or the University Singers could record their concerts - it's all possible," said Walsh. "It's not just for professors."
Both alumni and students can then access these videos, songs and lectures through iTunes. Several universities, including Stanford, have already started using iTunes U.
"We can start podcasting now, if we can get faculty interested," Walsh said. Apparently some faculty are skeptical about the new technology, especially as recording lectures makes it less imperative for students to actually attend class.
"I think education is an interactive process. Communication is increasingly mediated, so it's important to keep the face-to-face interaction," Mulcrone said.
Eventually, there will be a link to UP's iTunes U page from PilotsUP.
"This should be great for everyone, and students should find it very useful," Walsh said.
Although students seem less enthusiastic about listening to lectures, the thought of free videos and songs is attractive.
"That would be cool," Yecny said about the extras. "Plus, even the lectures could be good when reviewing for tests."
Online Voting
On Monday, the Senate approved a resolution to the ASUP Constitution that allows online voting for campus elections. The new voting system will be used for the upcoming ASUP Executive Board elections in February.
"It's an idea we've been playing with for a few years," said Jovelyn Bonilla, the ASUP secretary. As secretary, Bonilla oversees all ASUP elections.
"There wasn't anything about it in the Constitution so we had to make a resolution to make sure the votes count," she said.
ASUP tested the online voting procedure last semester when it asked students to vote for their favorite capital improvements around campus.
The online voting system is more efficient and more environmentally friendly because less paper will be necessary. IS has been working with Bonilla to create the format of the new ballot online. Bonilla said the format for the online ballot has not been determined yet.
"The old elections were so tedious," Bonilla said. "People would have to wait in line, and then we'd have to find their name on a huge list. And after the election was over, three people would have to count each pile of votes three times to make sure it was accurate."
The paper elections process required students to vote at tables in certain locations at certain hours during the day. For many students, especially those living off campus and graduate students only on campus in the evenings, this process made voting difficult.
"Now, students can vote whenever they want on their own computers. And when the election is over, we'll have the results right away," Bonilla said. She expects the online procedure to increase the percentage of students who participate in the elections.
ASUP will still have an elections committee and, at least for this upcoming election, will continue to have tables where students can fill out a hand-written ballot.
"Notre Dame and several other schools already have all their elections online. We should go with that trend," Bonilla said.
