May 2012 Archives

Textbooks cost about $1000 per semester, which is a pretty big drain on our students. Many students already look to e-textbooks. We heard from Morris students earlier in Spring semester, asking for more e-textbooks for classes, and more e-book offerings in the library.

Clearly, our students are looking elsewhere for learning materials; it's no longer about printed words on "dead tree" media. Today, students want to take their materials with them, which means e-books and e-textbooks. For myself, I immediately became a convert to e-books when I got my Kindle; it's easy to store lots of books on a single device, and read them anywhere.

Minnesota Public Radio covered the University of Minnesota's Open Textbooks project. The goal of the project is to solicit reviews of college-level open source textbooks and collect those that pass muster onto their website. (See also this press release.)

The project will focus first on high-volume introductory classes such as those for Math and Biology, because as David Ernst, director of the project, states in the interview: "You know the world doesn't need another $150 Algebra One book. Algebra One hasn't changed for centuries, probably."

Requirements for inclusion include: Open licensing (Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike), complete content (no glorified collections of lecture notes), applicability outside of the author's institution, and print availability.

This is a real step forward for lowering the cost of education at the University of Minnesota. At the same time, we are helping our students find the class materials they need in the formats that they want.

I wanted to share this brief update on our campus network upgrade. As you know, Computing Services is working with the Twin Cities Office of Information Technology (OIT) to upgrade the network across the Morris campus.

In mid-March, we replaced the devices that run the "core" of our campus network. Since then, OIT network engineers have been visiting each of the campus areas to review network configuration and wiring. This review should be complete in the next week or so, around Friday, June 1.

We already have started work to install network fiber across the campus. The fiber will support our new network, but otherwise should be invisible to you after the work is complete.

Once the fiber installation is complete, we will begin upgrading network devices across the campus. This should start around Monday, June 18.

We are still working our the exact schedule (dates and times) for this next phase of the network upgrade,and we will share that with you very soon. Our intention is to schedule the work so to minimize disruption to the campus, similar to how we managed the network changes in mid-March. We will take extra care to work around summer classes.

We still anticipate completing the network upgrade ahead of Fall classes in August. We want to welcome our students with a faster network, and better wireless coverage.

Have you heard of edX? EdX is a joint partnership between The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and Harvard University to offer online learning to millions of people around the world. EdX will offer Harvard and MIT classes online for free. Through this partnership, the institutions aim to extend their collective reach to build a global community of online learners and to improve education for everyone. Personally, I see edX as turning e-education "up to 11".

I've previously referenced oped posts about the future of online education, including this one that paints a stark picture of the future - at least, for campuses that do not adapt to online teaching. EdX seems to be an interesting leap forward, at the same time a risky gamble and exciting opportunity for e-learning. I'm curious to see how edX will evolve. Stay tuned!

A few weeks ago, I posted a new survey, asking IT folks to respond to a series of questions about the work they do, where they fit in their organization, and (most importantly) to rank the "relative importance" of four qualities: Technical, Interpersonal, Strategic, Financial. This was not a simple 1-2-3-4 ranking exercise, but rather I asked people to consider the importance of each quality relative to each other and rate them on a 0-10 scale so that the total of all four was also 10.

At first, this may seem like an odd way to ask folks to rate the "importance" of something. But that's because we're too used to ranking things on an independent "Likert" scale. A Likert scale is a psychometric scale commonly used in questionnaires, and is the most widely used scale in survey research. But using a Likert scale would rank each quality independent of one another, where a respondent might indicate that financial and technical were both "important" - even though the reality is that one quality likely outweighs another.

Last year, I reported the results of a similar survey, also conducted here. But that survey was not widely advertised, mostly garnering responses from people who follow my blog (not many.) We had something on the order of 100 (or 150?) responses to that survey. I wanted to repeat the survey, hopefully with a larger N this time.

In addition, I wanted to improve on the survey. The scale had changed (0-100, instead of 0-10) but that was the least of the issues. A flaw in the previous survey was that I asked people to do their own addition. And it turns out that many (not a majority, but "many") cannot or would not do the math. While a few totals ranged 90-110, most of the "outliers" in that survey chose to rank the qualities independently. This led to some inaccuracies in the first survey, as these were weighted equally, and scores adjusted so the total was 100.

This new survey used an improved method, where the survey form provided a running total, to help respondents rate the "relative importance". And the form would not accept numbers that added up to another other than 10. I consider this survey to be a huge improvement over the previous survey, both in quality of the data, and number of responses.

I sought the help of friends and colleagues to "advertise" the new survey. Over 360 of you responded, from all over the world, representing all levels of an IT organization. Most of the responses (over 250) were from higher education. 68 represented commercial companies, 32 were in government, and 10 came from non-profit organizations.

I wanted to share my results here. First, let's review the four qualities in more detail:

• Technical: The tasks that are very "hands-on" by nature, often managing servers or databases, or supporting other systems or desktop environments.
• Strategic: Time spent thinking about the overall IT organization, and how the organization needs to respond to meet new challenges.
• Interpersonal: Building relationships, the "give and take" of interacting with others.
• Finance: Factoring in costs, either at the small scale (tools, etc.) or at the larger scales (budgets, etc.)

Note that these aren't "skills" per se, but qualities that are important to the work performed within each role. You might consider the "relative importance" the contribution of each quality to the role's function in the IT organization.

And how these qualities were ranked relative to each other: (click to enlarge)

I find these results very interesting! There's a lot to learn about leadership at different levels in an IT organization. Some thoughts:

1. The vanishing value of Technical

Not surprisingly, the relative importance of Technical drops very quickly, the higher you are in the IT organization. For a CIO, the importance of Technical is almost zero. That's not to say that a CIO may not have the skills to, say, set up a Linux server, or to edit web pages. But this is not what a CIO typically does in his or her role, so it ranks as not very important compared to the other qualities.

This is an important trend in understanding how to communicate with those around you, how to frame a position. You may have experienced this, if you ever tried to convince your director or CIO to adopt a new path in technology. You can't make a compelling case based simply on technical merit. Rather, your case will be better received if you focus on how your idea will benefit the organization (Strategic) or will help others to be more effective (Interpersonal).

Overall, the quickly falling Technical indicates that IT leaders are finding ways to balance "lead-manage-do". This is an important balance for anyone in IT. As I've said before, with "lead-manage-do", you can pick up to two. That is, you can lead & manage (typical of what we consider most "IT leaders" who need to see the future, but also manage their own teams), or you can lead & do (for example, an "architect" in an organization might need to be very visionary and set direction on architecture, yet at the same time contribute to code libraries or other application tasks), or you can do & manage (this is what most people would call a "working manager" or a "team lead" who manages a small team, but also contributes to the work.) But the reality is that you cannot effectively navigate all three at the same time. And this survey suggests that as folks rise in the IT organization, they are appropriately giving up the "do" tasks so they can focus on "lead-manage."

2. The balancing act of the team lead

Note what happens at the team lead level. Three of the four qualities have equal relative importance. Technical, Strategic, and Interpersonal are equally weighted for the team lead. This balance may be a strength at that level in the organization but will prove to be a difficulty in reaching for the next level in an organization. Successful team leads will have learned to balance their attention across Technical, Strategic and Interpersonal. They have the necessary technical background to address IT issues with their teams, but have started to developed a more strategic view of the organization. And successful team leads have learned to form interpersonal relationships with those above and below, often acting as a kind of "interpreter" or "interface" between the two levels.

But there's a conventional wisdom for new managers that "what got you here won't get you there." Rising through the ranks of an IT organization, Technical plays a key role at the staff and team lead level. In most IT organizations, staff become team lead and manager through demonstrating their proficiency in technical systems. The reward for good work can be more work, and eventually a bump up to the next level.

Until you reach team lead, anyway. At that role, your technical background becomes less important to reach the next level. And to take that next step to manager requires putting aside more of your technical background, to focus more on the larger issues. When you've spent so much time and energy balancing the demands of Technical, Strategic, and Interpersonal, it is awfully hard to finally "let go" of Technical so you can focus your attentions on new strategic thinking.

Interestingly, in the previous survey, this collision occurred at the manager level, not the team lead. I can only guess why the shift. One possible reason is that respondents to the previous survey were from IT professionals who had not gone through a leadership development program (at least, I know many of those who responded indicated as much to me personally or via email) where much of the "advertising" for this year's survey was conducted via a mailing list for "alumni" of the IT Leaders Program from MOR Associates. (Disclaimer: that's not an advertisement for ITLP, but I did go through the program and found it very helpful to me.) Perhaps those who have "graduated" from ITLP have already learned to delegate their "do" tasks to their teams, shifting the collision from the manager to the team lead.

3. The drop in Interpersonal at the CIO level

The trends all seem to follow a predictable progression. The falling importance of technical, the rising value in Strategic and Interpersonal; these are not very surprising. But at the CIO level, things change. While other trends continue, the importance of Interpersonal drops sharply. This is different from the previous survey, where Interpersonal had a sudden (but small) uptick at the CIO level.

Why do CIOs not value interpersonal relationships as much as the directors below them? One reason might be that CIOs suddenly find themselves at the "top" of their IT organization, and perceive greater latitude in making decisions. Thus, they might assume interpersonal relationships to be less important. However, the director still needs to curry a favorable relationship with the CIO, to get buy-in on new initiatives - and with the managers below them, to make projects run more smoothly.

Or perhaps the high response rate from higher education plays a role here, in that directors often need to interact with faculty, department chairs, and chancellors to bring change to their campus. This requires a significant effort, and is helped by forming relationships with those around you, and with your constituents.

Overall, this was a very informative survey, and I want to thank everyone who participated. You have helped build a fresh understanding of IT at different leadership levels in the organization, from staff to CIO.

As IT leaders, we need to stop and take a look at the technology horizon, both to see what is coming and to see where we are going. The way I see current trends, we need to expand our support for mobile computing, and mobile learning. Today, 2/3 of our students have smartphones. This will continue, fewer of our incoming freshmen will rely on something so archaic as a laptop in the same way that the students of today prefer a laptop instead of a clunky desktop. The question becomes "how can we support this increasing trend of mobile devices?"

We need to adopt new methods to support these students. Our wireless network upgrade is just one component of supporting mobile devices. Students want to have the network available to them wherever they go, whenever they need it. This always-on mobile computing mindset will extend to all facets of education. Our lab computing will be no exception. In the next 5 years, if not less, we need to embrace mobile devices in our computing labs.

An obvious and flexible way to bring lab computing to mobile users is by providing a "virtual lab". This means providing a "window" into a lab computer - so students can access our lab resources via a mobile device: iPad, smartphone, or other mobile/tablet device.

Here's a great example of a virtual lab: Windows 7 running via a Raspberry Pi. From the Raspberry Pi blog: "This video shows Citrix's XenDesktop remote desktop running a Windows 7 virtual desktop session. Run a bunch of instances of Windows on your server, push the displays out to many Raspberry Pis, and you've got a cheap way of getting Windows onto desks at work, without having to fork out for a full-cost PC. We're beginning to understand that there are ways to lower the cost of ownership using a Raspberry Pi even for businesses which aren't prepared to switch over entirely to open-source software - neat, isn't it?"

If you have been following my blog, you know that I am excited about the Raspberry Pi device - I think it will bring teachable computing technology to all students, which is only a good thing. The Raspberry Pi is built around an inexpensive computer board, using similar components to what you would find in your mobile phone. So if Raspberry Pi is capable of running a virtual lab terminal, it's a good proof of concept for running virtual labs in our future.

I'd like to share this update from our partners in OIT:

On-the-go access to Moodle courses just got easier. The May 13 upgrade to Moodle 2.2 added a mobile interface that enables students to access Moodle course content and perform tasks on their mobile devices (limited to mobile-friendly file formats) including: taking a quiz and checking scores, viewing and replying to discussion forum posts, and viewing videos.

This is great news! In our listening sessions earlier in Spring semester, we heard from many students who wanted more mobile access to e-learning - including a mobile version of Moodle. So this latest Moodle update should be very well received when classes resume in Fall!

A few folks have asked me about Google+ Hangouts, and what they need to get connected. If you're using a Macintosh desktop or laptop, you should be good to go. Macs come with a microphone, speakers, and webcam all built-in. If you have a PC laptop, your computer already has a microphone and speakers - and if it's a recent laptop, it should have a webcam. Desktop PCs have speakers (let us know if yours doesn't, and we can give you a set) but not a microphone and webcam.

As we update our computer specs for the coming year, we will be including these features by default, making it easier for you to get the most out of voice & video chat, and hangouts. But what if you want to get connected now? What do you need to get started?

If you need a microphone, you may be interested in a headset. Any PC headset will work, even on Mac, so you should be able to pick whatever is comfortable for you. If you go for a wired headset, there's no setup required - but you might want to check where the microphone and speaker plugs are on the PC, to make sure you can reach them easily (the plugs might be on the back of your computer, so check that the headset wire will be long enough.) Wired headsets will also be least expensive.

Looking around on Amazon, I have recommended this one to a few folks:

• Plantronics .Audio 326 Stereo PC Headset, $13

If you're interested in an inexpensive webcam, I have the Logitech C210. This works well for me (this even works great on Linux):

• Logitech Webcam C210, $25

Yes, you can find better headsets and webcams out there, but these are great for everyday use. And they are low-cost, which is good if you plan to replace your computer anyway in a few years.

Just thought I'd share.

You probably have a Facebook account. Most of us do. Facebook is (arguably) the most popular and visible social networking site out there. Other social networks include LinkedIn, Twitter, and Google+.

Maybe you haven't heard about Google+ before. It never got much press, aside from its initial launch a year ago. You can think of Google+ as being similar to Facebook - though admittedly, not used as much. On the whole, Google+ offers the same basic experience as Facebook. But there's one feature in Google+ that Facebook doesn't have: Hangouts.

Hangouts are a new way to do video chat. You've probably used Skype for video chat? If you haven't used Skype yourself, you likely know someone who does. Google+ hangouts are a lot like Skype, but better! With a hangout, up to 10 people can do a video chat at the same time (you + 9 others.)

You can also think of hangouts as a "desktop version of ITV". Hangouts make a distant conversation more personal.

To start a hangout, you need to be in Google+. Just click the Google+ link at the top of your Gmail. It will be a + with your name next to it.

If this is the first time you've used Google+, you may be asked to create your Google+ profile. Feel free to do the minimum to set up a profile, to get started. (For example, you don't need to add anyone to your "circles" right now.)

On the right side of the Google+ page, click Start a hangout. Type the names of the people you want to chat with in the hangout, then click Hang out. (You may want to click the x next to Your circles, and add specific circles or people that you want to chat with.)

Think of "circles" like "groups" of people. You can put people in a circle, but they don't need to put you in one of their circles. Try creating a separate circle for each committee you are on. Yes, you can have the same person in multiple circles. That way, when you start a hangout, just type the name of a circle to only do a hangout with people from that committee or study group.

Feel free to experiment with hangouts. Need to show something in detail, like Powerpoint slides? Try sharing your desktop! Feeling brave? Try Hangouts with extras for new and expanded features.

The basics to get connected with a hangout are the same as voice & video chat, which I wrote about a few weeks ago. To do a hangout, you'll need a need a microphone and speakers connected to your computer. Laptops and Macs should already come with this by default, but desktop PCs may need a separate microphone.

You don't need a webcam to participate in a hangout, but if you want others to see you during the hangout, you'll also need a webcam connected to your computer.

Yesterday, I wrote about how to use Google Apps to do voice & video chat with others who use Gmail (either at the University of Minnesota, or anyone with a gmail.com address.) But what if you want to have a conversation with someone who doesn't have Gmail?

The obvious solution, which you probably do every day, is to pick up the phone and call them. But as most of us are probably painfully aware, those long-distance phone bills can add up.

If you experimented with voice & video chat, you probably noticed the "Call phone" icon in your chat list. This lets you call any number in the US for free using Google. In my department, we use this feature to make our long-distance calls to the Twin Cities campus (for example: committees, etc.) and now our monthly phone bills are essentially the cost of having a phone on the desk - as close to zero as you can get.

To make a call, just click on the "Call phone" item in "Chat". You'll get a little dialer that looks like the keypad on a phone. Simply tap in the phone number (or type it in the box) and click "Call" to make the call. If you have phone numbers in your contacts, you can also search for that person in the box. For example, I have the phone number for the Twin Cities Conference Operator saved in my contacts, so I just type "conf" in the box, and it automatically finds (and enters) the number for the conference operator.

Like voice chat, you'll need a microphone and speakers connected to your computer. And you will need to install a small driver from Google. It's easy to set up on your own! If you don't have the driver, you'll be prompted to download and automatically install it, the first time you try to make a call. Call the Helpdesk if you need help.

One thing to know when you make phone calls from Google: the person you are calling will not see your number when you call. Since you're making the call through Google's network, the call will go out from a Google server. So "your" number won't show up as your work number, but a phone number assigned to one of Google's data centers.

We've been using Google Apps at the University of Minnesota for about 2 years now. On occasion, I like to share "tips & tricks" for getting the most of Google Apps. Earlier in the Fall, Pam & I held several campus sessions about Gmail filters, Google Calendar, and Google Docs. But Google Apps can do more than that.

Did you know that Google supports free voice & video chat? It's right there in your Gmail. Look for "Chat" in the left-hand corner of Gmail, below your list of labels/folders. You should see a list of names there - these are contacts who are available for chat. If you see a "video" icon, that means the person has a webcam and is available for a video chat.

To start a chat, just click on the person's name. By default, you can start a text chat, which is sort of like AOL's chat messenger. But I find it's more interesting to start a voice chat, or a video chat. You can start a voice chat by clicking the "phone" icon, or a video chat by clicking on the "video" icon, or a text chat by typing in the box.

To start using voice chat, you'll need a microphone and speakers connected to your computer. Most computers come with these, but some desktop PCs will require a separate microphone. To do video chat, you'll also need a webcam connected to your computer. However, video chat is optional - although I find video does make the conversation more personal.

You will also need to install a small driver from Google, which communicates between your computer and Google's voice & video chat service. It's easy to set up on your own! You'll be prompted to download and install this, the first time you try to make a call. Go ahead and give it a try! Call the Helpdesk if you need help.

That's it! Voice & video chat is a great way to connect with others who are also using Gmail. They don't have to be at Morris, or even part of the University. You can start a chat with anyone who has a Gmail (gmail.com) email address. And it's free!

I find voice & video chat invaluable for conversations with folks at the Twin Cities campus. What a great way to save on long-distance bills! And with a webcam on both end, video chat is the next best thing to being there.

Pam recently shared a link to the Wine & Wikis web site, showcasing all the great presentations from our IT information event on April 17. Thanks to everyone who participated!

Computing Services was present, with two presentations:

Data storage & sharing options at UMM
We have several different options for folks to store and share their data: You've always been able to save your files to your workstation's hard drive. But we've also introduced NetFiles, Active Directory, and Google Docs as other places to keep your important data. Matt's poster session helped make sense of the available options.

Zimride: Social networking empowers green living
Only a year ago, Computing Services partnered with MCSA to bring a new ridesharing service to Morris. Zimride allows students, faculty, and staff to post rides to & from different locations. Rebecca spoke about the broad adoption we've seen across the campus, an encouraging first year!

Feel free to visit the Wine & Wikis site to see all the presentations from that day. Over the next few weeks, I'll post additional details about these 2 presentations on this blog.

Tomorrow, we will graduate the Class of 2012 from the University of Minnesota Morris. I'd like to extend a warm congratulations to everyone! As you depart the university, some will be going on to graduate school, and many will enter the workforce.

I used to advise a fraternity and a sorority when I was with the Twin Cities campus, and would provide regular resume and interview coaching. At Morris, I perform the same service with our departing student workers, offering to help with resumes and do practice interviews. On the topic of resumes, Business Insider recently wrote about what interviewers focus on when they read your resumes. The article suggests interviewers may spend as little as 6 seconds on a resume - that seems a bit low, although it's generally true that a hiring manager gets lots of applicants for an open position, so will have many resumes to read.

It's up to you to make your resume stand out from the crowd. As simple as it seems, formatting means a lot. You need to make your resume easy to read, and easy to skim. My general advice:

Put your name at the top of the resume.
That should seem really obvious - but I have reviewed more than one resume where I asked "Whose resume is this?" If the hiring manager doesn't know your name, they can't hire you.

Include your contact information (phone and email) right next to your name.
Many resumes I've read over the years did not mention how to reach the candidate. I imagine these candidates included their preferred contact method in their cover letter (and you should do that, too) but it's not uncommon for the cover page to get separated or lost when sorting through the pile of applicants.

List your education and experience clearly.
From the article, the study showed recruiters will look at your name, current title and company, current position start and end dates, previous title and company, previous position start and end dates, and education. So make sure these are easy to find. Use clear formatting around section headings, such as borders that span the width of the page. The article shows two resumes, but one received much more attention. The one on the right was looked at more thoroughly than the one of the left because of its clear and concise formatting.

Finally, Business Insider also writes with 7 tips for your interview. To summarize:

Don't be late.
On the other hand, don't be too early. As a general rule, plan to be in their lobby 5-10 minutes before your interview. If you have to, arrive early, and wait in your car until it's time to walk in the door.

Don't show up unprepared.
Do your homework beforehand. You should know what the company does, something about its market, and what your job might entail. Take advantage of their web site, and ask family for advice and insights.

Don't ask about salary, benefits, and perks.
Actually, I believe it's okay to ask about these - but at the end of the interview when they ask "is there anything you'd like to ask us?" Otherwise, focus on the 3 things asked in every interview: do you want the job, can you do the job, will they want to work with you.

Don't focus on future roles.
In other words, if you give the impression that this job is just a "stepping stone" to some bigger & better position somewhere else, no one will want to hire you to do the job you are applying for.

"What is your greatest weakness?"
This question still gets asked in interviews, even though it's a b.s. question. So you still need to be able to answer it. Avoid "I work too hard" or some other lame response; actually talk about a weakness - just make it something that you can actually improve, and won't blow your opportunity for the position.

Don't lie.
Yes, I have actually sat on interviews where the candidate was clearly making stuff up. The hiring manager isn't an idiot, they can spot a lie. This is the #1 way to get your resume tossed out.

End the interview on a positive.
Don't ask what might rule you out of consideration; that just starts the interviewer thinking about why you might not be a good fit for the position.

Good luck, graduates! You'll do well!

Some time ago, I posted an online poll to survey the relative importance of four qualities at various levels in an IT organization. The survey asked respondents to self-identify their role in the IT organization ("Staff", Team lead", "Manager", "Director", "CIO") and to rank four qualities ("Technical", "Strategic", "Interpersonal", "Finance") relative to one another. This was not just a simple 1-2-3-4 prioritization exercise. Rather, the survey asked folks to consider how each quality fit into the overall importance of their work, and rank the relative importance of each.

The survey was originally posted a few years ago, and I wrote about the results a few months ago. While my poll was an unscientific one, the results were very consistent across each role - and very interesting.

I'd like to update the survey for 2012, and I need your help! If you work in IT, please consider responding to the new survey. It should take less than 5 minutes to complete. I'll post new analysis in May, based on the updated results.

Please share this survey with your co-workers, your friends, your online associates, and anyone else who works in IT. The more responses I can get on the survey, the better and more informative it will be. Thanks for your help!

A pair of articles from eCampus News intrigued me. First, this article from February: Interactive campus maps could mean big bucks for colleges

Technologists who have tracked the evolution of the interactive campus map say the online tour--complete with 360-degree views, descriptions, and videos--will take on a more vital role in college recruitment efforts as gas prices rise and the days of multiple campus visits become unfeasible for most middle-class families.

The article discusses the rising importance of a quality online presence in attracting new students. In this case, it's about providing an accurate view of the campus for prospective students and their parents. From the article, "You simply can't afford to take your children to 20 schools to see what they're all about anymore," so more families are relying on an interactive campus map to build an understanding of the campus.

And from the April edition: Campus websites becoming key tools for student recruitment and retention. (This article isn't available online yet, but you might try searching for it via their web site later.) This article is a larger piece "from staff reports" about campus websites in general - and begins with an almost verbatim inclusion of the interactive campus maps article.

The April article continues by highlighting self service portals and other tools that aid students in their progression towards a degree. That translates directly to retention. These portals use intelligent software to provide answers to common questions, from "how do I get financial aid?" to "where can I park on campus?" Students want to be empowered, and they want to do everything online. Providing these types of smart websites is part of that delivery of self service.