During the production stage of this annual report the design team recalled that ten years ago the topic of the day was the Millennium Bug. Remember that pesky, malicious, undefined, calendar glitch that was going to shut down the world’s computers a moment after midnight on January 1, 2000? MCC spent a year preparing for and reprogramming for the Bug. We were successful in diverting its havoc.
Reflecting on that event reminded us of the immutable march of technology to be faster, more powerful, smaller, more efficient, etc. Besides these physical attributes, we reflected that technology was seemingly about compressing linear time and two-dimensional space. We have begun shifting our activities to take advantage of the changes to and the changes by technology. We reflected, wouldn’t it be great if we could take advantage of the benefits of technology without having to change our behavior.
For this annual report we thought we would do two things; first review the ETS Annual Report for 1998-99 to see what MCC was doing ten years ago, and second conduct a brief survey of ETS to determine the significant technology trends during the past ten years, the first decade of the new millennium.
- Here were some of the big projects MCC accomplished or started work on ten years ago. Reflect on these!
- We began the development of electronic mail and web-based communications for the ETS division. These became email distribution lists and the Daily Tribune.
- We formalized a model for the development of asynchronous courses. This ultimately became a national model for integrated design and development of online courses.
- We began the development of a Disaster Recovery Plan. This year we hope to complete this development.
- We began R&D on wireless networks, video streaming, interoperability of voice-video-data, and a voice activated web site.
- We implemented a GUI (graphical user interface) for the Student Information System (SIS); pre-Banner days!
- We implemented an online Admissions Application.
- We migrated the first 500 users to the new email system, Microsoft Outlook/Exchange. This year we migrated 53,000 student email accounts to the Microsoft Outlook Live program.
- We added audio cassettes (Books on tape) to our library collection.
With these ten year old innovations as a base, we next asked ETS staff to reflect on the many changes, inventions and trends that have occurred over the past ten years in the field of technology. From MCC’s perspective, the technology megatrends for the first decade of the 21st Century were as follows:
- Users expectations and demands for online services (seems nobody wants to fill out a paper form or stand in line anymore).
- Speedy, easy, “always on” and “everywhere” access.
- From mainframe, to distributed, to wireless and mobile computing.
- Personalization and interactivity, this worked at two levels - it is how we want our technology, and it is what we want to do with our technology.
- Innovation and invention in hardware (this is the culture of gadgets).
The specific items or trends upon which these mega-trends are based are broad and pervasive across our daily life now. Specifics include e-books, social networking, the Internet, laptops, virtual worlds and online learning.
These major technology shifts in the past decade are profound. They are changing the way we communicate with each other. They are changing the rules and environments for interactivity. They are changing the way we operate. They are changing the students we serve. In this annual report for 2008-09 we reflect back on these changes and express our thanks for your support, your trust and your patience. Our vision in ETS is that everyone’s success at MCC is enhanced by technology.
If you have questions about the 2008-09 ETS Annual Report, or other ETS inquiries, please do not hesitate to contact me. Over the past ten years my extension number has remained the same, 3018.
Dr. Jeffrey P. Bartkovich
Vice President
Educational Technology Services |
Contact Us
Facebook
@monroecc
YouTube
Share