Unidata R18 sounds like it could be a droid from "Star Wars," but R18 has been a touchstone in a Southwestern College computer war.
SWC's $5 million technology upgrade began in earnest this spring when tech consultant Gary Van Voorhis launched a new database management system by Datatel. It is called Unidata Release 18. Van Voorhis said the new system will help students and admissions personnel keep things organized and running smoothly.
Not all faculty agree. Some technology instructors insist the college is buying hardware that will not run important educational software.
More than a year in the making, the switch began in early February, which is why WebAdvisor went down. In R18 there are choices a customer can make and switch in the database management system. The choices are Microsoft product SQL Server (Structured Query Language) and Oracle. The cost of R18 is about $150,000.
Larry Lambert, Online Instructional Support specialist said there is much in the plan to like. He said R18 is the first version that will have a graphical user interface (GUI) which is icon-driven making it more like Windows program.
Lambert said Blackboard will be upgraded to version nine with web 2.0 technology this summer and should be ready to roll by fall of 2009.
"With version nine there will be fewer clicks and easier to move things around," he said.
Other technology advancements to online learning involve interface with multimedia sites such as Facebook and YouTube.
Many faculty members from the computer information systems are not content with the new machines because there was not adequate input from faculty, according to Lambert.
"The computer information system faculty group are very concerned that they are going to end up with computers that cannot support the software technology that they are currently teaching," he said.
Lambert said the computers in their offices are too old, do not have enough memory, random access memory or also, do not have strong video power.
In the technology steering committee Lambert said he was told they need to have next year's technology request for software to Superintendent Dr. Raj K. Chopra by March 15.
"Instead of having everybody with a one-size-fits-all computer, we don't think that would be able to work," he said.
Assistant Professor of Computer Information Systems Victor Campos is one of the faculty members concerned with the updated computers that will be arriving.
"Students are our first priority. We want to get them the best education with the best software and hardware," he said. "Unfortunately, it seems that it may go in the direction of having a one-size-fits-all and a lot of teachers aren't happy with that."
Campos said this issue has been discussed continuously in recent meetings within the school of business and info systems. He teaches a new web design class and an HTML class. He said these classes require newer software and hardware. They are currently using Adobe. He said the reason why they have not upgraded to Adobe CS4 is because some faculty do not have computers able to handle the upgrade.
Dr. Eliana Santana, professor of English as a Second Language is chair of the Academic Technology Committee (ATC). She said faculty members have come to ATC to share concerns and make suggestions. Committee members agreed to seek revisions of the technology plan.
"In the ATC all we can do is listen. We discuss, and vote if we are going to make recommendations to the institution and take it to the Academic Senate," said Santana. "They need better computers that are different from the ones they are going to get so they can continue doing their job."
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