Academic Computing Subcommittee Report

Friday, November 19, 2004

Members: Present – Ed Hassildine (Chair), Paul Basileo, Pete DiGregorio, Paul Basileo

Not Present – Kevin McKoy, Jeannette Bravo, Carl Struck

Agenda Items:

  • Increased Printing Costs – Action Item #2 from 10/08 CCC Meeting
  • Smart Classroom Setup – Action Item #4 from 10/08 CCC Meeting

Agenda Item Title: Increased Print Costs

Premise: Academic areas have experienced significant increases in printing due to the integration of technology into courses. The quantity of increased costs has not specifically been identified and the source of printing has not been specifically linked to Distance Education or certain Academic Disciplines. Prior to the meeting, Ed Hassildine asked members of the Subcommittee to collect paper usage statistics from open labs and to ask staff in open lab areas for their observations on what is being printed.

Discussion:

-Ed Hassildine obtained paper delivery history from Bo Burns of the Eastern Campus Business Office for the campus. Paper is not a specific consumable item charged to Academic Computing, so record keeping of paper use is informal at the Eastern Campus. Pete DiGregorio obtained paper statistics from lab managers that oversee open lab areas at the Grant Campus, and Paul Basileo forwarded me statistics from the AcademicComputingCenter at Ammerman. The statistics mentioned above are as follows:

Ammerman Campus- ACC
Year / Paper Cost ($) / Cases of Paper
01-02 / 1,420 / 56
02-03 / 1,294 / 50
03-04 / 1,576 / 60
04-05 (Projected) / 1,722 / 60
Eastern Campus – OrientBuilding*
3 Months (Mid Aug. – Mid Nov.) / Paper Cost ($) / Cases of Paper
03-04 / 1,238 / 48
04-05 / 1,393 / 54
* No statistics available for delivery to the AcademicComputingCenteror the AcademicSkillsCenter specifically. The statistics shown include paper for main building photocopier use and faculty/staff network printers.
Grant Campus – Health, Sport & EducationCenter, Business & Technology Classrooms, and the Sagtikos Computing Center
Year / Paper Cost($) / Cases of Paper / Cartridge Cost ($) / # of Cartridges / Total Cost ($)
01-02 / 1,341 / 52 / 3,043 / 28 / 4,384
02-03 / 1,539 / 63 / 3,569 / 33 / 5,108
03-04 / 2,699 / 105 / 3,470 / 34 / 6,169
04-05 (Projected) / 2,932 / 114 / 4,589 / 38 / 7,521

Statistics from the Libraries for paper usage were not available in time for this report.

-Steve Clark does not oversee lab areas, but had observed the recent printing of a 600 page document in an academic lab detailing the use of the TI 8X calculator. Observations from the Eastern Campus Academic Computing night staff mentioned that printing abuse is not ramped this semester. The staff did mention that Graphic Design students are the biggest printers. Some comments indicated that Graphic Design students still tend to proof their work by printing. Also, if the wrong driver in an application on a Mac is incorrectly chosen, a lot of paper is wasted printing gibberish – this is operator error that has been curtailed by posted signs and faculty and staff’s constant verbal reminders to students on how to print. The second source of major printing is in O-237 where CS11 students tend to do a lot of intermediate printing to the color DeskJet printers in that room. Faculty have been asked to speak to their students about avoiding wasteful printing. The subcommittee members and lab staff all seem to concur that a standard, limited resolution print setting on all printers might help to curtail excessive toner and ink replacement.

-Ed Hassildine has all academic computers in all areas of the campus printing to print queues on servers. Paul Basileo and Pete DiGregorio agreed that areas on their campuses that are currently configured to print directly to network printers should be redirected to server print queues. Regardless of a specific method to monitor printing, centralized print queues would be used so there is an immediate need to create server print queues where ones do not currently exist.

-Steve Clark was adamant about the necessity to accurately document printing costs as opposed to simply reporting paper delivery statistics. The subcommittee members did not disagree and although the charge of the Academic Computing Subcommittee is to report on whether there exists an increase in printing costs and to try to obtain the reasons and sources of those increases, Ed Hassildine pointed out that the amount of paper used at the college was important to document regardless of increases or not. As Paul Basileo pointed out, the costs of obtaining printer cartridges has gone up now that the college can no longer use BOCES contracts. Even though we lost our ability to purchase toner from BOCES contracts, Paul’s budget for supply items has not gone up to counter the increased cost. Readily available printing statistics will help all academic areas plan for the expected and unexpected costs of printing.

Recommendation to the CCC:

The subcommittee members and staff working in the open lab areas seem to agree that a system that monitors printing and sets quotas for printing based on the individual user would be extremely burdensome. Those that oversee budgets for supply items in labs would be satisfied with having adequate budgets that countered any foreseeable increase in printing and for increased consumable costs due to the recent removal of purchasing off of BOCES contracts. In response to wasteful printing, the committee would also ask that department chairs be contacted and discussions be started within the departments on how wasteful printing could be curtailed during and outside of scheduled class meeting times. The committee would also request that a site license be purchased by the college for Print Manager Plus or some other product that allows for a central management and reporting mechanism for printing. The subcommittee members feel that the issue ofincreased printing in academic areas requires further investigation and tools to facilitate that investigation are currently not in place. The subcommittee will continue its investigation as long as it has the support of the College Computing Council.

Agenda Item Title: Smart Classroom Setup

Premise: Money has been spent and equipment has been ordered and delivered for Smart Classrooms. The problem that is plaguing campuses is that the Smart Classrooms are not being set up because Facilities does not have the manpower to complete such “new” projects. The speed at which equipment has been purchased far exceeds the speed in which the equipment can be put into service. The Eastern Campus, although smaller than the other two campuses, has been successful in getting their Smart Classrooms up and running in a timely manner. A Standard Installation process and maybe an installation team could be formed to expedite the installation of Smart Classrooms. Prior to the meeting, Ed Hassildine organized an informal meeting for Academic Computing Subcommittee members and Technology Deans to meet at the Eastern Campus to see how our Smart Classrooms are set up. Ed Hassildine provided the group with a follow-up flow chart of the Smart Classroom installation process, Paul Basileo created a bulleted list of the installation and usage process, and Dean Manning provided the group with his document entitled “Classroom Design and Attributes – A Guide.”

Recommendation to the CCC:

Steve Clark suggested that the college’s wiring contract be used to install and run all wires within the room for data and sound. The wiring contract does not provide for the installation of 120V electrical service. Also, lighting in each classroom is often in need of reorganization so that switches control light banks in the front to the back of a room rather than side to side. Smart Classroom implementation requires new facilities alterations that go beyond the realm of “maintenance.” The subcommittee suggests looking into organizing an installation team that could work off-hours in classrooms to make the alterations necessary to implement present and future Smart Classroom technology. The feasibility of the subcommittee’s recommendation requires input from many other departments and goes beyond the scope of our subcommittee, so we defer this important issue to the College Computing Council for further investigation.