Proposal

Narrative

The purpose of this Technology Fee Proposal is to improve our ability as a department to meet the needs of our students while meeting institutional goals through the use of technology. This technology will enhance the technology that we currently use through the addition of lock down desktops, portable presentation projectors, cables, survey computers, kiosk and card swipe.

University Advising Services has become a hub for students, serving as a connection to other offices, a point of first contact during orientation, and a driving force for the improvement of the overall student experience at FAU.

Earlier this year, we were informed that there were monies left from an aging and almost-expired Technology Fee Proposal. With little time available before orientation, we realized that a good use for the funds would be to provide laptops to students so that they could register at orientation - walking away with a schedule of their summer and or fall classes at the end of the two days. In the past, there were many students who would walk away from orientation with many questions but no schedule. The experience was also fairly cumbersome with students traveling to various locations on campus to obtain assistance. With the laptops and printers that we purchased, we were able to facilitate student advising, registration, and registration changes all in the same building in close proximity to the orientation office. Nearly every student who attended orientation over the summer walked away with a schedule unless prevented by factors beyond technology and FAU.

Since the end of orientation, we have shared the technology that we acquired with International Students and Scholar Services, Get Wise, Orientation, Navitas, Traffic and Parking, and the College of Science, just to name a few. Each office had various uses, but it helped them to meet the needs of students visiting their offices with supplying needed documentation such as Visas and I-20s or helped the student in obtaining a temporary parking decal. Other areas such as Navitas utilized the computers in conjunction with our advisors to assist in helping their students to learn more about advising and registration.

With all of the use occurring, we realized that additional technology resources would be needed to maintain our new technology. That is where this Technology Fee comes in. We are looking to add Deep Freeze to all of our laptops. This will allow students and other offices to utilize the technology while reducing our need to remove unwanted additions or changes. The laptop carts that we acquired previously were configured for network connectivity but the network switch for the carts was not included. Adding this piece of hardware to both carts would allow us to ensure that our computers are up-to-date with various patches and security fixes. Since we are also training users utilizing our laptops, sometimes in rooms without projectors, we would like to acquire two projectors that will allow us to go to areas where students are to offer presentations and trainings. What's more, after meeting with our students, we would like to assess their experience through surveys. Because of the volume of students seen per semester (over 3,000 students with over 4,000 visits), having two computers that can be dedicated for surveys would prove to be invaluable. Before a student can get to the survey, though, they would need to sign in. Our current student kiosk is 8-10 years old and in need of an improved experience with a card swipe sign-in option.

This proposal is in alignment with two main goals and objectives outlined in the 2012-2017 Strategic Plan.  This initiative would assist in reaching Goal 1 (Enrich the Educational Experience) by ensuring the availability of technology suited for the rigor and expectations of coursework at the college level.  Students will be exposed to the newest technology, including touchscreen sign-in kiosks and all-in-one survey desktops.  In addition, the educational experience is enriched further by the advising, training, and workshops offered through this technology. 

This initiative would also assist in reaching Goal 4 (Leverage momentum toward achieving FAU’s strategic goals by being good stewards of its human, technological, physical and financial resources).  By exposing students and student workers to the vast array of new technological advances in an office/learning center environment, we are not only ‘practicing what we preach’ as good stewards ourselves, but also encouraging the inquisitiveness on how one can bring this type of cutting edge technology into his/her field and community.

Facilities

No facility renovations will be needed to support our hardware/software.

Hardware Requirements

Our planned hardware purchases will improve our student sign-in experience, allow advisors to participate in the campus-wide advising survey, allow advisors to present in student housing and the multipurpose rooms, and reduce the time needed to maintain our devices. In an effort to keep support cost low and to provide us with computers that can be in use for the coming 5-6 years we opted to go for the same computers for the kiosk and advising survey. The three computers would all be Dell OptiPlex 7440s. Since these computes are compact all-in-one computers that will not be located near network ports they are all configured with wireless connectivity options in addition to wireless keyboards and mice. Students will be able to use multiple sign-in options: physical keyboard and mice or touch screen. In the case of the kiosk a swipe option would help to expedite sign-in.

Software Requirements

The only software to be acquired is Deep Freeze by Faronics. The software is currently being used to keep the College of Business student kiosks in addition to various lab computers on campus in the same condition for all users. This software prevents users from making permanent modifications to the system and prevents the computer from becoming filled with various user files and profiles. The current cost is $710 for 40 licenses at the cost of $17.75 per license. We intend to expand this to include our kiosk and presentation computers in year 2 and in the event that there is a change in the software functions and features or incompatibility with a future version of windows the option to update the licences in year three for a total cost in year three of $887.50.

Personnel Costs

N/A

Other Costs

We have included cables capable of supporting various tablet and laptop connections to the projectors. Also, to extend out our projectors we have included the cost for the purchase of two bulbs, one for each projector, in year three. Based on what we have seen and experienced with other projectors these should last about 10 years. The cost for the cables totals $207.98. To replace lost or damaged cables in addition to replacement bulbs $486.98 has been allocated for year three.

Timeline

Our projection is to have the technology in place in time for new student orientation in the summer and fall of 2016.

Sustainability

The acquisition of cases for the storage and transportation of our projectors should provide some protection. The bulbs acquired in year three should provide additional coverage from blown projector bulbs. We looked into acquiring a warranty but the only option available for the state of Florida is the manufacturer's two-year warranty. As for the network switches and desktop computers, they are all covered under warranties. The network switch has a lifetime warranty and the all-in-one desktops have a three- to four-year warranty. Barring any physical damage or manufacturer defects we tend to keep our hardware beyond the time covered by a warranty.

Resource Matching

N/A

Implementing Organization

University Advising Services/ACCESS and OIT.