Over the next three years, the University will invest $8 million in the Initiative on Technology-Enhanced Learning, which will provide grants to faculty seeking to take “creative approaches” to teaching.

According to a University press release, Georgetown’s online graduate nursing program is an example of a department that has already benefited from the use of technology. The provost hopes the initiative will foster this kind of development in other departments and programs.

Faculty will be able to apply for the grants beginning next semester.

ITEL will also fund a partnership between universities “committed to enhancing education both on campus and online.” This consortium of Universities could be unveiled as early as next month, but the release was short on other specifics.

While ITEL is still in its early stages, its website features a “gallery of ideas,” which includes a proposal to link students in Washington, D.C. to those in São Paulo, Brazil via Skype for a language program. Another idea listed allows D.C. students to take a class virtually with Georgetown students in Doha, Qatar (pictured).

Look for a full write-up about the program in Voice news this Thursday.

Photo: Georgetown University

I know that we at Vox pulled a fast one on you devoted readers just last week when Vanya announced that Georgetown’s blog of record was going to be under new (but sort of old) management for the next two weeks. Well, as much as I’ve enjoyed being back here, I’m afraid that once again, it’s time for us to spend some time apart.

Starting this evening, Vox is going to be shut down temporarily until Monday, while our website developers get a brand spankin’ new site up and running. Until then, we’ll continue to update our Twitter and Facebook accounts, so you won’t be completely Voice-less.

See you all next week!

Photo from 123 Greetings.

About a month after releasing his “Next GUTS” Droid app, Chris Cronbaugh (COL ’12) will become a little more popular on the Mac end of the “Macs vs. All Other Technologies” debate, announcing yesterday the release of an iOS version of his app.

Pretty much every Georgetown student knows that it’s always handy to have a smartphone (or, rather, always frustratingly unhandy not to have one) when coming back on the Metro and having to navigate through various Georgetown transportation websites in order to find one with a workable schedule. This app makes this process as easy as opening a game of Angry Birds, conveniently designed with individual buttons for every route except the Arlington Loop (which, let’s be serious, nobody really uses anyway).

The app does not give information about whether or not a bus is running on time, and instead just tells the next scheduled departure. Disappointing, because then you could also tell which Dupont bus is taking that incomprehensibly unnecessary, double-length route.

Tired of not knowing when the next Georgetown University Transportation Shuttle bus is coming? If so, you might be in luck–if you have an Android phone.

Chris Cronbaugh (COL ’12) recently created Next GUTS, a Droid app that let’s users know when the next GUTS bus is schedule to arrive at any of the locations GUTS services.

The app is available for free on the Android Market and requires users to have a phone running Android 2.1 or higher. It is not associated with or maintained by the University.

Cronbaugh is currently working on the creation of an iOS Next GUTS application as well.

Unfortunately, the app cannot predict if the buses will actually show up at the scheduled times.

Georgetown’s new website will launch tonight, ending an 18-month redesign process. The redesign is the first change made to the University’s website since 2002.

“We have worked with many members of the university community for more than a year to develop the structure, content and technical infrastructure to support the new site,” Julie Green Bataille, university vice president for communications, wrote in an email to students, faculty, and staff. “The new site provides navigational paths that reflect user behavior, multimedia content and ways for users to engage with Georgetown online more directly.”

The website features an interactive campus map, videos, and a footer bar customized for different audiences. However, pages specific to a school or department will not be affected by the transition, which will only apply to the website’s “top tier.”

University Information Services employees will begin the transition at 10 p.m.

Yesterday, Georgetown launched the beta version of its long-awaited, redesigned website.

As the University’s first redesign since 2002, the preview has a whole lot of new features, including navigation pathways for highly trafficked information and a footer bar that customizes links for students, faculty, alumni, and parents. It also includes videos, interactive campus maps, and a search function.

Earlier this semester, rumors on HoyaTalk suggested that the website would launch in late October or early November. According to University spokesperson Juile Green Bataille, the final product will “go live” on December 3.

“The structure, design and content of the new site reflect feedback from the Board of Directors, students, faculty, staff, alumni and prospective students and parents,” Bataille wrote in an email.

Love it or hate it? Let the University know at betasite@georgetown.edu.

Crime is prevalent. (Especially if you live in Village A.) But, technology is always being used to combat the forces of villainy. That’s why one University of Maryland professor decided to update 9-1-1.

Video 911, a smart-phone application developed by Professor Ashok Agrawala, would allow victims and witnesses of crimes to transmit their location as well as audio and video to a police dispatcher at the touch of a button. If Agrawala can raise $100,000, he believes UMD could launch a pilot program as early as next semester.

“[We've been] begging, borrowing, stealing, getting students to participate as part of their projects and coursework, things like that,” he said to the Diamondback.

While Georgetown’s Department of Public Safety has no plans to launch a similar project, DPS Associate Director Joseph Smith commended UMD’s progress.

“I would like to applaud the University of Maryland for their innovative efforts to improve incident response on their campus,” Smith wrote in an email. “Georgetown DPS strives to be innovative as well, and we are certainly open to measures that we determine will improve the quality of service to the Georgetown community.”

The question begged is the application’s usefulness. Would victims have the time to pull out their phones, let alone navigate their way to an app? Having a button that could silently transmit your position to a dispatcher seems handy, but the sheer number of likely butt-presses and prank uses seems prohibitive. We’ll stick with the good old three-button press ourselves.

Photo: Flickr user “honou“

h/t Diamondback Online (via GW Hatchet)

Remember when we declared that “Georgetown is still not even close to being a totally-wireless campus?”

Boy, were we wrong.

Over the next academic year, University Information Services (UIS) will overhaul the network infrastructure of Alumni Square, Copley Hall, Darnall Hall, Harbin Hall, Henle Village, LXR, Nevils, Village A, and Village C.

That’s right—when UIS finishes its upgrades, every residence hall at Georgetown will have wireless internet access.

“Working with University leadership, we recognized that there’s many areas on campus that need wireless internet access,” UIS Director Beth Ann Bergsmark said. “But, everybody agreed that the residence halls are a priority.”

Read the rest of this entry »

Say goodbye to the man responsible for Georgetown’s wireless internet problems.

Earlier this week, the Sacramento Bee reported that David Lambert, Georgetown’s Chief Information Officer and Vice President of Information Services, will leave the University to become the President and CEO of Internet2, a not-for-profit technology consortium.

Since we have no idea what a “technology consortium” is—or what it does—we decided to peruse Internet2′s website. Turns out that the company uses “leading-edge network capabilities and unique partnership opportunities that together facilitate the development, deployment and use of revolutionary Internet technologies.” Internet2 also aims to expand educational opportunities by connecting universities and other education-oriented institutions.

“I am excited to have the opportunity to lead Internet2′s advanced networking communities into the next decade.” Lambert said in a press release.

Lambert, who worked at Georgetown for 12 years, assumes his new position with Internet2 on Tuesday, July 13. During his time as the University’s Chief Information Officer, Lambert oversaw a number of technological changes, including transitions to the MyAccess banner system and Google-hosted email accounts. Prior to working at Georgetown, Lambert served at the Vice President for Information Technology at Cornell University.

According to the Bee, Lambert has been involved with Internet2 since the consortium started in 1996. When hiring Lambert, however, Internet2 must’ve missed a glaring omission in his resume—Georgetown is still not even close to being a totally-wireless campus.

Former head of the CIA General Michael Hayden has signed on as a member of a new Georgetown project that seeks to use law, policy, and technology as responses to the issue of cybersecurity, the Office of Communications reports.

He’s already helped design a February 16 exercise called Cyber ShockWave, “an exercise that brings together a bipartisan group of former senior administration and national security officials playing the roles of Cabinet members responding to a simulated cyberspace attack.”

The Los Angeles Times covered the exercise—which simulated a viral attack that debilitated millions of cell-phones, took down the Internet, and knocked out large swaths of the American power grid—and reports that participants had some jarring, if Hollywoodesque responses to the simulation. The dozen or so participants, former White House advisers and other top officials, it says, considered “putting the army in American cities, … nationalizing industries, rationing fuel and snatching suspects overseas.” Yikes.

“General Hayden is one of the most respected experts in national security and intelligence,” College Dean Chester Gillis said in Blue and Gray about Hayden’s adviser position. “As a senior adviser to Georgetown’s cyberproject, he will provide invaluable guidance and experience as we work to understand and tackle some of the most pressing issues around cybersecurity.”

Photo from Flickr user matthewbradley used under a Creative Commons license.