2010

Annual ReportInformation Services & Technology

Pepperdine University, Malibu, California

ContributorsINFORMATION TECHNOLOGY DIVISION EMPLOYEES

(August 2009 - December 2010)

Brian AasenJ.J. AkiluChiconia AndersonTerence AndersonThor AndersonDianne AsisJames BallacchinoFelix BaronikianTom BasharaTim BoddenScott BolanBrian BowenJohn C. BuckinghamMatthew BushRoss CanningKim CaryOmar CayassoJennifer ChaLotte CherinLance CoertAnthony CortezTed de GuzmanOry De La RosaRebekah DillinghamJason EgglestonSara FernandezSean FifeJohn FigueroaGerard Flynn

Brian FujitaniDanna GianforteMark GiglioneJohn GladwinCanon HamlinJose Juan HernandezDave HoldenDana HooverJerry HooverThomas HooverJohn HortonJoel HowardPeter KainZorinan KasilagHong KhaRyan Kim

Henry LaiLuis LaraErnie LauerTom LaymanToney LewisShu Chi LiouDavid LockettChristopher LowMichael LucasDustin LuckJoAnn McNayrRene MendezJoe MunozKen NooneRaphael NortonMarc Olano

Travis PadgettJackie PaiciusDennis PapenhausenKevin PhanCarter QuinnJohn QuinnHector RamirezAlan ReganNovita RogersTimothy RogersErik RushRita SchneppJonathan SeePrakash SharmaBronson SomervilleRonn StinsonVixay SuphasiriRobert TelmarCesar UribeJohn VannoyMartin VazquezMicheal WaitleyRonit WeissLisa WelchMichael WengLynn WhiteKaren Whitney

In 2010, Information Technology continued to deliver both new and innovative services to the Pepperdine community.

Through engagement with our faculty and students, we now have a new Learning Management System (LMS) that is better suited to the needs of the University community. Working with our colleagues in financial aid, we were able to foresee the need to change our funding model for students, and we established a new service that has greater efficiency and reliability.

Through a partnership with the Center for Human Resources, we introduced new opportunities for training and professional development, available to all employees. Lastly, we implemented a new communications platform, replacing our aging telephone system with a Unified Communications infrastructure that more fully supports voice, video, and Web conferencing.

One of the more exciting changes occurring in 2010 was an extensive integration of Information Technology and the Office of Institutional Effectiveness. Combining these resources has delineated key performance indicators that are now being proactively disseminated among key decision-makers at Pepperdine University. We are just now beginning to scratch the surface of what is possible in this area. These are just some of the stories covered within this report.

Above all, our staff remains our most valuable resource. The successes outlined in this report would not have been possible without the professionalism, dedication, and hard work of our partners throughout the University.

Our faculty, students, and staff continue to be very successful in leveraging our technology services across the University. In this annual report, we share with you some of their stories.

Dr. Timothy M. ChesterVice Provost and Chief Information Officer

Dr. Timothy Chester

Due to the recent instability in the United States financial markets, a number of private lenders stopped participating in the Stafford and PLUS federal loan programs that provided Pepperdine University students with financial aid options.

At Pepperdine, this change in the financial loan market did not go unnoticed. Thanks to active discussions held by the University’s financial aid offices and University administration, Pepperdine began to address this challenge early.

In January 2010, a decision was made to adopt the Federal Direct Lending program at Pepperdine. This program provides low-interest educational loans for students and parents where the lender is the U.S. Department of Education rather than a private bank or lending institution.

Due to this change in process, Vickee Killian, associate director of loan programs, financial assistance, and enrollment management at Seaver College, and her financial aid colleagues worked quickly to establish and learn new policies and procedures. As part of the Enterprise Information Systems (EIS) group, Novita Rogers lead the implementation of the Direct Lending component in PeopleSoft and coordinated training sessions for staff.

Together, Rogers and the financial aid staff members collaborated to address how these loan data should successfully transmit between software systems at Pepperdine and the Department of Education.

By the time Congress passed the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010, requiring all schools to use Direct Lending by July 1, 2010, Pepperdine University was already successfully awarding students financial aid with this program.

“The University’s transition to Direct Lending was very smooth,” said Killian, “The other financial aid directors and I worked closely with EIS staff Novita Rogers and John Horton to address any and all technical and process challenges associated with this transition. This level of collaboration was a critical component in ensuring the program's successful launch and implementation at Pepperdine.”

From a student and staff perspective, the financial aid process is more streamlined. Killian noted that students receive their disbursements much faster than in previous years, and because there is only one lender, the process is the same for every student.

"The most significant value this program brings to the University is that it ensures

that Pepperdine students who choose to use federal education loans as part of their financing solution will continue to be able to borrow low-cost loans," said Killian.

To learn more about the Direct Lending program at Pepperdine, visit the University's website at http://www.pepperdine.edu/admission/financialaid/.

Novita Rogers and Vickee Killian

Enterprise Information Systems staff member Novita Rogers and Seaver College Associate Director of Loan Programs Vickee Killian partnered with Pepperdine colleagues to implement the Federal Direct Lending program.

Implementing the Federal Direct Lending Program

With Blackboard’s license renewal approaching in December 2010, Information Technology’s Technology and Learning group launched a study in May 2009 to identify faculty members’ learning management system (LMS) needs and to determine if Blackboard was meeting those needs.

By working closely with faculty to gather feedback on Blackboard and other systems used to support teaching and learning, the Technology and Learning group discovered that faculty members were not satisfied with the current solution; it was decided to engage a small group of faculty volunteers in a year-long pilot study of the Sakai platform while continuing to identify faculty members’ LMS needs.

Throughout the 2009-2010 academic year, Sakai and Blackboard ran parallel at the University, allowing the Technology and

Learning group to compare the systems’ abilities to meet the needs of the Pepperdine learning community.

"Faculty were included at every step and made to feel central in the process of evaluating the tools," said Dr. Margaret Riel of the Graduate School of Education and Psychology, "I am really impressed by the clear and open way in which this change was approached."

In late spring 2010, the Technology and Learning group surveyed students and faculty who used Sakai during the fall 2009 and/or spring 2010 terms. Of the 94 faculty members invited to participate in the user satisfaction survey, 35 responded to the survey. When asked, “Would you recommend that Pepperdine discontinue the use of Blackboard and adopt Sakai?” Ninety-one percent of the 33 faculty members who answered the question said “yes” or “yes, with comments.”

The Technology and Learning group partnered with faculty to research learning management systems, pilot test a new platform called Sakai, and ultimately adopt Sakai as the University’s official learning management system.

Researching a new Learning Platform at Pepperdine

Two hundred and ninety-one students responded to the student user satisfaction survey. When asked, “Would you recommend that Pepperdine discontinue the use of Blackboard and adopt Sakai?” Seventy-five percent of the 264 students who answered the question said “yes” or “yes, with comments.”

Based on the results of the LMS study, in July 2010 a decision was made to adopt Sakai as the University’s official learning management system. A

press release was posted on the University’s website at http://www.pepperdine.edu/pr/releases/2010/september/sakai-adopted-by-pepperdine.htm

All faculty and staff were notified of the decision to adopt Sakai via email. Faculty members were also

encouraged to attend workshops to learn how to use the new learning management system, renamed “Courses” at Pepperdine.

Overall, Courses provides faculty members with an improved online environment for pedagogical engagement with students. Many faculty members noted that the flexible interface in Courses is more intuitive to use than Blackboard.

“Sakai is better than Blackboard in the way that it allows students to share information,” said a Seaver College faculty member. “My favorite thing about Sakai is the ease of grading discussion posts. I can click through the threads and grade as I go rather than having to read the thread first and then go to each student to grade them.”

To learn more about Courses, visit the Technology and Learning website at http://services.pepperdine.edu/techlearn/movetocourses.htm.

“Sakai is better than Blackboard in the way that it allows students to share information.”

- A Seaver College Faculty Member

As the years progress, students come and go from the Pepperdine campuses, however their faces are never forgotten. A recent addition to the WaveNet portal now makes remembering students even easier.

In May 2010, the Enterprise Information Systems group launched a new module inside WaveNet that gives faculty members a way to put a face with the name of a student who may have graduated years ago.

Faculty can see a class photo roster for any course dating back to the fall 2008 semester, when PeopleSoft Student Services was first implemented. As the years progress, these rosters will be continuously available to the faculty who taught the course.

"Students who graduated years ago often ask me for letters of recommendation," said a Seaver College faculty member. "Now I can just look the students up."

The same module also allows faculty to view photographs of new students before their course begins. Faculty can learn the names of new students quickly and conveniently from their office or home.

In addition, the rosters are updated as soon as students add or drop a course, allowing faculty members to quickly identify new faces in the classroom or to confirm that a student has dropped the course.

To offer additional convenience for faculty, the photo rosters have also been

integrated into Courses, Pepperdine's learning management system. By clicking on the "Roster" option in their course site, faculty can see their students' information, email addresses, and University ID card photos.

To learn more about photo class rosters, visit the IT website at: http://services.pepperdine.edu/it/wavenet/news.htm#photo

Information Technology staff partnered with Seaver faculty to implement a module inside WaveNet and Courses that allows faculty to put a face with a name when former students reach out.

"Students who graduated years ago

often ask me for letters of recommendation. Now I can just look

them up." - A Seaver College Faculty Member

Photo Class Rosters for Faculty

When it comes to encouraging the use and adoption of new technology, training is a critical component. However, with the busy schedules of faculty and staff combined with geographical and resource challenges, Information Technology and Human Resources realized that they needed to find a better solution to offer this essential service.

In February 2010, Jonathan See, deputy chief information officer, and Sean Michael Phillips, professional development manager for Human Resources, introduced the University community to Pepperdine’s new online training program through Lynda.com.

The Lynda.com Online Training Library offers over 900 online courses for various software applications ranging from Microsoft Office to Adobe Photoshop, keeping faculty and staff members proficient in important software applications.

"I am extremely pleased to have this as a resource available to me at Pepperdine. I appreciate that I can access this resource when needed to sharpen or develop new skills," said one anonymous user.

Other users provided feedback about flexibility, stating "Flexibility was key. I could log on whenever/wherever I wanted, and I had the ability to go back and repeat sections to clarify a point or take better notes," and "The videos are organized into small segments, so it was easy to select a few and feel as though I really learned something in a short amount of time.”

The Lynda.com service fills a gap in the training services offered by the University. While classroom training continues to exist for PeopleSoft applications and technology and learning tools, it was not enough to meet the general needs of the University community.

Human Resources and Information Technology teamed up to offer the Lynda.com Online Training Library service to Pepperdine University faculty and staff.

Online Technology Training for University Community

"In an economic climate where training budgets are being cut or in some cases eliminated, I was thrilled with Pepperdine's commitment to adopt Lynda.com," stated Sheryl Kelo, assistant dean for administration at the School of Public Policy. "The convenience of anytime and anywhere training has been crucial for the public policy staff who have varying work and recruitment travel schedules. In addition, the extensive library of training modules provided something for every skill level and job function."

Faculty and staff members can now train in applications on their own time and engage in multiple training sessions for each application to ensure proficiency.

Since February, 177 unique faculty and staff users signed up for a two-week license to engage with Lynda.com's offerings. Almost 60 percent of these 177 users requested additional training periods.

"Today you expect these services to be online and available anytime, anywhere. By providing the Lynda.com Online Training Library, we are delivering the services right to our community the way they expect to receive them," said Jonathan See, deputy chief information officer.

Learn more about the Lynda.com Online Training Library by visiting the IT website at: http://services.pepperdine.edu/it/tools/lynda/default.htm

"I am extremely pleased to have this as a resource available to me at

Pepperdine. I appreciate that I can access this resource when needed to sharpen or develop new skills."

- Anonymous

Working closely with Cindy Morgan and Lauren Broussard in the Seaver Admission Office, Enterprise Information Systems’ staff member Sean Fife developed a plan to integrate CommonApp Online, a system that allows applicants to complete and submit a universal application to multiple schools via one environment.

Most colleges and universities have a slightly different undergraduate application process causing applicants to take time to learn each system and submit a variety of required documents.

Using CommonApp Online, applicants seeking admission to Pepperdine are now afforded a more streamlined process that does not require additional time spent on a Pepperdine-specific application.

Fife, Morgan, and Broussard collaborated to address the complexities involved in integrating CommonApp Online with existing University systems such as Nolij, the document management system, and PeopleSoft, the data management system.

By January 2010, the system was tested and ready and applicants began to submit their admission materials to Pepperdine using the CommonApp Online system.

"Integrating CommonApp Online with our current systems was a challenge, but Sean understood our needs and processes and worked with us to make it a success," said Cindy Morgan, associate director for admission and enrollment management for Seaver College.

With CommonApp Online, Admission staff reported a 26 percent increase in student applications over the 2009 admission year.

Morgan noted that the new system also increased productivity for Admission staff. “Application files and supporting documents are now processed twice as fast and students are emailed pertinent information within two days of submitting their application," said Morgan, "The constant communication between Admission staff and prospective students helps to create a favorable impression of Pepperdine.”

Cindy Morgan and Lauren Broussard, Seaver College Admission staff, reached out to application developer Sean Fife to integrate CommonApp, an online system that simplifies the undergraduate application process.

CommonApp System Implemented for Seaver College

Application files and supporting documents

are now processed twice as fast.”

- Cindy Morgan

Cindy Mogan, Sean Fife, Lauren Broussard

As the University continues to grow in size and reach, the ability for faculty, staff, and students to stay connected across campuses is more essential than ever before.

For faculty and staff who routinely travel between Pepperdine’s Southern California campuses or live abroad, and for students enrolled in blended learning programs who seldom set foot on campus, convenient, universally-adopted communication channels are critical to helping them feel connected to colleagues and peers.

In spring 2009, Systems and Networking director Kevin Phan and colleagues Rita Schnepp, Vixay Suphasiri, Zorinan Kasilag, and John Figueroa began to explore new technologies to meet these growing communication needs.

Later that fall, they announced a solution - a new platform from Cisco, that merges voice, video, and web conferencing. In fall 2009, a multi-year project to replace the University's existing telephone system with the new Cisco system was launched.

Soon thereafter, old desktop telephones were replaced with the new units at the Irvine, Encino, Westlake Village, and West

Los Angeles campuses. Faculty and staff attended information sessions and began to familiarize themselves with the new platform. "The new phone is great, but I'm excited to learn more about the chat and desktop sharing features," said a GSBM staff member.

The chat, video, and web conferencing features have been introduced to a small group of users for testing, and in spring 2011, the system will be introduced to

faculty and staff via informational and training sessions provided by Information Technology’s Client Services group.

In addition, the Technology and Learning group is exploring the use of Cisco technology in Pepperdine’s blended learning courses. The audio and face-to-face video conferencing elements have been used in the Graduate School of Education and Psychology to connect students across the United States with each other and their faculty member.

"The system’s ability to deliver multi-party video conferencing is invaluable in cultivating learning relationships," said Noah Sparks who joins his class online each week from Salt Lake City, Utah, "Using the face-to-face video component, the nuances of conversation and body language come alive. It's nice to feel that kind of connection.”

"The Cisco system is a critical element in connecting the University community. We’re a small, close-knit University, but sometimes our geographical separation can get in the way of building and maintaining relationships. That’s no longer a problem,” said Phan.

Information Technology’s Network Engineering staff visited faculty and staff offices around the University to install a new platform to meet the community’s growing communications needs.

New Communication Platform for Faculty and Staff

Staff from the Office of Institutional Effectiveness and Information Technology work together to provide more data for University planning.

In early January 2010, Pepperdine's Office of Institutional Effectiveness (OIE) staff members Lily Pang and Dianne Asis teamed up with Information Technology's Enterprise Information Systems' staff Henry Lai and Tom Layman to provide University decision-makers with more information and data analysis from the PeopleSoft and legacy systems.

Together, the team began to address the major challenges related to extracting the data from University systems, creating access to the data for University administrators, and developing dashboards to allow administrators to easily interact with the data.

"We have all these data, however we didn't have a systematic way to extract or display these data so that they could be readily accessed or used by University administration,” said Dr. Timothy Chester, vice provost and chief information officer. “The work produced as a result of this relationship is key to facilitating more evidence-based decision-making at the University."

First, the team needed to create a common reporting environment to reach both historical student data in the legacy system and current student data in the new PeopleSoft system.

"Having data in two different environments made longitudinal studies difficult. When the requested data included legacy system data, I worked with Henry or Tom to develop a custom process

The Office of Institutional Effectiveness Partners with Information Technology

Tom Layman, Lily Pang, Dianne Asis, and Henry Lai

to extract it," said Lily Pang, director of institutional research. "This integration was essential for extracting the proper and most accurate data."

Utilizing the multi-dimensional database (a.k.a. “Cube”) reporting, the team put their heads together to address end user data visibility and accessibility. Over 120 key performance indicators were created, including tables to show graduation and retention data for all schools annually, dating back to 2003.

Lastly, the team developed a new OIE website to serve the University community. A document repository with customized permissions was integrated into the website, allowing OIE to share information with select groups of individuals. In addition, the team created interactive graphs and tables to show enrollment data for all schools.

Using these new procedures and systems, this team played an important role in producing over 50 data tables for the Western Association of Schools and Colleges accreditation reaffirmation visit in fall 2010.

To learn more about the Office of Institutional Effectiveness, visit their website at http://services.pepperdine.edu/oie/.

The work produced as a result of this relationship is key to facilitating

more evidence-based decision-making at the University.

- Dr. Timothy Chester, vice provost and chief information officer.

OIE Staff: Christopher S. Collins, Dianne Asis, Christine Tsui, Lily Pang, and M. Teresa Taningco Kaldor

Banowsky Boulevard, Malibu Campus

Charles B. Thornton Administrative Center, Malibu Campus

Carla AndersonPhillip BohlLauren BroussardChristopher CollinsLauren CosentinoJanet DavisMichelle del GuidiceRobert deMayoMichael DulaKyle DusekMichael FeltnerConstance FulmerDeborah GaluhnSusan GautschOwen Hall, Jr.Ron HallChristopher Heard

Steve HewgleyKimberly HoganMegan HuardLinda HulseySusan ImholzBernie JamesSheryl KeloVickee KillianJohn KimHung LeBob McQuaidMatthew MiduraCindy Morgan Bill MosleyMaire MullinsRobert Overton Dave Page

Lily PangLinda Polin Margaret RielTracy Barry RolstonShelley SaxerEryn SeltzerDavid SmithMichael StamperBrian Thomason Phil ThomasonLinda WallaceEd WheelerMichael WilliamsConstruction and Campus PlanningOffice of Institutional EffectivenessFacilities Management and Planning

We would like to give special thanks to a few wonderful people who partner with us on a daily basis to ensure the success of technology initiatives. Your effort, patience, and enthusiasm are critical to our work and we share the success and accomplishment of these initiatives with you. - Information Technology Staff

Partners

Pepperdine University Information Services & Technology24255 Pacific Coast HighwayMalibu, California 90263-4173T (310) 506-4173F (310) 506-4353http://services.pepperdine.edu/it