TCS will give students opportunity to make suggestions at open forums

Students will have the opportunity to submit suggestions to the Technology and Computing Service department at 1 p.m. March 12, 19 and April 2 as TCS will host three open forums in the Xi Phi Room of the Memorial Union.

“The purpose of the forums are to discuss the three-year IT plan for Emporia State University and to solicit the ESU community’s feedback on current and future academic and administrative technology needs” said TJ Rains, Interim Chief Information Officer.

TCS assists many students daily with their technological needs. Located in the basement of the Butcher building, the TCS help desk provides students with support for any computer and internet questions seven days a week. TCS has also recently set up a desk in the Memorial Union to assist students with any immediate questions.

The creation of the three-year information technology (IT) plan for ESU is an annual TCS event. Each year, TCS composes a plan. The plan is discussed, drafted and ultimately sent to State of Kansas Information Technology Office (KITO). It is through KITO that the planned is reviewed and archived in the state files.

Students and faculty members can review last year’s three-year plan on their Blackboard accounts. TCS has added the three-year IT to each ESU student’s course list. By selecting the course, students can access the information on last year’s three-year plan.

The three-year plan on Blackboard has been broken down into eight sections. Students can review each section which will discuss a different aspect of the technological areas of campus. Upon completion of each section, students have the opportunity to answer two questions to illustrate their understanding of the material.

Students can provide input through the open forums or through the Blackboard program. Through the availability of the Blackboard course, TCS hopes to have a high level of participation by both students and faculty.

“TCS has set up a Blackboard course which all staff, faculty and students have access to help enable a broader participation,” said Leon Lewis, associate vice president of TCS. “It is highly important that all members of the university community participate in guiding the technology decisions for the next three years.”

TCS hopes that students and faculty review last year’s plan before coming to the forum. By viewing last year’s draft, participants can understand what was done in the past and create a set of improvements and goals to be implemented in this year’s three-year plan.

Participants in the event will be able to openly speak with one another to discuss the technology program at ESU.

“The open forum serves as an opportunity for the ESU community to engage in an open discussion on current and future technology needs of the University,” Rains said.

Some students around campus will use the open forums as way to learn more about the TCS program.

“Even as a computer science major I don’t know TCS,” said James Pruitt senior computer science major. “Hopefully through these programs I can learn more.”