The Ithaca College Student Governance Council met Sept. 16 to discuss implementing a new section into their weekly meeting docket. The council also heard from the Office of Information Technologies and Analytics about new technological developments at the college like an app that would replace apps.ithaca.edu, an AI exploratorium and an expansion to the esports facility.
Rishabh Sen, president of the student body, shared a new part of SGC’s meetings that will be included going forward called initiative incubator. He said that during this section of the meetings, SGC will be broken up into small groups to discuss the best ways to bring council members’ ideas to fruition.
“We have a lot of responsibility,” Sen said. “We can make change on this campus. We can’t do it until the students know that we’re there and where they are going to work, right? So outreach and visibility really underpin our connection with the student body.”
SGC heard from Casey Kendall, deputy chief information officer and associate vice president of applications and infrastructure; Jenna Linskens, director of the center for instructional design and education technology; Jenna Lamb, coordinator for AI initiatives and senior IT project manager; and David Weil, vice president and chief information and analytics officer.
New Ithaca College app
Kendall updated SGC on development of an app to replace apps.ithaca.edu, which was discussed last year. She said that the college initially considered developing the app themselves, but decided to look into a third party. She said there will be a virtual demo of the app with 18 participants from different offices on campus as well as three SGC representatives Sept. 30.
Senate chair Nikki Sutera asked what the goals of the app are and how it will be an improvement over apps.ithaca.edu.
Kendall said the app would include personalized and dynamic features tailored to the user and the time they are using it.
“Let’s say that there’s student registration that’s coming up,” Kendall said. “The idea would be that you wouldn’t have to know that you have to log into Banner Homer, but it would be there saying, ‘Oh, don’t forget to register for courses.’”
Other technology improvements
Kendall also shared that the college has been working hard with Verizon to improve cellular connection on campus. She said the improved cellular connection will only apply to Verizon and third-party carriers that are partnered with Verizon. Devices with internet providers like AT&T and T-Mobile will not see an improvement in cellular connection.
Linskens shared technology that is now available to faculty from the Education Technology Advisory Committee. She gave the example of lockdown exams on Canvas, something she said is useful for preparing students in the school of Health Sciences and Human Performance for secure testing exams they might have to take one day. She also said she wants to explore using software like Gradescope, a tool that other colleges use mostly in STEM classes for turning in assignments and grading and Canva in classrooms after hearing requests from students and faculty.
“We’re not saying that we’re adopting these,” Linskens said. “This is more of an exploration, okay, we’re going to dig deeper into the value of these tools, what the cost is, how many people are using them. All of those types of questions.”
Lamb said that the AI exploratorium is opening Sept. 18 in Friends 109. She said the exploratorium will have four devices — two Macs and two PCs — and will be open to faculty, staff and students. She said the goal of the exploratorium is to educate faculty, staff and students on AI literacy for AI to be used responsibly and effectively.
“We’ll be creating resources like prompting tips, cheat sheets and other tips and guides that are helpful for both beginners using AI and more advanced users, for people who are curious about training their own models and things like that,” Lamb said.
Esports
Weil said he believes the current esports room in Friends 101 does not adequately meet the potential for what esports could be at the college. He said that renovations are being done to the Friends 110 computer lab, a place where students could previously go to use desktop computers and rent out electronics like phone chargers and video games. He said the renovations will turn Friends 110 into an esports venue open to all students for esports and casual gaming.
“The last three years, I put away money every year,” Weil said. “Casey had a lot of projects that she was doing, and she was really good at managing money, and she saved money on a lot of projects, and I put that away to be able to fund a new esports facility,”
Weil said the venue will include 12 Alienware gaming stations, a casual gaming area with Xbox and Playstation, an arcade machine and a booth for broadcasting esports. He said the new esports venue will be unveiled Oct. 14 at 4 p.m. with a ribbon cutting ceremony.
The SGC is the sole representative body for the college student community. The SGC can be contacted at [email protected].
