STARTING next schoolyear, the Educational Technology Center (Ed-Tech) will have full control of the computers at the multi-media classrooms and computer laboratories in the University.
The changes came after Ed-Tech and the UST Computer Center (UST-CC) agreed that it would be easier to control the computers in the University if the work would be divided. UST-CC will concentrate on the research centers and the needs of the faculty members while Ed-Tech will focus on the needs of the students.
Previously, it was only UST-CC that handled all the computer resources in the University.
In an interview with the Varsitarian, Ed-Tech Director Fr. Melchor Saria, O.P. said Ed-Tech will now supply Internet service for approximately 30 multi-media classrooms in the different faculties and colleges.
He added that the transition would be advantageous because once Ed-Tech has full control of the 200 computer units in the Central Library, it would be available for the faculty members and students during off-time.
Saria also plans to install Internet access terminals at building lobbies with at least 10 computer units to provide students easy Internet access.
However, according to UST-CC Network Administrator Bea Lacsamana, they will still assist in the transition since Ed-Tech is not yet ready to take full control of the computers at the Central Library and in the computer laboratories.
“When they (Ed-Tech) become ready to supply the bandwidth, we will transfer the full control to them,” Lacsamana said.
Meanwhile, Ed-Tech will launch the Tomasino web on the first week of August. The teen-oriented web site, which will provide downloads on music, graphics, and anything of interest to students, is very different from the institutional web site of UST.
“The institutional web site of the University is a formal way of getting information about UST while the Tomasino web is a free-wheeling and youth-oriented web site,” Saria said.
He hopes that the e-learning site of the University would originate from the Tomasino web. For instance, a particular class and their professor would be given an email address where students can submit their assignments and the professor can post his/her supplementary materials there, Saria said. Girard R. Carbonell
