ETC Information Systems Group Presents OJT System
The Information Systems Group of the Educational Technologies Centre (ETC) presented the OJT System to college officials and OJT supervisors and assessors last January 7 at the College Multi-purpose Hall. The event was attended by about 40 staff from the different departments who are involved in OJT activities. The event, which was organized by the ETC - ISG, was divided into two parts – the presentation and workshop parts – and lasted for about two hours.
Mr. Froilan Buelo Jr., one of the programmers of the ETC-ISG, provided a walkthrough of the project in the presentation part. He described the different features of the project to the participants, explaining in detail how each menu works, and how each of the personnel involved in OJT activities can use the software. He described in detail the functions of the software that pertains to the Head of OJT, the OJT Supervisor, as well as the OJT Assessor. In the presentation, Mr. Froilan used the actual software - currently available via the college network – in explaining and describing its various features.
The second part of the activity witnessed the participants trying the OJT software themselves. Once the software presentation is finished, the activity moved to IT Lab203 for the workshop. Mr. Froilan was supported by Ms. Mylyn Nostarez, the other ISG programmer, in this undertaking. In this endeavor, the participants tried to explore and navigate the program themselves, trying its different features and getting a feel of how they will actually use it. After spending some time exploring and trying the software, the participants were given a short time to ask questions to the presenters.
The event was attended by college officials including the College Dean, Dr. Ahmed Al-Ghassani, and the Asst. Dean of Academic Affairs, Dr. Bader Ahmed Al-Khalaf.
NCT Internet Connection Upgraded to 4Mbps
The College's Internet connection, which was increased to 2Mbps just two months ago, is further increased to 4Mbps starting the first week of January. This was made possible by adding another line of 2Mbps to the existing 2Mbps line, which effectively doubled the bandwidth the College community will be using this year. This endeavour is made possible with the support of the College administration and through the giving of priority to the projects of the ETC which would serve all College stakeholders.
The connection of the new 2Mbps line was completed on January 6 through the collaboration of the technical personnel from Omantel and the ETC staff assigned for the maintenance and management of the College's network. The connection was done on the existing router of the College by just using another port for connecting the extra 2Mbps line.
In line with this upgrade, the ETC personnel is hopeful that the current bandwidth will be more than enough to support the current requirements of both the students and staff regarding their research and Web browsing activities. Moreover, it could help them for better communication and collaboration with peers outside of the College for improved academic experience.
Meanwhile, in a related development, the ETC continues the blocking of audio and video streams in the College network. This is to ensure that files not related to teaching and learning activities will not be downloaded using College computers, as well as to ensure further that normal browsing and search activities will not be hampered by these downloading tasks. Through this, the ETC believes that faster and more meaningful Internet learning experience can be provided to the College community.