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About the Technology Zone

 
The Technology Zone project at Mountain State University Information Technology Center will unite technology and education while increasing capacity for high-speed access throughout the Mountain State University infrastructure and the region. The newly created Technology Zone will transform student-learning capacities, and develop and highly skilled constituency equipped to meet the demands of the information age. The zone will become the cornerstone for media-tech teaching models and provide opportunities for students to explore and create business opportunities utilizing state of the art technology and methods. The infusion of technology upgrades throughout the campus will enable students to understand and utilize the required networking systems to accommodate electronic business opportunities. The presence of the zone and students in the incubator programs will   Hiral Patel hard at work.
establish a climate for new business ventures that require high technology initiatives, thus attracting new centers of influence to the area. These centers of influence will become the next generation of leadership for the region and contribute significantly to improving the quality of life for humankind.

 
(TZ-BOB) High tech computer that The Technology Zone built for developers. The center’s work will inspire and demonstrate outreach methods for both students and educational entities and provide strategic marketing education through technology planning. And interdisciplinary approach through planned 3-D immersion techniques and utilization of virtual environments and multi-media environments demonstrated through the School of Business, School of Health Sciences and the School of Arts and Sciences will transcend traditional teaching platforms and motivate students to utilize the extensive high-speed bandwidth capacity for voice, video, and data applications, including compression and streaming. This new dynamic, strengthened by a population dedicated
to building a growing region of technologically savvy consumers, will be enhanced by the opportunities of high-speed connectivity. These opportunities will be possible as high technology classrooms bring the world to the students, and the students to the world. Equal access will be central to the Technology Zone mission and programs, ensuring that students with special needs and defined handicaps have access to equipment that has been designed for this population. The center’s goal of empowering a generation of learners who will become the next generation of business developers and services providers will be achieved through a deliberate and systematic approach that is responsive to and reflective of emerging technology.
 
Mountain State University’s excellence in delivering on-site and distance education programs will harmonize the technology curriculum that will be delivered on a diverse contemporary platform. Sensitivity for the challenges facing the range of constituents and service providers will be an integral part of the educational design, without sacrificing the overarching goals required to achieve regional change, culturally and economically. In its early research, Mountain State University has identified potential course offerings that cross educational lines and age groups. Flexible, adaptable methods will be utilized in the training process, thus producing a result oriented program that can reach an expansive audience. Curriculum and program development framed under the rubric, Technology in Motion, will be sophisticated in nature, pragmatic in style and user-friendly in approach. Prescriptive, yet creative education, delivered by an High capacity servers powering The Technology Zone
energetic competent team, will benefit students and technology educators throughout the region. A solutions based philosophy will be clearly articulated in project development and design, and educational applications and service delivery.
 
AnthonyVille (Where developers and media creation meet) Producing a work force skilled in information technology with the capacity to communicate effectively is a critical asset to business development. Information Technology training discovered by Mountain State University students in the Technology Zone incubator
(3-D and technology classrooms) and model tested with university wide business application research and development of electronic business applications will ensure the region’s position in the marketplace. As
 equal access to high-bandwidth and multimedia production components are implemented within the center, students and educators will enjoy the resources of state-of-the-art technology. These resources will leverage new ideas and create a synergistic atmosphere where business growth, networking and opportunity can be discovered and realized.
 

Mountain State University will respond to the two-pronged tenets of the congressional award (The Technology Center at Mountain State University in Beckley, WV, to provide telecommunications equipment, including wiring for interactive classrooms and tools to train students to create their own electronic business opportunities) through a phased process:
 
●   Phase I: Analysis, staffing, and upgrades to the current technology infrastructure to support curriculum, program design, and outcomes.
●   Phase II: Program, curriculum design and implementation for electronic product development; technology marketing analysis.
●   Phase III: Evaluation of the project (Proposed Evaluation Strategy attached)

 
In an effort to predict the requirements for a fully developed instructional technology zone, a formal analysis has been conducted of the infrastructure resources at the university. The analysis revealed that the current infrastructure was insufficient to support the instructional demand for the project. While the university has made significant progress in its IT approach since the construction of the Robert C. Byrd Learning Resource Center in 1997, the Congressional appropriation will dramatically upgrade the equipment and performance in both instructional and multi-media presentation laboratories and stations. The current server technology and two T-1 lines will be upgraded
to a DS3 system to respond to the requirements for developing the Technology Zone. New server upgrades and pipeline conditioning will be secured to protect the integrity of the overall system. Laboratory upgrades, which include the addition of state-of-the-art 3-D and multi-media presentation sites, will greatly enhance the facilitation of teaching models and foster application testing modes and interdisciplinary electronic opportunities that will be developed by students.

 

The following represents Phase I (infrastructure upgrades and information technology supports that will sustain the program):
 

Phase I
●  

Building the Technology Empowerment Zone / Defining the physical presence
Infrastructure Analysis
Upgrade the residential access/Hogan Hall
(Students currently do not have high-speed access)
Equipment (media) Analysis
Equipment Upgrades
Development of Zone Access Center
Digital Data Services (DS3) line

Cisco Gigabyte Switches (2)

Security / Environmental Conditioning Upgrades
     

Server Power Supply Upgrades
●  

Media Creation and Classroom Enhancements
      o Digital editing bays and scanning
      o DVD and Storage
      o Streaming video and projection
      o Panoramic digital photography equipment
      o Multi-media software and licensing
      o Audio and Video upgrades to current systems inventory
      o Presentation Room Stations in School of Business
      o Presentation Room Stations in O’Dell Hall for School of Arts & Sciences
         LRC Computer Lab A (25 systems)
        RAM Upgrade
        VMware
         LRC Computer Lab B (25 systems)
        RAM/Monitor Upgrade
        VMware
         Library Computer Lab
        RAM/Monitor Upgrade
        VMware
         Carter Hall Computer Lab
          RAM/Monitor Upgrade
         O’Dell Hall Connectivity
          Infrastructure (Router, fiber, and installation)
          Network Cabling for Classroom.
         LRC Tiered Presentation Room
          Infrastructure
          Workstations
          Laptop computers
          Computer Storage Housing
●   Positioning the Zone/Staffing Development/General Administration
      Managing Director
      Operations/PR/Grants Mgmt./Program Development
      Information Technology Assistant
      Technology and Content Development Specialist
      Incubator Development Specialist
      Student Fellows
 

Phase II
    The following represents Phase II of the project (integrating business opportunity across the curriculum, program design and outreach, testing applications, business research on regional marketing of technology opportunities):
●   Trademark Marketing / Securing Appropriate Trademarks for Programs and Products
      MSU Students in the Incubator
        Program Development for Curriculum Integration, Zone Seminars, and Practitioner Project Development
●   Special Delivery in the Zone
        Technology Design for Extended and Web Based Learning
●   Researching in the Zone
        School of Business Study for Technology Applications, Viability and Economics/Product Development Potential
●   University Wide Project Design Planning/Electronic Technology Applications and Business Opportunities/Application Testing and Development
        o Archival Management/Records Storage
        o 24 Hour Call Total Response Center (Operational/academic/technology/career)
        o Nationally Focused Business Design and Efficiency Center (e-Forms, etc.)
        o Conceptual Framework for K-12 Zone Out While Zoning In Programs
        o Institutional Effectiveness/Teaching Technology Solutions
●   Transferring Technology in the Zone
        o High Touch in the Technology Zone --- Teachers at Play
        Special Program for Math and Science Educators in Technology Exploration with MSU Students in the Incubator
        o Low Touch in the Technology Zone --- Citizens at Play
Inspiring Technology Thinking Seminars (How to Think and Act Like A Geek without Becoming One) (Models Created by MSU Students in the Incubator for Teaching Technology)