Olivet University - Olivet Institute of Technology

Google I/O 2013 Lines Up Innovation, Inspirations

The sixth annual Google I/O 2013 conference for software developers was held at San Francisco’s Moscone Convention Center last week.  In attendance were IT students from Olivet University’s Information Technology College, OIT, who soaked in the developer-centric event with glimpses into future products offered by Google. 

At its 3-hour keynote, Google introduced its latest progress for Google+, Hangout, IDE, Chrome, Android devices, music services, and Google Maps. The company announced that there are over 48 billion apps installed from the Google Play store, thanks to 900 million activations of Android devices.

Google’s new development environment-Android Studio, which aimed at speeding up code building, was announced. It’s a full IDE with an Android-friendly code editor utilizing margin previews for editing. It also has a live simulator, which can show views in real time on multi screen size devices across multi languages. OIT students tried out the new Android Studio and marveled at its efficiency.  Google added five new features to Google Play Developer Console that can assist developers, particularly OIT students working on Android development in their curriculum.

Google+ provided 41 new features, including new column-based layout of Google+, and its amazing photo tools.  Improvements were made to reduce the labor-intensive works of organizing, sharing, and uploading photos into an easy process. It aims at building a smarter social network using innovative algorithms to improve the user experience. Google’s redesigned its Maps experience for mobile and desktop, making it smarter and more personalized. These changes imply the trends of how technology is being used. Olivet University’s IT students are working with trends in mind as Google’s lineup of innovative products offer nothing but inspiration.

Olivet University IT Students Seek Leaks and Cryptography

OIT students at Olivet University are building up their knowledge in security technology and unearthing cryptography technology. Students gained a detailed knowledge through topics learned from the 2013 winter courses, which included Cryptography and Botnet Phishing.  Resources were also provided through the tracks given by security professionals at the 2013 RSA Conference in San Francisco, CA.

Research led students to explore and discover in leaks or loop holes within Internet technology.  One project involved enhancing protection for smart card ID keys by experimenting with countermeasures for its cryptography.

One student shared his experience, “I found Internet security is more and more important. The conference broaden my horizon and inspired me to learn more,” said the OIT Masters student. 

Students also paid special attention to Cloud Security, Mobile Device Security, and Big Data Analytics. They also gained an insight into security related Law, policy and human elements, which play an important role in Internet security.

Reference:  http://www.rsaconference.com/events/2013/usa/

IT Students Developing Anti-Plagiarism Software Project

Olivet University IT students are collaborating with the school’s Research and Development department to begin an anti-plagiarism project through software development.  Several Olivet Information Technology students will present the completed software as their final project for this quarter.

All institutions deal with the universal challenges of preventing and detecting plagiarism in student work. Cheating has become easier in today’s digital age.  Copying and pasting materials from the web onto assignments are causing concerns for faculty who have to monitor a growing number of student in their class.

The challenge Olivet University IT students are taking on involves developing a system to detect the articles by running algorithms to sift through thousands of past articles in attempts of detecting plagiarism.  Upon completion, students will gain experience in developing the algorithms from scratch and be able to apply more sophisticated functions on top of what they developed. 

Students are encouraged to test whatever approach is valid and acceptable as long as they can solve the problem. The OIT courses have equipped them with the basic algorithm ideas and programming skills.

Olivet Receives Visit from Education Tech Expert

Last week, Olivet University received a visit from Allan Carrington, an expert in education technology from the University of Adelaide in Australia.
 
Carrington specializes in eLearning design and research with extensive experience in online collaboration and facilitation.
 
Upon arriving on campus, Carrington gave a presentation to the Olivet administration, covering a number of broad areas including presenting the latest developments in education technology.
 
Carrington also spent some time consulting with Olivet’s faculty and staff asking and answering questions in order to find ways to improve Olivet’s student experience with the use of technology.
 
“We brainstormed the entire day starting with the students, defining how they would ‘look’ or be and the need to define their graduate attributes. Then how they were working on the program learning outcomes and mapping courses and learning to these outcomes,” recalled Carrington in his blog shortly after the visit.
 
Through the visit, Olivet was also able to learn about Carrington’s vision of helping the Church and Christ-centered institutions use technology to empower Christian learning. This spoke into Olivet’s mission to train Christian leaders in the “network generation.”

After the visit, Carrington spoke highly of the university’s sense of priorities, noting that Olivet “had it the right way around.”
 
“It was a great experience to see that the higher education DNA of Christians is alive and well,” he concluded.
 
Besides serving on the faculty of the University of Adelaide, Carrington is an Apple Distinguished Educator, was a school leader at the University of the Nations (part of Youth With A Mission), and has won the University of Adelaide Award for Excellence in Support of the Student Experience.

(Source: oit.olivetuniversity.edu)

OU Establishes New Center for WEA Leadership Institute, IT Commission

SANTA CRUZ , Calif. – Olivet University  has allocated a portion of its new Santa Cruz campus for use by the Leadership Institute and Information Technology Commission of the World Evangelical Alliance.

 The facilities, formerly known collectively as the Vickery Center, consist of over 30 offices including a 500-square foot seminar room, a conference room and a lounge.  In total, the buildings comprise over 14,400 square feet.

 ”This center is dedicated to serve our global community in bringing about the kingdom of God,” said the Rev. Dr. Geoff Tunnicliffe, General Secretary of the WEA, during a dedication service for the new facilities last week.

 According to the WEA, which OU is a global partner of, the new facility will serve as a world-class training center for both onsite and online participants; an international and web-based resource center (WEAresources.org) for the dissemination of online and other resources for leaders; and an accommodation for onsite training opportunities, workshops and conferences. 

 Its purpose is “to train Christian leaders and empower them to a new level,” noted OU Vice President Dr. Ray Tallman, who also serves as president of the recently revived Bethany University and chairman of the World Evangelical Theological Institute Association at OU.

 ”We envision a greater expansion of our reach and role,” added Dr. Rob Brynjolfson, Director of the WEA Leadership Institute. “This new center will not only house our training programs, but will serve as a base of operations for both our resource center and an international research center.”

 During last Thursday’s dedication, Dr. Brynjolfson said the Leadership Institute’s mission is to raise up leaders to abide in the Lord and to abound in fruitful ministry.  The research conducted will not only help the WEA better understand its members needs but also serve their needs more effectively, he added.  The center will also disseminate information in multiple languages in order to be used by WEA members and the wider evangelical community.

 ”We are so thankful for the generosity of OU and supporters around the world to bring us to this place of growth,” remarked Dr. Tunnicliffe.

 “God is opening tremendous doors,” he added. “We want help raise new leaders to be led by Jesus, to lead like Jesus, and to lead people to Jesus.  We dedicate this center to God’s glory and His service around the world.”

 The WEA Leadership Institute was officially launched as a WEA initiative during the General Assembly in Pattaya, Thailand, in October 2008. The mandate of the Leadership Institute is to strengthen national evangelical alliances by developing effective leaders.  In 2010, it moved its headquarters to New York City and then expanded to Binghamton in 2011. The new office is located at 125 Bethany Drive in Scotts Valley, California. 

(Source: oit.olivetuniversity.edu)

IT Professor Examines Object Centered Approach for Social Networks

The ICOMP 2011 12th Annual International Conference on Internet Computing is one of leading conferences that explores the latest advances in the field of technology. OIT professor and dean Dr. Ching-Cheng Lee’s research was recently published by the organization for its focus on social networking.

Dr. Lee’s paper was entitled “An Object-Centered Approach to Social Networking” and proposes an effective approach to find social network service users’ interests and suggest friends by implementing object-based features in a social networking application.

The idea came out from current problems in social networking. “Most social networking websites lack in connecting people over common activities or interests. Users often befriend other users with the objective to swap profiles and increase their friend list,” wrote Lee.

In the research, Dr. Lee examined a way of suggesting new friend in a social networking site which is generated from machine analyzed data gathered from social network services, blogs and websites. The ‘friend suggestion’ algorithm is based on an infrastructure which collects and organizes massive amounts of personal data. The data includes friend’s preference, behavior, characteristics of the group to which the user of the social network service belong. The experiment enables the system to look into

the users’ interest and suggests potential friends. As soon as the user enters more blogs, it tags the system and updates the friend ‘s suggestion list.

The experiment measurements show that the success rate of the system in determined by the interest of the user. The experiment also measured ease and quickness in searching for other users who share similar interests in suggesting potential friendship.

The system proved 100% efficient in finding a users’ interest and suggesting friends based on his/her interest during each browser session. It also updates the friend suggestion list as soon as any new blog or file is entered into the system.

A manual search for friends with similar interests is not required. Friendships established by manual search may or may not lead to meaningful connection since the interest level of users in an activity cannot be determined beforehand. The system is efficient in automatically suggesting friends to a user based on his/her interest.

Dr. Lee is a member of the review board of Journal of Systemics and Cybernetics and Journal the Franklin Institute since 2007. He is an associate editor of Journal of Computer Science, Informatics and Electrical Engineering, Scientific Journals International. He is a review board of Transactions on Systems, Man, and Cybernetics, Part A Systems and Humans.

ICOMP 2011 was composed of research presentations, keynote lectures, invited presentations, tutorials, panel discussions, and poster presentations.

In recent past, keynote/tutorial/panel speakers have included: Prof. David A. Patterson (pioneer/ architecture, U. of California, Berkeley), Dr. K. Eric Drexler (known as Father of Nanotechnology), Prof. John H. Holland (known as Father of Genetic Algorithms; U. of Michigan), Prof. Ian Foster (known as Father of Grid Computing; U. of Chicago & ANL), Prof. Barry Vercoe (Founding member of MIT Media Lab, MIT), Prof. John Koza (known as Father of Genetic Programming, Stanford U.), Prof. Jun Liu (Broad Institute of MIT & Harvard U.), Prof. Lotfi A. Zadeh (Father of Fuzzy Logic), Dr. Firouz Naderi (Head, NASA Mars Exploration Program/2000-2005 and Associate Director, Project Formulation & Strategy, Jet Propulsion Lab, CalTech/NASA), and many other distinguished speakers.

(Source: oit.olivetuniversity.edu)

Olivet Institute of Technology Joins Apple WWDC 2011

The Apple Annual Worldwide Developers Conference introduces its latest innovative technology for developers.  Olivet Institute of Technology (OIT) participated in the event as Apple showcased the latest iOS 5 for mobile devices, their new OS X Lion, and iCloud.  The technologies are very well tied into the university and IT college tools in exploring efficient communication methods for ministry affiliates. 

The latest RnD project involved developing applications for smartphones and iPhones.  The app allowed users to receive the latest reports  and information directly to mobile devices. Beyond receiving data, the new introduction of iCloud allow users to upload photos, music, documents into Apple servers and then that information is synced to mobile devices. 

Many students and affiliates utilize Apple devices, thus making the participation in WWDC an important experience.  The increase in efficiency can also benefit work flow within many organizations as students are spearheading OIT development and exploration of the technology introduced by Apple.   

(Source: oit.olivetuniversity.edu)

Students Gain In-Depth Training at MacWorld 2011

Olivet University students from the IT and Design colleges attended this year’s Macworld Expo in pursuit of the latest applications, products, and technology.  Participating in the event’s various workshops, students had a number of sessions to choose from.  Industry professionals led the way in demonstrating new software and tools for Actionscipt programming, motion sensor, photography, film editing, and the updated Mac iOS.

Approximately 25,000 attendees participated in the event with over 250 exhibitors and 100 new innovations.  The educational sections offered training opportunities and interaction with developers.  Programs such as Featured Artists showcased not just IT developers, but artists who utilize Apple technology and push the boundaries of creativity. 

Embracing Apple technology, design facilities in Olivet provide a connecting point for students and the annual MacWorld event.  Workshops offered through the University also examined ways for students to explore opportunities in Apple technology and integrating it into missions. 

The Olivet College of Journalism’s current exploration of video reporting benefited from the MacWorld seminars that demonstrated video editing and photography.  Working across different platforms from social media sites and the iPhone, the technology allows instant access for all mediums from a simple blog entry to videos.  Through the event’s offerings, students walked away with new inspiration across all fields. 

(Source: oit.olivetuniversity.edu)

OIT Researches Mobile Technology

Olivet Institute of Technology (OIT) students are collaborating with the University’s Research and Development team to investigate new areas of mobile technology for smartphones.  The new methods will be used to facilitate delivering campus services and information.  As Olivet’s network continues to expand among University students, faculty, and alumni, the school is looking to connect each other through new available technology.  

Students are currently working on research projects with faculty mentors through capstone projects.  The projects has provided more opportunities for exploration into the mobile field through researching mobile experiences using the android, iphone, and various application development tools.  Olivet plans to work together with more partners in ministries and other institutions in exploring more mobile phone development projects.  

(Source: oit.olivetuniversity.edu)

OIT Students Join Search Engine Strategies Conference

Olivet Institute of Technology (OIT) students participated in the Search Engine Strategies conference held at The Moscone West Convention Center in downtown San Francisco.
SES is the leading search and social marketing event in the country. Sessions cover PPC management, keyword research, SEO, social media, local mobile, link building, duplicate content, multiple site issues, video optimization, site optimization, and usability.  

OIT students learned new methods in research for producing more optimized websites and platforms for online marketing.  The connection of technology and business are forming through projects and seminars such as the SES event.

This conference shows students not only the newest technologies of search marketing, but also fresh ideas and tactics utilized in today’s search marketing media.  OIT students also attended the Search Engine Strategies Expo’s various seminars and lectures.  Through seeing and experiencing the technologies on display, students can contribute the newly acquired information towards ministries and businesses.

(Source: oit.olivetuniversity.edu)