About
The Information Technology Division is responsible for planning, organizing, directing and coordinating technology strategies. The ultimate purpose of this division is to provide the technology support necessary for the continued success of the state’s community college programs and initiatives while fulfilling the mission of the MCCB.
History
Mississippi's community colleges have always been leaders in utilizing technology to enhance the teaching and learning process. Beginning in the early 1990s, Mississippi’s community colleges, under the leadership of the Mississippi Association of Community and Junior Colleges (MACJC), successfully deployed the first statewide interactive video network, the Community College Network (CCN), in the US. This method of instructional delivery was the precursor to many current methods of distance education. In establishing this landmark learning vehicle, the Mississippi Community Colleges began a long-term national leadership role for the utilization of technology in post-secondary education.
Shared Infrastructure
Additionally, by integrating shared technologies and best practices, community colleges are empowered to benefit from a spectrum of resources made available through a common infrastructure and partnership between MCCB and the community colleges. In so doing, each institution is positioned to serve their customers rapidly, efficiently, and cost-effectively through the utilization of advanced technology. This initiative has provided enhanced educational services to on-campus classroom students and to non-traditional students at hours and locations they find most convenient.
Technology in the Mississippi community college system is vital as the colleges continue to work as collaborative partners to build a common technology infrastructure that supports each college’s individual mission. The result is a community college system that continues to meet the needs of the citizens of Mississippi by using technology to enhance the teaching and learning process.
Data Center
In their continued support of technology, the MCCB and the MACJC has supported a state-of-the-art data center. The state-of-the-art data center, managed by MCCB staff, provides each college equal access to advanced technologies as it maximizes state resources by leveraging economies of scale. Most importantly, by coordinating and sharing resources at the statewide level, colleges can focus more of their technology resources on college-specific applications that support their unique missions. The data center functions as the Host Service Center and core switching infrastructure for the Community colleges' wide area network, commonly known as the Mississippi Community College Connectivity Consortium (MC4).
Over the past year, mission critical applications, core networking services, and centralized applications have necessitated the furthered expansion of the MCCB data center and has encouraged colleges to leverage economics of scale in the continued growth of the MC4 Network. Recent upgrades to the networking infrastructure will help meet the community colleges’ need for increased bandwidth.
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