The Account Creation Process

What Happens When a University Employee is hired?

When a new person is hired at the university a number of entities need to be created:
A basic empower record
A basic webtools record
Blackboard account
Faculty
User record
ROLE enrollments
Campus/University Organization enrollments
Email
SMUMN domain login
An employee may also need
Access to shared folders
Webtools access beyond basic level (for example program directors or staff)
An Empower login and privs
Access to some departmental budget data


The automated process is as follows:
(1) Staff Information is sent to Payroll
(2) Payroll Enters Data into Empower, creating the basic empower data record.
Steps 3 - 6 run within 24 hours after step 2 is completed.
(3) Overnight Empower creates the webtools record. The only exception would be if all variants of the user name have been assigned. Password is first 7 digits of ssn.
(4) An email notice is emailed to new employees. It also sends an email of new employees to the SMU helpdesk and Sylvia Pflughoeft.
(5) Another process creates blackboard exports. These are automatically created nightly as well. The exports include Course enrollments from Empower and Role memberships.
(6) A script runs nightly at 1:00am that creates the the domain login. The user group association is based on predefined entities in the system:
Mpls Faculty
Mpls Staff
Mpls Students
Winona Faculty
Winona Admin
Winona Students

It also creates email accounts and updates Empower email addresses for:
Winona Staff and Faculty
Winona Graduate, Undergrad (not PACC or Nairobi), and MED students
MED Facilitators
MPLS students including MSA students, not including affiliates and PDI

(7) 24 hours after the Blackboard imports run, Tegrity uses Blackboard enrollment information to give access to Tegrity recordings.

All other accesses are created manually. And can be requested via the Helpdesk by a supervisor.

1. An empower account. For this account we need the user name, the default printer, and who this person was replacing or assisting.

The empower account access is based on the role of the user.

If the role was a replacement role, they received equivalent access/privilege to their predecessor, otherwise their access would need to be determined based on the additional privileges required.

The default printer is based on their office locality.

2. Advanced Webtools privileges.

3. Drive shares. For this the helpdesk needs to know exactly what departmental shares the user should have access to.

The drive shares were based on the departmental membership. By default users have access to their personal.


The last area of Budget access should be requested by a supervisor through Laurie Haase.

Tegrity Updates

Tegrity will be updating our server, December 21.
To read about the updates, go to:

http://www.tegrity.com/press_release.php?id=77

Here is a glance at some of the updates:

*Tegrity changed the class capture game by eliminating the need for special hardware
*Significant new Tegrity reporting features

To learn more, follow the link above.

SMU Forms

Did you know that Business Office forms are now located under the SMU Services Tab within Blackboard? This is where you should be going to find/fill out the most current Business office forms. Students will see only the forms they need Faculty/Staff will see form pertaining to them.

Modifying SMU Tabs in Blackboard

Did you know that you can personalize or modify Blackboard tabs and layout?

You can change the look and feel of the main page, by clicking on Modify Layout under My SMU.
Here you can change the color and customize the layout.
Also, with Modify Content, you can add or delete modules. Just click in the box to select or unselect what you want to show on your Blackboard.
The modules that are checked in RED, are system defaults, those cannot be changed.
Chad has created several tutorials that demonstrate what you can do or change in Blackboard.

To see the recordings, go to www2.smumn.edu/helpdesk
Click on Training, then from the Web Tutorials, click Blackboard, from Blackboard Tutorials, click Blackboard again.
Here you will find a list of tutorials:

Overview of Blackboard
Adding Course Content
Changing Look & Feel of Courses
Managing Courses
Communication Tools
Gradebook
Assessment Tools

New Tegrity Features Underscore Campus-wide Scalability, Collaborative Learning

SANTA CLARA, CA – October 22, 2008 – Tegrity, provider of the leading class capture web service for higher education, announced that it will unveil powerful enhancements to its award-winning Tegrity Campus 2.0 web service at the EDUCAUSE 2008 Annual Conference next week. Consistent with its mission of enhancing student achievement, satisfaction and retention, these outstanding new features extend Tegrity Campus 2.0 to create a richer, more collaborative learning experience that maximizes student academic performance while enriching the pedagogic experience of faculty.

“Tegrity changed the class capture game by eliminating the need for special hardware or software and by introducing the only patented ‘search anything’ capability. Now we’re doing it again by introducing Tegrity Community, which enables communication and collaboration between Tegrity users, tools for evaluating Tegrity’s impact on student achievement and retention, and management tools that enable institutions to rapidly scale campus-wide,” said Isaac Segal, Chief Executive Officer of Tegrity. “With over 2.5 million student views last year alone, hundreds of Tegrity clients are demonstrating daily the impact of Tegrity on student achievement and retention.”

Leveraging Class Capture To Create Collaborative Learning Environment

An integral component of Tegrity Campus 2.0, Tegrity Community facilitates communication and collaboration among students, faculty, IT/ET staff and campus administrators within their own institutions and between institutions. Users can exchange best practices and course content, as well as brainstorm ideas for enhancing Tegrity ROI. Powerful tools enriching the user experience include:

• Role-based access to forums and one-to-one communication tools: enable student, faculty and administrative users to connect directly in a safe, secure environment
• Ability to post and share content: all Tegrity users and institutions are able to download, comment, and/or rank content posted by fellow-users. All content posted is categorized and fully searchable.

Key Performance Data, Usage Monitoring Drive Outcome Assessment

Significant new Tegrity reporting features help clients monitor Tegrity usage on campus in a timely manner, assess the impact of Tegrity on academic performance, and measure the return on investment. Tegrity reporting capabilities include:

• End-of-Term Assessments: Institutions can benchmark student achievement and retention against Tegrity usage, correlating grade point averages and course completion rates.
• Weekly reports of key performance indicators can be easily accessed online, or automatically delivered to designated recipients to track the number of students accessing a class and/or course, student views, faculty users, and actual faculty recordings.
• Detailed analyses: Users can also drill further into each key performance indicator to measure and evaluate usage by specific students and/or instructors within specific classes or courses.
Extended Search Fuels Student Achievement

This update extends the current patented Tegrity “search anything” capability that searches any word/phrase projected in class to include instructor audio and any supplemental content a faculty member chooses to add to their Tegrity recordings, regardless of whether the phrase derives from PowerPoint slides, web pages or computer applications.
Centralized Management Capabilities Enhance the Already Scalable Campus-wide Tegrity Service

As the leading class capture web service, Tegrity continues to set the standard for scalable, campus-wide deployment by adding to its robust portfolio of management tools:

• Automatic backup and restore: An institution can elect to backup and/or restore all Tegrity content, or just content for a specific course or class. This feature also includes the option of choosing whether to retain or remove inactive content (e.g. from previous terms) any time.
• Secure login control: At their discretion, IT administrators can require login campus-wide or within a specific recording station.
• System Performance Monitoring: Assuring a high service level, Tegrity monitors critical resources and components and issues alerts when critical levels are reached.
Further Reduce the Institution’s Cost of Ownership By Giving Users 24x7 Access To Help Resources

From within Tegrity Campus 2.0, resources from Tegrity, Tegrity Community, and individual institutions are now just one click away. This allows student, faculty and administrative users to conveniently access help and support tailored to meet their needs around the clock, including user knowledge bases, frequently asked questions, user documentation, tutorials, Tegrity support, and help desk resources.

About Tegrity
Tegrity Campus 2.0 is the leading class capture web service impacting learning, student satisfaction and retention across the entire institution. Requiring no hardware or software installation, Tegrity Campus 2.0 makes class time available all the time by automatically capturing, storing and indexing every class on campus for replay by every student. Educators know that the more students can see, hear, and experience a class, the better they learn. With patented Tegrity “search anything” technology, students instantly recall key class moments for replay online, or on iPods and mobile devices. Tegrity is based in Santa Clara, California with regional offices throughout the United States. For more information, visit www.tegrity.com

MS Word 2007 Changes

MS Word 2007 Changes

Many commands that you may have used in previous versions of Word didn't survive the transition to Word 2007. You won't find any of the following in Word 2007:
· AutoFormat
· Character Animation
· Close All
· File Search
· Frames
· Office Assistant
· Save All
· Save As Web PageSpeech
· Wizards
· WordPerfect Help
These items were either dropped entirely or replaced with something better.

Webscheduler

Did you know if your schedule information is in Webscheduler, persons attempting to coordinate meetings would be able to add you as an attendee, see if you have that block open, and "invite" your participation to the meeting? For more information on Webscheduler, please view the tutorial or contact the HelpDesk for assistance.

Departmental Address Book for Webmail

The HelpDesk is developing a Departmental address book for Webmail.

This address book will contain email addresses for contacting a specific departments. For example, studentdev@smumn.edu for the Winona Campus Student Development Office, tc-bookstore@smumn.edu for the Twin Cities Campus Book Store, etc...

If you would like your department to be listed in this Webmail address book, please email or contact the HelpDesk with the email address you are using, and what you would like the "Full Name" to read.

Thank You

Sarah Bearbower
Information Technology Manager, Academic Systems Saint Mary's University of Minnesota

Recycling Program a Success

On August 12, faculty and staff participating in a program sponsored by Saint Mary's University and Apple computers generated 17 pallets worth of old computers, monitors, televisions, and various other electronic paraphernalia. The items were sent to be either recycled or disposed of in an environmentally friendly manner. Thanks to all who participated. Watch the HelpDesk newsletter to see if the free program is made available to us next summer.

Skype in the Classroom

One of the popular Web 2.0 technologies is now available in many of our multimedia classrooms. Skype is software that allows users to video and audio calls over the internet to other Skype members. Skype is free to download and at the basic level calling to other Skype users is also free. This software allows for point-to-point video calls and multipoint audio calls by using the same microphone and instructor camera that Tegrity uses.

How does this impact classroom technology and instruction? It allows the instructor to collaborate outside of the classroom. Bringing guest speakers into your classroom can be a powerful instructional enhancement. This could include peers from other universities, alumni who are able to discuss how SMU prepared them for their profession, or other guest speakers who help support the instructional topic of the course.

Below you will find an article that shares how two Pennsylvania teaching colleagues with an interest in music and technology are bringing remote experts into classrooms at almost no cost, using Skype’s free video conferencing technology. http://campustechnology.com/articles/66727/

For a general overview, the following link will share 7 things you should know about Skype. http://net.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/ELI7032.pdf

Skype can be downloaded from http://www.skype.com/. Feel free to contact the HelpDesk with questions or to line up a test to see firsthand how Skype works.

Rushford-Peterson Emac donation

The SMU iT department donated several eMac computers to the Rushford-Peterson school district this past summer. Included is the note of thanks from Corey Mattson, IT staff for R-P schools:
“These eMacs really are the ticket for what we needed them for!! … Thanks again for your donation. I attached a picture of the lab and how it looks...it'll be in use very soon. Our elementary is grateful for your kindness!!”
Cory Mattson
Rushford-Peterson Schools

SMU Services Added To Blackboard Portal

You may have noticed a new tab appear within Blackboard. The SMU Services tab has recently been implemented and currently contains Business office forms and HelpDesk information. We anticipate that more information will be added to this tab as more offices migrate internal information from the external Saint Mary's website. Stay tuned for more changes. If you have any questions or suggestions for content please email helpdesk@smumn.edu. We greatly appreciate your input.

Graduating Students

Your email account will remain active as long as you log in using WebMail once every six months and don't violate the SMU Appropriate Use of Technology. Your network storage (G: drive - Winona students only) and network login will deactivate 90 days after graduation. If you have content on the server, please make sure to take it with you before you leave campus.

Summer computer swaps and reimaging starting soon

The Winona Campus IT department will be starting our summer reimaging and computer swaps following graduation. Computers purchased for Macintosh systems and Classroom Desktops should be arriving on campus as early as mid-May. Please make sure that your work has been saved to the network servers, and that you've made arrangements with us for any special needs you may have prior to graduation.

Email update planned

On Sunday, May 4, SMU IT will be applying a software update to the email server. This update will occure between midnight - 7am on the 4th.
This update's most noteworthy enhancements are; Recurring days-of-week selected by checkboxes instead of multi-select. Content filter searches through message subject and body only to prevent false positives from attachments, pictures, etc., Message list shows received date, not date specified by sender so that messages are sorted by receive time not arbitrary time specified by sender., and changes to how IMAP and POP function so that Iphone/Ipod Touch Imap client will function correctly.
For a full list of all changes, click on Email Changes and view all changes in 4.08-4.10.

Blackboard update planned

On Sunday, May 11, SMU IT will be applying a software update to the Blackboard server. The update will occur between midnight - 7am on the 11th. This update will fix a variety of bugs within the software. Areas of Blackboard most often affected are Discussion Board operations, Hot Link addition/removal functionality, and back-end performance enhancements. For a full list of changes click on Blackboard Bug Fixes.

New Password Requirement

The criteria for secure passwords will change University wide this summer. Your new password must be 9 to 25 characters in length, and not starting with, but containing at least 1 numeric character. It will not allow you to use a password that you have used within the last 180 days.

Did YOUR students spend 30,000 hours studying last semester?

Learn how the University of Central
Florida drives student achievement with technology.

Over a year ago, the College of Engineering and Computer Sciences
at University of Central Florida (UCF) adopted the award-winning
Tegrity Campus 2.0 student achievement system. Within the first
semester, more than 2,300 students and 80 faculty members
embraced the technology, making classes available to every student
in the college, anytime.

While the average class recording lasts one or two hours, students
typically spend a mere fraction of this time per visit. They use Tegrity’s
patented google-like search and indexing system to quickly jump to
exact elements of a class they need to review. UCF has seen an
overwhelmingly positive response from users. Students are excited
and the faculty is eager to engage more students with the technology.

Tegrity is the only solution that allows UCF instructors to capture
content in any classroom on their own computers - and to offer that
content to students in a variety of convenient ways based on their
preferred media.

With the ability to study more effectively, students are showing signs
of improvement in retention, grades, and graduation rates. Now in its
fourth semester at UCF, the impact of Tegrity is evident:
· 70% of instructors now use Tegrity
· 2500 students viewing lectures
· Doubled recording classrooms ($0 cost)
· 100,000 visits to Tegrity by students
· 30,000 collective hours of reviewing
Join us for an engaging webinar and learn how the University of Central
Florida School is engaging students online to help them learn and
achieve more while providing faculty with an easy-to-use system for
making their instruction available to students around the clock.


REGISTER TODAY!
Date: March 12, 2008
Time: 1PM Central
Duration: One hour Host: Campus Technology

Open Word Documents without using Word

If you don't have Microsoft Office Word installed, you can use Word Viewer to open, view, or print documents that were created by using Microsoft Office Word 2007, 2003, 2002, or 2000. However, you cannot edit, save, or create a new Word document unless you have Word installed.

Here what you can do:

1. Download and install Word Viewer

2. Download and install Microsoft Office Compatibility Pack for Word, Excel, and PowerPoint 2007 Files Formats.

Once those two are installed, you can open any Word document.

Word Viewer and Microsoft Office Compatibility Pack can be found on the Microsoft webpage, www.microsoft.com/downloads. Be sure to select Word Viewer, and not Word Viewer 2003. Word Viewer 2003 is the old version.

Avoid Using Special Characters in Blackboard

Do you occassionally get an error message when trying to download all students' assignments, and then have to individually download each individual's assignment? Using special characters is a well know problem within Blackboard. Blackboard suggests that all faculty/students should not use special characters in any files wanting to upload. Also, it has been a problem if an instructor who uploads a document for the students to retrieve, student putting items in the dropbox for instructors, etc. Blackboard is saying that a fix will be in the works in the near future.

Office Ultimate 2007 for $59.95

Seize the deal! Get Microsoft® Office Ultimate 2007 for just $59.95. This software is normally priced at $679. Saint Mary's students can now purchase the software for a fraction of the regular cost. Click here for details.

Offer expires April 30th, 2008.

Blackboard Portal

Over the next few months, we will start to deliver additional content through our Blackboard system. The Technology Planning Committee has been working to set up the portal to deliver information that is tuned to your needs and responsibilities at Saint Mary's. We hope you find it useful and encourage you to send ideas for improving the portal to helpdesk@smumn.edu.

You may have already noticed that Winona based users have a Talks & Presentation Organization on your Community tab that links to recordings of our Last Lecture Series. Additionally, we have added a Library tab to Blackboard. This Library tab will continue to be developed and will deliver items that are more specific to program or campus location.

Our SGPP will launch additional tabs designed for their adjunct faculty in mid-February. It will provide school information, administrative directions, and teaching and learning resources for adjunct instructors. If you are interested in learning more, please contact Bob Andersen (rganders@smumn.edu).

Please stay tuned for more information as we continue to develop resourses within our Blackboard Portal system.

Classroom Upgrades

SM409

This room has limited functionality. It is designed for instructors who are laptop/tablet users. A document camera (Elmo) and computer are NOT provided in this classroom.
The pull-down screen is complemented with a pair of stereo speakers. A VCR/DVD deck is included in the equipment rack, along with the system controller. This room is also configured for Tegrity recording.

SM134

Over Christmas break, SM134 was enhanced with a new ceiling, banked and dimmable lighting fixtures, and a larger projection screen that now hangs at the center of the room.

The flexibility of the new lighting and the ability to record with Tegrity in this space should help to make it a popular classroom.

Enroll/Unenrolls Occur Automatically in Blackboard

Over Thanksgiving break, the HelpDesk started a daily import of course enrollments and withdrawals from the Empower system. These processes will synchronize Blackboard enrollment information with data in the Webtools database.

This change has caused some confusion. Students that unenroll/drop a class are still listed in the Blackboard course user list with an X next to their name. The X indicates that they can not see the course or any of its contents. Disabling the student's ablility to view the course rather than remove them from the course entirely allows assignments or grade records already assigned in Blackboard for that student to remain intact. Unfortunately, if you view the Gradebook for the course, the unenrolled students still appear in the grade book with no visual indication that they have dropped the course.

Blackboard is aware of the issue, and is working on a solution to this problem.

Word 2007 tips

With Microsoft Office Word 2007, you can quickly and easily turn a plain-looking document into one that looks professionally designed. Use styles to quickly format major elements in your document, such as titles, subtitles, and headings. Start with predefined, coordinated designs and then customize to suit your needs.
Click this link to view the demo.
http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/word/HA102019531033.aspx