SMU Helpdesk Newsletter

Helpdesk November Report

2011-12-20T13:53:00.003-06:00

For full report, click here.

For results of helpdesk survey, click here.

Blackboard Upgrade January 5th, 6-8PM

2011-12-20T13:49:00.000-06:00

In preparation for next semester, we will be applying a minor upgrade to Blackboard Learn. This update adds support for the latest versions of Firefox, Internet Explorer and Google Chrome. Blackboard has also included many bug fixes in this latest release. As we apply this update on January 5th, from 6-8PM Blackboard (courses.smumn.edu) will be unavailable.

Lab Reimage

2011-12-20T11:24:00.003-06:00

Time permitting, most computer labs and classrooms on both the Winona Campus and Twin Cities Campus will be re-imaged over Christmas Break to clear out old profiles and speed up the log in process.

Touchscreen in SM8

2011-12-20T10:05:00.000-06:00

We have a new HP 21" touchscreen in SM8. If this is something that you'd like to integrate in your classroom, come down and give it a whirl.

The New Look of Google mail and IE8

2011-12-20T09:37:00.001-06:00

Internet Explorer 8 will not support the new look of google mail. You will have to update your browser to IE9 for full functionality.

Network outage on December 22nd

2011-12-20T09:34:00.004-06:00

The Winona Campus iT staff will be replacing equipment over the lunch hour on December 22. This will affect direct communication between campuses and may affect IP phone service from off-campus.

Access from Winona to MPLS based servers (GoogleApps, AdAstra) will not be available.

Access from MPLS campus and the other TC campuses, to Winona servers Blackboard, WebTools, Tegrity, Office Logic (WebMail) email, etc.

Phone service between campuses might be affected as well. Off-campus to campus dialing should not be affected.

This outage is planned for one hour.

Off-campus usage of these services should not be affected.

HelpDesk and iT staff

Going Google

2011-11-11T11:46:00.003-06:00

The next set of "Going Google" Sharing Sessions are as follows:

November 16th: Noon - 1pm - Focus will be on the "New Look" of Google Email.
November 17th: 3-4pm - Focus will be on the "New Look" of Google Calendar.
December 7th: noon - 1pm - Focus will be on the "New Look" of Google Calendar.
December 8th: 3-4pm - Focus will be on the "New Look" of Google Email.

Please come to share your tips/tricks and maybe pick up a few as well. Winona Campus participants will meet in HC23 for all the sessions. Minneapolis Campus participants will meeting in LSH210 for Nov. 16, Dec 7th and 8th and LSH214 for Nov. 17th.

New Look for Google & Google Apps

2011-11-11T11:46:00.001-06:00

Google is bringing you a new and improved Google experience, and soon, you'll see updates to our look and feel. The way people use and experience the web is evolving, and our goal is to give you a more seamless and consistent online experience—one that works no matter which Google product you're using or what device you're using it on.

Find out about the new look here.

TechFaq Issue of the Month

2011-11-11T11:44:00.004-06:00

What do I need to let iT HelpDesk know before I have an official SMU guest come onto Campus?

HelpDesk Incident Resolution Survey Results for October

2011-11-11T11:44:00.002-06:00

How you said we did “closing” your incidents. If you wish to get a response to your comments please include the Call ID number, found in the subject line of the email, or your username in the comments section. Otherwise, this feedback is completely anonymous.

October 2011: New and Updated Articles in Tech FAQ

2011-11-11T11:43:00.004-06:00

Blackboard

How Students Access a SafeAssign Assignment
Download Multiple Assignments from Grade Center
Clear Assignment Attempt in Grade Center
Getting Started with Tests and Surveys
Making your Course Available

Email – Google Apps

Employees - Importing my Personal Contacts from a csv file
How do I get started with GoogleDocs?
What University Calendars are Available for University Users?
When will my email be delivered to GoogleApps?
What is required to use GoogleSites?
How do I Opt-In to GoogleApps? This specifically applies to SMU SGPP Graduate Students

Information for New Users

Connecting my iOS device to campus wireless

Printers

How do I connect to a SMU printer on Windows?

Residential Networking

How do I add a ResHall printer on a PC?

Tegrity – Tegrity for Instructors

How do I create a Tegrity recording?

Tegrity – Tegrity for Students

Online Viewing of a Tegrity Recording
Student: How do I download a Tegrity recording?

October HelpDesk Techfaq Facts

2011-11-11T11:41:00.003-06:00

· 24,751 visits with 34063 page views

· 354 different cities visited the site. Winona had over 22,000 visits. Even Yokohama, Japan wants to know about techfaq’s

· 11,189 unique visitors

· 43% of visitors used Internet Explorer, 41% used Firefox

· About 21,000 returned to visit the techfaq while about 4650 were new visitors. Thanks to them for checking us out.

· 180 visits from mobile devices pretty even among Android, iPad and iPhone

· Over 5% of visits came from websites other than techfaq.smumn.edu

· 515 views of techfaq “When will my email be delivered to GoogleApps?”

o 218 views of techfaq “Students Only: How to move existing mail from OL Interchange to GoogleApps?”

Visit http://techfaq.smumn.edu or www2.smumn.edu/helpdesk to become a techfaq statistic!!!

Tegrity Deletions

2011-10-19T15:36:00.000-05:00

The IT department will delete Tegrity recordings from the SMU Tegrity database on October 21, 2011.

Only Tegrity files from the semesters of 2010W2, 2010M2 (last spring semesters) or prior, will be deleted.

2010W3, 2010M3, 2011W1, 2011M1 will remain intact, as well as any organizations or courses that don't match that naming criteria.

If there are recordings you would like to keep from a previous semester, there are 3 options available to you.

1) Move those recording(s) to a current semester offering.

2) Create an Image CD of the classes you would like to archive. This process zips up the recordings into a file that you can then extract and save.

3) Log a call at the Helpdesk to request that we not delete those class recordings.

The HelpDesk will need to have the specific course ID to pass along to IT staff.

Also, Organization leaders, if you can, clean out recordings that are no longer relevant, it would aid in responsible use of SMU IT resources.

Please email helpdesk@smumn.edu, or call ext. 7800, if you have any questions or concerns regarding this matter.

Please note:

-- that unless you contact the Helpdesk with the recordings to saved, the Tegrity files listed above will be deleted.

-- this will only delete Tegrity recordings, it does not affect the course listings in Blackboard in any way.

Thank you for your cooperation,

SMU IT Dept.

Save the Date - GoogleApps sessions

2011-10-19T11:55:00.003-05:00

Oct 19th & 20th from 12:30PM - 1:30PM

GoogleApps has a number of exciting collaboration features as well as a new way to get around your email/calendaring applications. We will help you to get familiar with new email and calendar system.

October 19th: Google Calendar
October 20th Google Email

Winona Campus participants will meet in the World Room, Hendrickson Center.

Due to the room shift we do not have computers readily available for use. If you have a mobile device and care to follow along you can bring it with you.

The next Google Sharing sessions are set for November 16th & 17th and December 7th & 8th. We are still working out the details of time/location. Watch future newsletters and your email for details.

Timeline for GoogleApps switchover

2011-10-19T11:55:00.000-05:00

Oct - Dec: Information Technology will notify students when to expect their email to start delivery to GoogleApps. We will most likely group students up by discipline or grade classification. Existing email will stay on the Office-Logic email system and will not be automatically copied to GoogleApps. We will provide students with directions on how they can forward or copy their existing email over to GoogleApps soon. New email will be delivered to GoogleApps according to the timelines below.

Timeline for Undgrad Students

October 18 - credited Seniors and "super" seniors

November 1 - credited Juniors

November 8 - credited sophomores

November 15 - all other undergraduate students

Timeline for SGPP Students

October 7th: MeD Yr 1 students

October 16-17th: MeD Yr 2 students

Future Develpments: Information Technology has not identified how alumni or retired faculty accounts will be handled at this time. You email will continue to reside on the Office-Logic Webmail system. You may need to access the Webmail system from an alternate link in the future.

PDF files in Blackboard now open on Apple OSX computers

2011-10-19T11:51:00.001-05:00

Thank you Apple users for reporting the issues with opening Acrobat (pdf) files within Blackboard Learn. This issue affected all Blackboard customers, and a patch was released last week which we applied to our system.

This patch adds a link that says "Click here to download the file if it does not open" to all Acrobat (pdf) files. When you press that, it should open the file in either Preview or Adobe Acrobat Reader.

Larger Harddrives in Library

2011-10-19T11:45:00.002-05:00

We have installed 1TB drives on several computers in the library that were sometimes slow logging onto the network. If you can choose a computer you've logged into before, you'll notice that your log in times are faster. These new 1TB harddrive will allow the computers to hold your profiles for a longer period of time, therefore cutting down on the login times.

New Wi-Fi locations

2011-10-19T11:42:00.001-05:00

We have installed new wireless access points (Wi-Fi) in the Business Office, Eds, Heffron, Benilde, and SM104.

On our Winona Campus, we are asking students to identify areas where you get no wireless coverage or areas where wireless coverage seems slow. For suggestions about classroom areas, we will defer final decisions to faculty and academic administration. However, your suggestions will help us determine need. Please access our Suggestions for Wifi survey anytime thoughout the year from the HelpDesk website.

HelpDesk Incident results for September

2011-10-19T11:15:00.002-05:00

HelpDesk documented 700 Incidents for the month of September 2011.

From October 19, 2011

HelpDesk and iT staff Closed 352 at initial contact (CoFC) for a 50% CoFC closure rate. HelpDesk CoFC goal is 55%. This has been increased this year from 50% in 2010-2011 academic year.

HelpDesk TAs and iT staff that personally achieved the 55% CoFC goal:

Brian Behling 67%, Jamie Carreno 80%, Jake Holzer 63%, Jill Congdon 55%, Bridget Ryan 60%, Scott Zengri 75%, Melanie Krivachek 63%, Ashley House 61%, Mark Samson-Ott 56%, Chris Froelich 56%, Ryan Weis 75%, Amanda Frost 57%, Chad Colt (MPLS campus) 90%, Kallie Biermaier 67%, Gary Welch 67%, Jeff Wieczorek 100%, Heidi Johnson 67%, Ryan Ballanger 100%.

It total 18 Tas and It staff achieved CoFC out of a total of 38 staff documenting incidents for September.

"Going Google" Sharing Sessions

2011-08-26T16:18:00.004-05:00

GoogleApps has a number of exciting collaboration features as well as a new way to get around your email/calendaring applications. During our sessions in September and October we will help you to get familiar with new email and calendar system. We also invite you to share your experiences. Sessions will be host in Hendrickson 23 for Winona Campus users and LSH 210 for Twin Cities Campus users.

Please save the date for the following GoogleApps Sharing sessions.
Noon - 1pm. Bring your lunch with you.

September 21st: Google Email
September 22nd: Google Calendar
October 19th: Google Calendar
October 20th Google Email

Technology Tools in Action

2011-08-26T16:12:00.001-05:00

Using Tegrity, Blackboard, and other tools, the Business Department taught seveal summer school classes online this summer, helping 20 students fulfill requirements while away from campus, in some cases overseas.

Winona Campus Internet Connection Increased

2011-08-26T16:11:00.001-05:00

Over the summer Information Technology upgraded our internet connection to 100 Mbs. This was a 40% increase in available bandwidth to the internet. We will continue to monitor our internet link utilization to provide the best experience for academic use.

HelpDesk Website gets a new look and new functionality

2011-08-26T16:10:00.001-05:00

You may have noticed that the HelpDesk website changed dramatically over the summer. The new site uses a knowledge base software, allowing us to create searchable documentation for users to find answers to their questions related to technology at SMU. We are still in the beginning stages, and documents on this site will continue to be developed. Please take a look around and rate documents on their topical relevance. We'll soon add a suggestions area for items that you feel may need additional documentation.

Blackboard upgraded to Version 9

2011-08-26T16:05:00.001-05:00

Over the July 4th weekend our Blackboard course management software was updated from version 8 to version 9. Version 9 provides a new look and some great new capabilities including drag and drop, notification settings for courses, blogs and wikis for courses and organizations, subtabs for informational pages, and less "clicky" user experience. In addition, the hardware was updated to include a separate database and application server for faster response time.

Tegrity for Mac Classrooms

2011-08-26T11:32:00.002-05:00

We are starting our sixth year of classroom capture via Tegrity. Classroom capture allows instructors to record classroom content for students to review later - after class or when studying for exams. It has been demonstrated, many times, to show it can help a student cover more material with better retention in a class. After five years, with around 50% of our undergraduate faculty using it for nearly 100% of their courses, we almost take it for granted. It is hard to believe that many schools don't have it at all, or are "just testing it".

This summer a combination of Tegrity software update and additional hardware have allowed for our Macintosh classrooms to finally enjoy the full classroom capture experience that has been available for Windows Classrooms for the last few years.

If you would like more information on Tegrity or how it might be useful to you in your classes, please contact the HelpDesk to request training or a demonstration.

Saint Mary's University is "Going Google"

2011-08-26T11:27:00.002-05:00

We are pleased to announce that Saint Mary’s University of Minnesota has signed a contract with Google. Over the fall of 2011 all current faculty, staff, administration and students will be transitioning to this new platform.

What is Google Apps?

Google Apps is a suite of web-based messaging and collaboration applications that Google hosts on their own servers. Google provides these applications as a "service," rather than as software to download and install. To access these applications, you simply use a web browser on a computer that's connected to the Internet.

Why did we choose Google Apps?

In response to feedback regarding email from the 2009 technology survey and the changing world of collaboration and email services, the University started a pilot of Google Apps (email, calendar, docs) in the fall of 2010. The pilot started with 30 users last fall and quickly grew over the spring and summer semester to roughly 250 users. We looked for an email and calendar solution that could provide with us the following benefits:

Innovative solutions -- We can leverage the ongoing creative and technical solutions of the Google Apps platform to provide faculty, staff and students with powerful, easy-to-use tools for getting their work done
Highly scalable environment -- With Google Apps, our email capacity will grow automatically as our Saint Mary’s University of Minnesota grows. Currently GoogleApps offers 7GB of email storage space.
More collaboration features -- With Google's next-generation applications, we can collaborate with colleagues, students, and partners more easily and efficiently than ever before.
Instant messaging -- Because Google Apps includes Google Talk, we can now implement an instant messaging system for Saint Mary’s University of Minnesota.

What exactly does Google Apps include?

Your new Google Apps account will include the following services:


Google Mail	Google Calendar	Google Talk	Google Docs	Google Sites	Google Video

What are the key benefits?

Lots of storage -- You get a full 7.5 GB of online storage for your email (this is 100 times what you have now), so you can archive all of your email online. You'll no longer need to worry about deleting messages or saving them in offline folders. Many of you can save time immediately by not having to clear out your email messages to free up space.
Enhanced message organization and retrieval -- With Google Mail, you'll spend less time managing folders and searching for messages. For example, you can add one or more tags, or "labels," to your messages to organize and store them more efficiently. And with the Google-powered search feature, you can find any message quickly and easily, whether it's in your Inbox or stored in your message archive.
Easier and faster meeting scheduling -- Google mail allows you to create a meeting invitation and view the free/busy time for participants. This means you can schedule the meeting for when people are available and have your calendar automatically populated with the meeting. Meeting scheduling and invites can also be done directly on your calendar. You can also easily view participants’ response to the meeting invite.
Easier calendar sharing -- Google Calendar lets you and your team members quickly and easily share your calendars with each other and specify the details you want to show. Calendar sharing is a great way for you and your coworkers to keep each other informed about your schedules. Now it's easier than ever to find out if someone is in a meeting, on a business trip, or on vacation.
Excellent spam filtering -- Google mail does an excellent job of keeping the junk out of your inbox without you spending time managing white and black lists.
Integrated chat -- With the Google Talk instant messaging application, you can communicate instantly with your coworkers right from the Email interface. In addition, all your chats are automatically saved in your Email application, so you can always retrieve important information.
Real-time collaboration -- Using Google Docs, you can create documents, spreadsheets, and presentations, and you and your team members can view and edit them at the same time. You can still use your Microsoft Office products as needed, but now you'll have more options for storing and collaborating on your documents.
Easy-to-build team web sites -- With Google Sites, your team has the ability to quickly publish a robust internal web site on which to gather all sorts of shared information, such as documents, spreadsheets, presentations, files, and videos. You can even embed Google calendars and other gadgets on your site!
Powerful video sharing -- Using Google Video for business, you can easily share videos with your team or throughout the Saint Mary’s University of Minnesota for a whole new level of communication and collaboration.
Ease of use -- Many of our faculty, staff and students already have personal Gmail accounts and are already familiar with how to use these tools. In addition, Google provides a wealth of resources, as can be seen from this web site, to help all of us learn how to leverage these new tools in our role.

Implementation Plan

All current faculty, staff,students that have an @smumn.edu email account have been created in the GoogleApps system. You may log into the system with the same username and password you use for webtools. Your email won't be delivered to this location until the Migration process occurs. However, you can start using GoogleApps for collaboration with colleagues, peers, and instructors.
All new accounts will be getting created on the GoogleApps System starting September 1st, 2011.
SMU Information Technology will contact departments through the fall semester to determine a date for migration to GoogleApps. We intended to have all current faculty, staff and administration email delivery migrated by Thanksgiving Break.
SMU Information Technology will switch current student email delivery to GoogleApps over Christmas break.

Please monitor future newsletters and your email for communication details on your migration.

Seeking your suggestions for additional Wireless Coverage

2011-08-26T11:26:00.002-05:00

On our Winona Campus, we hope to add 1 wireless access point per week through much of the school year, and are asking students to identify the areas that will help you the most. We are interested in knowing about areas where you get no wireless coverage or areas where wireless coverage seems slow. For suggestions about classroom areas, we will defer final decisions to faculty and academic administration. However, your suggestions will help us determine need. Please access our Suggestions for Wifi survey anytime thoughout the year from the HelpDesk website.

SMUMN Secure or SMUMN, that is the question...

2011-08-26T11:24:00.007-05:00

Secure Wireless has been activated at the Winona Campus. It is a good idea to use the SMUMN Secure instead of SMUMN as it makes your data a little bit more secure and private. Directions for configuring your device to connect to the SMUMN Secure Wireless network can be found by searching for "Secure Wireless" on the HelpDesk website.

Wifi coverage improved in the Fitzgerald Library

2011-08-26T11:24:00.006-05:00

This July, five wireless N access points were added to the Fitzgerald Library. This additional equipment boosts the wireless signal to the nooks and crannies throughout the building.

Recycling Program wraps up with 14 pallets

2011-08-26T10:45:00.001-05:00

The Recycling program on August 11th collected 14 pallets worth of TV's, computers, and other miscellaneous electronics. The Helpdesk hopes to offer this program each summer.

Apple Airport Express

2011-07-11T15:16:00.000-05:00

Twin Cities Helpdesk now has three Apple Airport Express units available for staff and faculty to borrow when they are traveling. Lodging while traveling can often be frustrating for mobile technology users. The rooms will often have wired internet but no WiFi or additional charges for WiFi. The Airport Express will allow you to create a secure WiFi hot spot in two simple steps. Reserve one for your next trip at the TC Helpdesk.

Getting Started with Blackboard

2011-07-11T15:02:00.003-05:00

Getting Started with Course Content (.pdf)

Getting Started with the Course Environment (.pdf)

Getting Started with Assignments (.pdf)

Getting Started with Grade Center (.pdf)

Blackboard Learn Instructor Guide

Tegrity Update

2011-07-11T13:34:00.000-05:00

Tegrity will have an update on Sunday, July 17th. View this Tegrity June Update PDF that covers the new enhancements we can expect. Also attached are the "Most Viewed Tegrity Courses" from fall and spring semester last year (2010-2011). Hint: if you want to know the Total Viewing Time of a course in hours... divide the number (displayed in seconds) by 3600.

Tegrity Viewing Stats - Spring Semester 2010-2011
Tegrity Viewing Stats - Fall Semester 2010-2011

Google Apps User Group Sharing Sessions

2011-07-11T11:03:00.002-05:00

Thank you to all of you who attended the inaugural get together of Google Apps Users. Participants enjoyed the cross campus meeting and liked hearing how people were using Google Apps. They also provided valuable feedback for improvement which is being put into place for the next two meetings. Please visit Saint Mary's Going Google support web site to see the notes from the last User group. You'll see the link to the notes on the bottom of the left hand side.

As you can see from the above diagram, Google Apps for Education has a myriad of possible uses. So many possibilities leads to many new things to learn. To help us all with this, there are two more User group meetings yet this summer. We hope you can find time in your busy schedules to attend one or both.

July 21, 2011 - Gmail and Google Calendar II

Although these topics were discussed in June, there are so many ways these can be used to increase your productivity, only the surface was scratched. If you have any specific questions or areas you would like covered, please email the Helpdesk on your campus.

August 18, 2011 - Google Docs

We are fortunate to have Sonia Feder-Lewis to lead us in this discussion. Sonia has personally used Google Docs for several years and has taught classes on how to use this powerful functionality. If you have not seen Docs in action, you will be amazed at the simplicity of doing true collaboration on document (word processing, spreadsheet, and presentations) creation and editing as well as sharing your work.

Both user groups will start a Noon for one hour. Please bring a bag lunch if you like to multi task. If you have laptop, please bring it with you so you can follow along in your Google Apps account. If you do not have a laptop, the Winona campus has several systems available in the room and the Minneapolis campus will be providing loaner laptops.

Location:

Minneapolis campus - LaSalle Hall 210
Winona campus - Hendrickson 23

Successful Blackboard Upgrade

2011-07-11T10:54:00.001-05:00

During the July forth weekend, Blackboard Academic Suite 8.0 was successfully upgraded to Blackboard Learn 9.1. The upgrade and migration went as planned with minimal downtime. These articles in our Tech Faq explain more about Blackboard Learn 9.1.

Getting to Know Blackboard 9.1:
http://techfaq.smumn.edu/index.php?action=artikel&cat=4&id=103&artlang=en

Known bugs waiting resolutions from Blackboard:
http://techfaq.smumn.edu/index.php?action=artikel&cat=4&id=205&artlang=en

Deletion of Tegrity Recordings

2011-07-11T10:14:00.000-05:00

The IT department will delete Tegrity recordings from the SMU Tegrity database on August 1, 2011.

Only Tegrity files from the semesters of 2009W1, 2009W2, 2009W3, 2009M1, 2009M2, 2009M3, 2010W1 and 2010M1 or prior, will be deleted.

2010W2, 2010W3, 2010M2, and 2010M3 will remain intact, as well as any organizations or courses that don't match that naming criteria.

If there are recordings you would like to keep from a previous semester, there are 3 options available to you.

1) Move those recording(s) to a current semester offering.

2) Create an Image CD of the classes you would like to archive. This process zips up the recordings into a file that you can then extract and save.

3) Log a call at the Helpdesk to request that we not delete those class recordings.

The HelpDesk will need to have the specific course ID to pass along to IT staff.

Please email helpdesk@smumn.edu, or call ext. 7800, if you have any questions or concerns regarding this matter.

Please note:

-- that unless you contact the Helpdesk, Tegrity files listed above will be deleted.

-- this will only delete Tegrity recordings, it does not affect the course listings in Blackboard in any way.

Thank you for your cooperation,

SMU IT Dept.

WWW2 upgrade planed for August 6th

2011-07-11T10:12:00.000-05:00

On August 6th, the www2.smumn.edu web server, which was implemented in 2005 is being replaced with a new system. We are encouraging users with content on www2 to contact the HelpDesk and arrange a preview of your site on the new server, prior to July 30th.

This will allow you to verify your website is functional on the new server before the switchover occurs.

This server is also used for the I:(StudOrg) and J: (Deptmntl) network drive letters. These drives will automatically updated to point to the new system after August 6th.

If you are Macintosh user that has connected to smb:\\goliath for access to StudOrg, Deptmntl or Inetpub you should change your connection now to point at smb:\\www2.smumn.edu.

Please contact the HelpDesk with any questions or concerns.

Classrooms Updated over summer

2011-07-11T09:52:00.002-05:00

All classrooms running the Windows operating system were updated over summer break. The newer, faster computers should have all the basic and specialty software needed when classes resume this fall. Please test the classrooms at your earliest convenience and let the helpdesk know if any specialty software is missing.

Recycling Program set for August 11th

2011-07-11T09:49:00.000-05:00

Saint Mary’s University and Apple Computers will once again offer a one day electronic recycling program to its employees on Thursday, August 11th. The program is free of charge.

Bring your equipment to the drop off point located behind the gates of the Kulas-Connaughty Power Plant between the hours of 8:30AM and 4:00PM on Thursday, August 11th.

We will accept:
Cpu, monitor, printer, fax machine, television, scanner, cd drive, hard drive, laptop, vcr,desk-top size copy machine, projector, overhead projector, networking equipment, cables, keyboards, mice.

We will not accept:
Monitors with broken glass. CRT’s missing their enclosures. UPS battery backup system. Batteries of any type.

Sarah Bearbower to attend ECAR symposium on "IT as a Game Changer"

2011-07-11T08:42:00.000-05:00

This year's ECAR Symposium, July 28–29 in Chicago, will create space and provide opportunities for CIOs and their campus innovation partners* to interact with one another and some of the most innovative and stimulating strategists working in higher education today. Together we will explore how information technology can be used, not simply to run campus operations efficiently, but to actually transform teaching, learning, research, and higher education administration.
Speakers include: Susan Grajek,Vice President of Data,Research, and Analytics,EDUCAUSE; Douglas Lynch,Vice Dean of theGraduate School of Education,The University of Pennsylvania; Ryan Oakes,Senior Executive,Accenture Higher Education; Bradley Wheeler,Vice President for Information Technology and CIO,Indiana University.

If your interested in learning more about the this symposium visit ECAR Symposium 2011: IT as a Game Changer.

Keep your Webmail account active

2011-04-18T14:26:00.000-05:00

If you're leaving campus and would like to keep your SMUMN account, make sure you log into webmail on a regular basis so it doesn't expire.

Blackboard moving from 8 to 9.1 this summer.

2011-04-18T14:24:00.001-05:00

A gentle reminder that Blackboard is getting updated to version 9.1, and will be DOWN over July 4th.

Summer computer swaps and reimaging starting soon

2011-04-18T14:19:00.000-05:00

The Winona Campus IT department will be starting our summer reimaging and computer swaps following graduation. 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.

Computer maintenance over the summer

2011-04-18T14:18:00.000-05:00

Don't forget to keep your computer up to date over the summer. This includes Windows Updates and Virus software updates.
Computer maintenance over the summer

Deletion of Tegrity Recordings

2011-02-18T15:55:00.002-06:00

The IT department will delete Tegrity recordings from the SMU Tegrity database on March 1, 2011.

Only Tegrity files from the semesters of 2009W3 and 2009M3 or prior, will be deleted.
2010W1/2010M1/2010M2/2010W2 will remain intact, as well as any organizations or courses that don't match that naming criteria.
If there are recordings you would like to keep from a previous semester, there are 3 options available to you.
1) Move those recording(s) to a current semester offering.
2) Create an Image CD of the classes you would like to archive. This process zips up the recordings into a file that you can then extract and save.
3) Log a call at the Helpdesk to request that we not delete those class recordings.
The HelpDesk will need to have the specific course ID to pass along to IT staff.
Please email helpdesk@smumn.edu, or call ext. 7800, if you have any questions or concerns regarding this matter.
Please note:
-- that unless you contact the Helpdesk, all Tegrity files from 2009W3 and 2009M3 and prior semesters, will be deleted.
-- this will only delete Tegrity recordings, it does not affect the course listings in Blackboard in any way.
Thank you for your cooperation,
SMU IT Dept.

Tegrity and USB Device Conflict

2011-02-18T14:38:00.001-06:00

The latest Tegrity update has caused issues with USB devices. It was brought to our attention that USB mice, USB thumbdrives, and other USB devices cause Tegrity to crash. Until this issue is resolved, please move any USB thumbdrive content onto the desktop before starting Tegrity.

HelpDesk Incidents Documented January 2011

2011-02-18T13:48:00.002-06:00

Grand Total of Incidents: 700

Closed on First Contact (CoFC): 443
Closed on First Contact %: 63% Goal is 50%

Number of HelpDesk and iT staff creating an incident: 37

Number of Staff achieving 50% CoFC goal: 25 or 68% of staff.

80 – 100% club: Becca Sandager, Amanda Frost, Joel Lynch, Chad Colt (MPLS campus), Amy Streit, Heidi Johnson, Heather Ludwig, Chris Sanstead, Trevor Woggon, and Ryan Ballanger

50 – 80% Club: Brian Behling, Emily Degallier, Camden Webster, Chase Davidson, Bridget Ryan, John Uhal, Mitch Lawler, Joann Kirsch, Emily Laurin, Heather Hurner, Chris Froelich, David Corpstein, Melanie, Krivachek, Brandon Lovera, and Jill Congdon

Thank you to these staff members and all iT and HelpDesk staff for working to achieve our goals.

How the incidents got to the HelpDesk

Phone - in-person: 356 incidents, 51% % of total

Email: 195, 28%

Walk-up to HelpDesk: 78, 11%

iT Staff initiated: 29, 4%

Online: 25, 4%

HelpDesk VM Winona: 11, 2%

Walk in TC iT Office: 3, 0%

HelpDesk VM MPLS: 2, 0%

Stopped in Public: 1, 0%

Install Programs via Control Panel

2011-02-18T13:39:00.001-06:00

Saint Mary's has several programs that may be of use to faculty, but are not installed on your computer by default. To see what is available, go to your Control Panel and click on Run Advertised Programs. If you see something you'd like, just click it to install. It's that easy!

World Room Video Conferencing

2011-01-17T10:05:00.000-06:00

Video Conferencing is now available in the World Room. Please include Video Conferencing in your room request. Video Conference Equipment Training is available by request through the Help Desk. We ask that you specify a time at least one day in advance that you will be available for equipment training.

Google Apps testers wanted

2011-01-17T10:04:00.000-06:00

The Information Technology Department is looking for a few volunteers to test SMU Google Apps. Currently we have a group of 37 users that have agreed to be innovators and testers for our GoogleApps site which includes access to email, docs, calendar, contacts, and other google application offerings.

In the upcoming months we'll be looking to grow our testing pool. We are particularly interested in whole departments that may want to work with this technology.

If you believe you'd be interested in becoming a SMU Google Apps tester, please send an email to helpdesk@smumn.edu with your contact information and the subject line of SMUGmail Sign Me Up.

When we are ready to move forward with additional testing you'll be contacted.

Tegrity Update

2011-01-17T10:03:00.000-06:00

Over break, Tegrity rolled up a system update part of this update was to fix the playback problems when using the document camera and instructor camera. The classroom computers have been tested with this update and we have not been able to create the audio issue that was occuring previously or noticed any new issues.

Laptop and Tablet users should update their Tegrity recorder prior to teaching classes. If you've had your computer on campus there's a chance that it auto-updated. To see what version you are running, right click on the Tegrity icon in the lower right side of your desktop and choose About from the menu. The update version should be build 7.5.2.849.

To update to this latest release, please log into Blackboard, go to any of your courses, click Tegrity Classes and then select Record a Class from the big button on the top left. (NOTE: you don't actually have to start recording but you need to wait for the Tegrity Recording Window to pop up)

Once the update has installed, be sure to take time to test your tablet/laptop in the classroom that you use the instuctor camera and Elmo.

Here are some additional updates that the update provided.

Improved Performance

Much effort was focused on improving the performance of the Tegrity service. The behind-the-scenes service processes run up to 20x faster in some cases.

Simplified Subscribe Options

Subscribing to audio-only podcasts (MP3), enhanced podcasts (M4B), video podcasts (M4V) and RSS feeds is now as simple as a single click. Subscription icons appear in the lower right corner of the recordings page for a course, next to the Tegrity Connect icon, when a subscription option is enabled by the instructor for that course.

New ‘Help Desk’ Admin Role

A new Tegrity administrator role now exists with restricted admin access for use by institution help desk and IT personnel. This role enables institutions to delegate support tasks to their help desk and IT staff without exposing core Tegrity options and settings. Multiple admins can be created with this role, enabling each individual to have their own login, simplifying management of seasonal or temporary staff.

New Tegrity Support Self-Service Portal

Up to three administrators per customer can now create and track support cases 24/7 using our new integrated self-service portal on help.tegrity.com. Using the portal administrators can open new support cases, prioritize the work on new cases relative to other open support cases, track open cases to resolution, add and view comments for support cases, add relevant attachments to cases, review closed cases, and more.

Simplified Reporting Dates

Based on customer feedback, the reporting dates setting is now simplified. The Weekly Summary and Detailed Reports now present all-time data for reference instead of term-to-date data and the ‘Set Reporting Dates’ admin setting was removed. The reporting dates remain unchanged in the Custom Analysis and Outcome Analysis reports; they are set in the report criteria when running the report.

Improved Recordings/Recorder Monitoring

Recordings and Recorder monitors are now no longer limited to the last 50 recordings or recorders.

Improved Mobile App Viewing Statistics

Users viewing Tegrity content using the Tegrity mobile app for the iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch, are now included in the Viewing Reports instead of the Download Reports.

Enhanced Support for System-wide Tegrity Implementations

Enables a system-wide implementation, such as a state board of colleges, to centrally control, manage and generate reports for multiple instances of Tegrity. This allows the setting of system-wide policies, which are enforced across multiple Tegrity instances; and provides systems with the ability to generate reports that cover multiple instances. And it does all this while maintaining the ability for each instance admin within the system to manage, as well as control the look and feel, their particular Tegrity instance.

Office 2010 in Lab 23

2011-01-17T10:01:00.001-06:00

Office 2010 has been installed on the Lab 23 computers. If you have any concerns about compatibility between the different versions of Office, come down to the lab and put your documents to the test. In our initial testing, the Helpdesk found no compatibility issues between Office 2010 and Office 2007.

December 2010 Results for Saint Mary’s HelpDesk

2011-01-17T10:00:00.001-06:00

The Saint Mary’s HelpDesk strives to resolve issues and questions on the initial contact with the SMU community members. The goal set for HelpDesk and HelpDesk Technical Assistants is 50%+ of incidents documented be “Closed on First Contact” (CoFC). Achieving this goal is a challenge for the Technical Assistants due to the wide variety of issues, questions, and problems they are asked to attempt to resolve. A few of these are: password resets for students and employees, consumer device checkout, classroom support questions, software usage questions, residence hall support, etc., as the charts below indicate.

The charts provided indicate the Top 10 issues resolved at the initial contact and the Top 10 issues not resolved at the initial contact.

University totals: 387 incidents documented. Incidents resolved on initial contact (CoFC): 245 (not resolved CoFC 142) CoFC percent of total: 63% 36 iT and HelpDesk staff documented incidents during December 2010. Of these 36, 26 achieved the 50+ CoFC goal or 72%.

Winona Campus Incidents documented: 315 CoFC: 175 CoFC percent of total: 56%.

Winona Campus HelpDesk and iT staff achieving CoFC goal of 50%+: 100% Group: Brandon Lovera-Ives, John Uhal , Don Cisewski, Jill Congdon, and Sarah Bearbower 80-99% group: Trevor Woggon, Joel Lynch, and Mitch Lawler 70-79% group: Chris Sanstead, Chase Davidson, Amanda Frost, Bridget Ryan, Thomas Plante, and Patrick Luke 60-69% group: Heather Ludwig, Amy Streit, Mitchell May, and David Corpstein 50-59% group: Camden Webster, Brian Behling, Chris Froelich, Clarissa Thompson-Matthew, Melanie Krivachek, Gary Welch, and Ashley House.

Minneapolis Campus Incidents documented: 72 CoFC: 70 Thank you to Chad Colt who did all these for December. CoFC percent of total: 97%.

Requesting Blackboard Course Removal

2010-12-02T13:49:00.001-06:00

Once you've archived and saved the resulting file for your courses you may request that the HelpDesk delete the courses permanently from the Blackboard system.

ATTENTION: ONCE Courses are deleted they may not be restored.

To request that courses be removed from the Blackboard system please email the HelpDesk with a listing of the course IDs that should be removed and your verification that you've archived the content you want to have record of.

Archiving Blackboard Courses

2010-12-02T13:47:00.001-06:00

To view video on Archiving Courses, go here.

To Archive a course, go to the course you want to Archive in BB.
Click the Control Panel, and choose Archive Course
Click Archive, then click Submit.
This will put the archive course in a que. It will send you an email letting you know this has completed.

You can also listen to a Tegrity recording that has directions for Archiving Courses are located at here.

Once you've archived and saved the resulting file for your courses you may request that the HelpDesk delete the courses permanently from the Blackboard system.

ATTENTION: ONCE Courses are deleted they may not be restored.

To request that courses be removed from the Blackboard system please email the HelpDesk with a listing of the course IDs that should be removed and your verification that you've archived the content you want to have record of.

Equipment Available for checkout at Helpdesk

2010-12-02T13:37:00.000-06:00

HelpDesk devices are available for checkout, by SMU community members for one day periods. You can reserve a device in advance.

Flip brand video cameras
digital video cameras hard drive storage
Digital camera
Various microphones, (USB for computer, Salvi, Common Room, lapel, tape recorder)
MiFi wireless device, used for Internet only. Please do not download or stream music or video using this device as it has a monthly usage limit of 5 gigabytes.
LCD Projectors
Multimedia Carts (Laptop, projector, video player(VHS or DVD), speakers, presentation “clicker”
Projection screens
Garmin GPS
USB DVD burner
Turning Point system
Document Camera
Tripods
Old fashioned cassette recorders

Please contact the HelpDesk, helpdesk@smumn.edu or on-campus call 7800.

Copying a class recording

2010-12-01T10:57:00.000-06:00

1. Access your Tegrity environment and click on the course where the class you want to copy is located.
2. Check the box next to the recording you want to copy, circled below in red.

3. Click on the “action” drop-down menu, circled in green above. Select “Copy” from the list of options.

4. A box will appear, asking you to select the course where you want this recording to be copied too. Enter the name of the course and select “OK”.

Your recording will now be copied into the other course’s folder immediately and will appear in the recordings list.

Helpdesk Stats for November

2010-12-01T10:49:00.002-06:00

HelpDesk staff documented 393 incidents during the month of November.
222 were closed on the initial contact (CoFC) CoFC percent of total: 56.5% HelpDesk CoFC goal is 50% or better.

HelpDesk and iT staff had 35 documenters
21 achieved the 50%+ CoFC contact goal for the month for a rate of 60% There were also 3 other staff that missed it by one incident. Example received 7 closed 3 on initial contact and 4 that were not.
Thank you to Brian Behling, Chad Colt (MPLS), Jessica Perkins, Joel Lynch, Mitch Lawler, Camden Webster, Chase Davidson, Thomas Plante, Heather Ludwig, Bridget Ryan, David Corpstein, Melanie Krivachek, Chris Froelich, Clarissa Thompson-Matthews, Chris Sanstead, Kyle LaBarre, Ashley House-Mischke, Pat Luke, Brandon Lovera-Ives, Abby Kratzke, Heidi Johnson

How the HelpDesk received incidents during November 2010

11% Email Incidents: 45
1% HelpDesk VM MPLS Incidents: 2
1% HelpDesk VM Winona Incidents: 5
1% iT Staff initiated Incidents: 4
56% Phone - in-person Incidents: 220
0% Stopped in Public Incidents: 1
2% Walk in TC iT Office Incidents: 6
28% Walk-up to HelpDesk Incidents: 110

Total number of Incident documented: 393

Computer updates over December Break

2010-12-01T10:47:00.000-06:00

Don't forget to keep your computer up to date over the Winter Break. This includes Windows Updates and Virus software updates. Any new items you may bring to campus after the holidays will also need to be up to date; you can check thier readiness by going to:

SMU Winona Campus Network Readiness Check

Tegrity System Check

My Courses box in Blackboard

2010-12-01T10:36:00.002-06:00

In Blackboard, are you finding your courses easily in the My Courses box?
Tired of scrolling down to access current term courses?

Try the following:
Click the pencil icon in the upper right corner of the "My Courses" box (module)
Uncheck the older versions or your courses(faculty) or old courses taken (students) boxes under the various headings
Click Submit (affirmative response) button.

Course list should shorten but courses would still be available for future access by reversing the process when needed.

Copy Course Materials into an Existing Blackboard Course

2010-12-01T10:33:00.000-06:00

The Copy Course Materials into an Existing Course page enables Instructors to copy content from one course into another they are teaching. Instructors can select areas, such as Announcements, Staff Information or Course areas to copy. Copy Course will add content to a course, but it will not remove existing content.

Find this page.

Follow these steps to locate the Copy Course Materials into a New Course page.
1. Click Course Copy from the Control Panel.
2. Click Copy Course Materials into an Existing Course from the Copy Course page.
Destination Course ID
Enter a Course ID for the destination course or click Browse to open a Search function in a separate window.
Select course materials
Select the check boxes for each course area and tool in the course that should be copied into the existing course. The table below details what happens to each selectable option when the copy is performed.
NOTE: A Course Copy operation cannot be completed if the user does not select at least one of the following areas: Content, Staff Information or Settings. If none of these options is selected a warning will appear.

Why McGraw-Hill Bought a Lecture-Capture Company (Tegrity)

2010-11-05T10:37:00.000-05:00

Why McGraw-Hill Bought a Lecture-Capture Company (Tegrity)
http://chronicle.com/blogPost/Why-McGraw-Hill-Bought-a/27419/?sid=wc&utm_source=wc&utm_medium=en

HO101 completed over October Break

2010-11-01T11:32:00.000-05:00

HO101 now has all the technology of a traditional Technology Classroom (including Tegrity), as well as a new easy to use controller located on top of the desk. It allows the user to not only select the AV Source, but to also control the DVD/VCR functions. The new desk has a smaller footprint than previous classroom desks.

We encourage anyone who has not seen the new desk layout to take a look. Instructors currently using this room, please feel free to contact us for a demonstration or to answer any questions you may have.

SSL certificate

2010-11-01T11:08:00.000-05:00

Webmail, Blackboard and WebDocs now feature a new secure certificate. Webtools always has used a secure certificate, and webmail previously had a self-signed certificate. To access secure versions of these websites, type https:// in front of the web address instead of http://.
This certificate will help ensure that your computer has a secure connection to the SMU web services. Look for the lock icon in the lower right corner of your screen when you access the secure versions of these websites.

Educause viewing available until January 6th, 2011.

2010-11-01T10:30:00.000-05:00

This year's conference was the second in which Educause offered the online option. In an effort to continue to be aware of what is going on in the industry and with emphasis placed on stretching the university dollar Information Technology registered for the event and invited members of the Winona Campus to participate as they were available.

Twelve members of the university participated in a combination of 16 sessions offered over the 2 1/2 day period.

I'm aware of a number of university members that were interested in attending session but could not due to prior commitments. Therefore as a follow up for those still interested in reviewing the content or possibly seeing it for the first time, conference recordings can be found at http://www.educause.edu/E2010/EDUCAUSE2010OnlineAnnualProgra/PrivateSessionRecordings/214842.
These recordings will be available through January 6th, 2011.

Thanks to those of you that participated in the Online Conference with us. The conversations that we had after the sessions were great idea builders for me.

To the left: Sarah Smith-Robbins, Director, Emerging Technologies at Indiana University presents "Games: The Best Way to Learn. Period." as an Educause: In The Hot Seat Session to an on-site and remote site audience.

My Courses box in Blackboard

2010-11-01T10:27:00.001-05:00

Amnesty Day for the Pro Presenter

2010-11-01T10:21:00.000-05:00

If you have acquired or come into the possession of a Power Point clicker (Pro Presenter), we will have a period of amnesty for the return of these items. Please, if you have one, drop the Pro Presenter off at the Helpdesk anytime. These are invaluable, costly to replace, & would help out the pocketbook budget. Thank you for your support.

Welcome Casey Ingvalson

2010-11-01T09:12:00.000-05:00

Casey Ingvalson joined the Saint Mary's IT staff as a Multimedia Technician in August. Casey most recently ran his own Low Voltage Installation Company, Wire Zip, LLC of Rushford, MN. Prior to that he was he was an Engineering Technician at TRW Automotive in Winona, MN. Casey is a graduate of Winona Technical College with a degree in Electronics Technology. He will be supporting classroom technology and campus events.

Casey resides in Rushford, MN, with his wife Shannon, and two daughters, Aubrey(4) and Madison(1).

Working with Flip Video

2010-11-01T08:40:00.000-05:00

Compress a Flip Video

Convert a Flip Video

Helpdesk Stats for October

2010-11-01T02:10:00.000-05:00

View the SMU HelpDesk Incident Report for October

Go to Educause Without Leaving Campus

2010-10-07T09:29:00.000-05:00

Go to Educause without leaving campus. The Information Technology department has registered for the annual Educause conference "Online edition". The online conference will be held from 9:30am, Wednesday, October 13th, to 1:30pm Friday, October 15th. Please join us at any point throughout the conference in Saint Marys Rm 8 (Training Lab).

The conference agenda is located at http://www.educause.edu/E2010/Program/Online?tz_select=America%2FChicago.

If there are any particular sessions that catch your interest please contact Sarah Bearbower at 507-457-1635 or sbearbow@smumn.edu.

Move-in Weekend Stats

2010-10-07T09:21:00.002-05:00

HelpDesk Technical Assistants and iT staff had what we consider a fairly successfull move-in weekend and beginning of the school year.
-From August 26th through September 6th, the HelpDesk documented 446 incidents and 176 were Closed on First (initial) Contact (CoFC) for a percentage of 39%.
-September 7th through September 13th documuented 163 incidents and resolved 91 on initial contact for CoFC percentage of 56%.
These numbers include regular HelpDesk support needs and the arduous process of assisting our residential students "Get Connected" to the ResHall network (ResNet).
The September numbers are 614 incidents documented via the HelpDesk with 259 or 42% Closed on First Contact.

As always, please contact the HelpDesk with technical support needs, questions or issues.
Remember to include A/V (Tech) support requests with your room request in FSDirect.

HelpDesk and iT staff would like to thank you for your patience during the hectic 1st month of the academic year.

Brian

Guests on Campus

2010-10-07T09:17:00.003-05:00

Please contact HelpDesk in advance of guests/vendors of SMU employees or faculty coming onto campus for "official" University or partner business. This is in order for them to access the SMU wireless network if necessary.
We would need to know their name and generic reason for being on campus at least 24 hours before their arrival to campus.
An example would be Barnes and Noble vendor John Jacob Guest speaker for "department name" JoAnn Wingaldering.

This will allow them to access the wireless network using the "guest" role through the NAC, provided the computer being used meets certain criteria. This is similar to what SMU students are required to do for ResNet and wireless connectivity.

Tegrity and Webcasting

2010-10-07T08:53:00.001-05:00

Tegrity has introduced another way to make class time available anytime.
To remove the Webcast option from the Tegrity window, do the following:

As an instructor of a course, you can go to the Tegrity Classes link to view the recordings.
Click the Actions menu at the bottom left of the page, and click the drop down arrow and select settings.
Here the instructor can "uncheck" the Enable Webcast, if they don't need the option for this course.
If you decide you need this option back, put a check back for the Enable Webcast.

Why McGraw-Hill Bought a Lecture-Capture Company (Tegrity)

2010-10-07T08:52:00.000-05:00

Read Story

Recycling Program set for August 12th

2010-07-28T14:17:00.001-05:00

Saint Mary’s University and Apple Computers will once again offer a one day electronic recycling program to its employees on Thursday, August 12th. The program is free of charge.

Bring your equipment to the drop off point located behind the gates of the Kulas-Connaughty Power Plant between the hours of 8:30AM and 4:00PM on Thursday, August 12th.

We will accept:
Cpu, monitor, printer, fax machine, television, scanner, cd drive, hard drive, laptop, vcr,desk-top size copy machine, projector, overhead projector, networking equipment, cables, keyboards, mice.

We will not accept:
Monitors with broken glass. CRT’s missing their enclosures. UPS battery backup system. Batteries of any type.

New Print Server replacing Rex2

2010-07-26T11:02:00.000-05:00

Our print server, \\rex2\ is being decommissioned Friday, July 30th. It is being replaced by \\oberon\, which has more feature rich software and fully supports Windows 7.

If your computer has been re-imaged or you have received a new system this summer, your computer has automatically been updated and will require no changes.

If your system has not been re-imaged, or your system is still using \\rex2\ when you print a document, please remove those printers, and add the same printers on \\oberon\. For instructions, please visit http://www2.smumn.edu/helpdesk/adding_printers.htm. For any questions, concerns or for assistance to change your printers, please contact the HelpDesk at extension 7800.

SPSS 18 Available

2010-07-23T15:52:00.002-05:00

SPSS 18 has been released. When we decide to update, as in the past, the previous version of SPSS will no longer work. Are there any SPSS users out there who would like to test the new version and report back with any bug/findings to the rest of the SPSS users before we perform the campus wide update?

Contact Jeff at jwieczor@smumn.edu

Did you know...

2010-05-26T08:58:00.003-05:00

In Blackboard 8.0, the Grade Center can hide students that are disabled, and won't show in your grade list.

When a student has dropped a class in Webtools (student is disabled, in the Blackboard course after 24 hours), you can then go to the Grade Center and HIDE those disable students.

Go to Manage and scroll down to Show/Hide Users. In the window that comes next, select the students you want to Hide, and click Hide Users, then Submit.
If you would need to show them again, click Manage, scroll down to Show/Hide Users, and in the window that appears, select the Hidden users and click Show User.

This will help your grade book from becoming cluttered or confusing.

Blackboard upgrade planned for May 30th, 2010

2010-05-07T16:18:00.002-05:00

The iT department will be upgrading Blackboard (courses.smumn.edu) from v7 to v8 on May 30, 2010 from 7am - noon. Course/Organization content will move forward with the upgrade.

Blackboard v8 doesn't look much different from v7. However, there are some nice changes that we want to make you aware of.

New features and enhancements are:

1. Grade Center

2. Self and Peer Assessement Building Blocks

3. SafeAssign

4. Scholar Building Blocks.

If you want to get a sneak peak at the new features there is a Set of Quick Tutorials located on courses.smumn.edu.

To locate the Quick Tutorials Module, Log into Blackboard, click on My SMU Tab, then Modify Content, find and place a check mark next to Quick tutorials. When you return to the My SMU tab you'll see a long list of tutorials for a number of Blackboard versions. You'll be looking for the The Blackboard Academic Suite Release 8.0 Learning System Tutorials.

If you want to save screen real-estate you can click on the - to minimize the Quick Tutorial list or to de-activate the Quick Tutorials Module click the X.

Blackboard also has a few webinars that you may find helpful.

BB v8 Changes

http://www.blackboard.com/Company/Events-Center/Webinars-and-Demos/Webinar-Archive.aspx

The Grade Book in V7 is now referred to as the Grade Center in BB8. The THIS LINK explains.

SMU acknowledged for its growth with lecture capture technology.

2010-05-07T10:15:00.001-05:00

Tegrity, a leading class capture web service provider for higher education, acknowledged Saint Mary’s University at its 4th Annual User Conference held in Louisville KY. During the April 15th Tegrity Innovation Awards Ceremony, held at the Muhammad Ali Center in downtown Louisville, Saint Mary's University of Minnesota was awarded a Certificate of Achievement for its growth in the number and duration of new recordings during the past year.

Top Tegrity Users - Certificates of Achievement:

Usage statistics from 7/1/09 thru 4/10/10 (8+ months

Archiving Blackboard Courses

2010-05-07T09:59:00.001-05:00

Directions for Archiving Courses are located at here.

Once you've archived and saved the resulting file for your courses you may request that the HelpDesk delete the courses permanently from the Blackboard system.

ATTENTION: ONCE Courses are deleted they may not be restored.

To request that courses be removed from the Blackboard system please email the HelpDesk with a listing of the course IDs that should be removed and your verification that you've archived the content you want to have record of.

Computer maintenance over the summer

2010-05-07T09:13:00.002-05:00

Don't forget to keep your computer up to date over the summer. This includes Windows Updates and Virus software updates.

Inside a global cybercrime ring

2010-05-06T16:23:00.002-05:00

Click the picture below for the full story.

Windows 7 in Hendrickson Labs

2010-05-06T16:21:00.001-05:00

Windows 7 has been installed in all Hendrickson Labs. Come down and test the software that you will need for your classes next year.

Amnesty Day for the Pro Presenter

2010-05-06T16:14:00.000-05:00

Getting around with the arrow keys

2010-04-16T09:22:00.003-05:00

After the focus is in the Ribbon, you can move around by using the arrow keys.

There's another way of using sequential keystrokes to move around the Ribbon. First, you must press the ALT key, just like with Key Tips, to move the focus from the document to the Ribbon. Then you can move around by using the arrow keys.
• The LEFT ARROW and RIGHT ARROW keys move you to the adjacent tabs.
• The UP ARROW key moves the focus to the Quick Access Toolbar. (From there, use the LEFT ARROW key to move to the Microsoft Office Button.)
• The DOWN ARROW key moves you into the active tab, where you can move further using the other arrow keys.
The major improvement over previous versions of Microsoft Office in moving around the screen with the arrow keys is that you can use them to move up and down as well as side to side.
You'll get to see exactly how you can move around in the Ribbon in the practice session. Navigating around like this is a great way to get to know the Ribbon.
Tip Once you start moving around the Ribbon like this, the Key Tip badges disappear. Get them back by pressing ALT twice.

New Disk Quota Software on Personal Network Storage Folders (U:\ Drives)

2010-03-31T12:01:00.000-05:00

SMUMN users are typically provided 100MB of storage on the network, accessible from any computer on campus. This is a safe and secure place for you to save important documents, and you can recover previous versions of your files if they ever become lost or corrupt. You will be sent an email alert if you reach 80% of your limit, and again if 95% is used. Users may request to have their individual quota expanded by contacting the HelpDesk.

This new software will also display free space in your folder within MY COMPUTER (as shown) so you will be able to see how much space you have used and the amount of total space available.

For more information, please visit http://www2.smumn.edu/helpdesk/quota/quotas.html.

Windows 7 Software compatibility

2010-03-31T09:33:00.002-05:00

The following software has been tested on Windows 7. Though we can't test programs as thoroughly as the instructors who teach a specific program, we have verified that the following software appears to work on the new Windows 7 operating system. If you use software that is not listed, please let Jeff Wieczorek (jwieczor@smumn.edu) know so he can get it tested.

Works:
Adobe Acrobat
Adobe CS4 suite
CLEA software (Solar Rotation did not work)
Freemind
HyperChem
Logger Pro
SPSS
Starry Night Pro
The Sky
Microsoft Office

Does NOT work:
Vireo
LabView

Did you know?

2010-03-31T09:17:00.002-05:00

When ever a call logged at the helpdesk is closed, the call originator receives an email with the call resolution and a link to solicit your feedback about your experience?

This feedback link has been active and monitored for the last few years. Your constructive comments, both good and bad, are used to help improve the helpdesk.

Google Apps testers wanted

2010-03-31T09:14:00.001-05:00

The Information Technology Department is looking for a few volunteers to test SMU Google Apps. Currently we have a group of 8 users that have agreed to be innovators and testers for G.SMUMN.EDU, our Google site which includes access to email, docs, calendar, contacts, and other google application offerings.

In the upcoming months we'll be looking to grow our testing pool. We are particularly interested in whole departments that may want to work with this technology.

If you believe you'd be interested in becoming a SMU Google Apps tester, please send an email to helpdesk@smumn.edu with your contact information and the subject line of SMUGmail Sign Me Up.

When we are ready to move forward with additional testing you'll be contacted.

Outage planned for April 2nd

2010-03-31T09:13:00.001-05:00

On the morning of April 2nd from 7am - noon, Information Technology will be upgrading a core piece of equipment in our Saint Teresa's Campus Server room.

This outage will affect all off-campus, Minneapolis Sites, and Saint Teresa campus access to Blackboard, Webmail, Tegrity and may affect additional systems from all campuses.

Thank You

Summer computer swaps and reimaging starting soon

2010-03-30T16:25:00.000-05:00

Graduating Students

2010-03-30T16:23:00.000-05:00

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 (U: 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.

Rex2 Issues

2010-01-08T08:33:00.001-06:00

We continue to experience sporadic issues with the Rex2 server. This server hosts printers as well as personal network storage space.
Although the issues have not been as frequent or campus wide we still have issues.
The hardest part of troubleshooting this issue is that we change/fix something on the server and don't experience the behavior for a weeks at a time.
We thought we had the issues resolved when we moved a portion of the data to a new server in late November. We moved Apps/Departmental/Course Materials to Morpheus. Then over Christmas break we replaced and increased the memory in the Rex2.
Our next option is to completely move the printers and personal network storage space to different hardware. This is a significant undertaking that we plan on getting started with the process next week.
Rex2 will need to be shutdown for a period of time to complete the migration. We've tentatively set January 16th in the AM hours for this transition. An email will be sent out the week of January 11th when we have a more concrete time frame.

Copy Course Materials into an Existing Blackboard Course

2010-01-08T08:28:00.003-06:00

Find this page.

Follow these steps to locate the Copy Course Materials into a New Course page.
1. Click Course Copy from the Control Panel.
2. Click Copy Course Materials into an Existing Course from the Copy Course page.
Destination Course ID
Enter a Course ID for the destination course or click Browse to open a Search function in a separate window.
Select course materials
Select the check boxes for each course area and tool in the course that should be copied into the existing course. The table below details what happens to each selectable option when the copy is performed.
NOTE: A Course Copy operation cannot be completed if the user does not select at least one of the following areas: Content, Staff Information or Settings. If none of these options is selected a warning will appear.

Tegrity Purge - Feb 1, 2010

2010-01-08T08:10:00.002-06:00

Greetings,

The IT department will delete Tegrity recordings from the SMU Tegrity database on February 1, 2010.

Only Tegrity files from the semesters of 2008W3 and 2008M3 and prior semesters will be affected.

If there are recordings you would like to keep from a previous semester, there are 3 options available to you.

1) Move those recording(s) to a current semester offering.
2) Create an Image CD of the classes you would like to archive. This process zips up the recordings into a file that you can then extract and save.
3) Log a call at the Helpdesk to request that we not delete those class recordings.

The HelpDesk will need to have the specific course ID to pass along to IT staff. Please email http://mail.smumn.edu/create?helpdesk@smumn.edu, or call ext. 7800, if you have any questions or concerns regarding this matter.

Please note that unless you contact the Helpdesk, all Tegrity files from 2008W3 and 2008M3 and prior semesters, will be deleted.

Thank you for your cooperation,
SMU IT Dept.

Windows 7 in Lab 23

2010-01-08T07:58:00.002-06:00

The Helpdesk has installed the latest Microsoft operating system, Windows 7, in Hendrickson Center Lab 23. For any instructors that would like to test the compatibility of course-specific software with Windows 7, contact the Helpdesk at 7800.

2009 Educause Conference Proceedings

2010-01-07T16:34:00.000-06:00

At the beginning of November the Information Technology Department hosted a viewing room for the 2009 Educause Conference - Online Edition.

This year's conference was the first in which Educause offered the online option. In an effort to keep abreast of what is going on in the industry and with emphasis placed on stretching the university dollar, Information Technology registered for the event and invited members of the Winona Campus to participate as they were available.

Twelve members of the university participated in a combination of 15 sessions offered over the 2 1/2 day period.

We are aware of a number of university members that were interested in attending session but could not due to prior commitments. Therefore as a follow up for those still interested in reviewing the content or possibly seeing it for the first time, conference materials, including presentation recordings can be viewed at http://www.educause.edu/Resources/Browse/EDUCAUSE09/35198#tabs--2

Each session has a Resources and Video tab. This is the tab where you'll be able to view or listen to the conference proceedings.

Thanks to those of you that participated in the Online Conference with us. The conversations that we had after the sessions were great.

Thank You Letter from Rushford-Peterson Schools

2010-01-07T15:32:00.000-06:00