IRT: News & Events: TechUpdates: April 06 2006

Some new and exciting technologies are now available or will become available in the near future. Watch for an IRT-sponsored Technology Showcase toward the middle of Spring term (scheduled for Friday, May 19, 2006) to get acquainted with applications that will enhance your learning environments.

These will include programs to record lectures, add voice to visual presentations, and interact with students and participants in new ways.

If you have a particular product or issue you'd like us to address - or that you'd like to demonstrate - please send us your suggestions at webct@drexel.edu. And, of course, do mark your calendar for May 19.

2. Rich Media Conversion: Evolution and Revolution

For faculty members trying to meet the needs of today's multi-tasking and technologically savvy students, IRT's Rich Media Conversion (RMC) project provides both an evolution and a revolution.

One simple dropbox combines comprehensive media conversion with a robust backend storage repository, providing interfaces for the creation, publishing and deployment of user content.

Content creation in a user's favorite application (think Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Camtasia ... whatever you're accustomed to using) is easy. A secure web application then copies the content into a queue for conversion. Converted (encoded) files are placed on a "streaming" server for storage and access. Publication of the results is also simplified; a catalogue file in both HTML and XML formats is provided.

The end product can encompass both video and audio outputs to a wide variety of technologies: podcasting and streaming video to PCs, iPods, PDAs and cell phones, as well as MP3s and standard PDF files. The media chosen depends on the preferences of both teachers and students.

For an example of text-to-speech and output catalogues, see http://broadcast.drexel.edu:8080/httpxml/techupdates/techupdates.html. (Click on any Tech Update, then download and play, or drag the RSS 2.0 icon to the Podcasting section of iTunes, or copy the XML link at the top of the page and paste it into your favorite "news reader".)

The RMC system is now "released" for use by Drexel faculty and staff. To ask questions or request access, email IRT at richmedia@drexel.edu.

3. OneNote: A Note-Taking Tool from Microsoft

Use a keyboard, use a mouse, use a stylus. Put notes anywhere on the page that suits your fancy. Store them electronically for your later use.

Microsoft OneNote, a program specifically designed for note taking, recording, and gathering information from a variety of resources, is licensed by Drexel University for distribution to faculty and staff.

The OneNote module is inside the Microsoft Office 2003 subdirectory on the IRT software server. Visit the Computer Marketplace on the IRT Webpage or go directly to http://www.drexel.edu/irt/services/comp_mark/software.html. Choose Login to Download Software; provide your userid and password when asked. Navigate through FacultyandStaff/PCSoftware/MicrosoftOffice2003.

With OneNote, you can take, organize, easily find, and share your notes, diagrams, graphics, drawings, and audio or video clips on a desktop, laptop or tablet PC.

An introductory tutorial is at http://www.drexel.edu/irt/support/OneNote.html.

4. Help Yourself: Use the Password Reset Wizard

It's past midnight and the Help Desk is closed. You're just back from an exhilarating and exhausting season of paleontological field work in the Patagonian uplands. You haven't read your email in weeks and you'd really like to know whether you're registered for the next-term courses you requested before you left.

But ... you can't remember your password! If you're the lucky person in this hypothetical scenario, you could help yourself with the Password Reset Wizard.

You set up the Wizard using a piece of personal information (maybe your grandma's seldom-used middle name?) that nobody else will know. Enter a simple question and answer. Then, in time of need, by answering your own question you can do for yourself what the Help Desk would do for you at a more reasonable hour.

See the instructions at http://www.drexel.edu/irt/support/tips/passreset/prwconfig.html. Of course, you have to do the set-up now, well in advance of your need to use it.

5. Graduate Thesis Format Mechanics

The Office of Information Resources and Technology, in cooperation with Graduate Studies Office director Charlene Nessler, will host several workshops on how to format your thesis/dissertation according to university standards.

The workshops, four of which are scheduled during the period April 10-20, 2006, are intended for students who plan to complete their theses this term. Advance registration is required.

For more information, email graduate@drexel.edu.

6. Need to Enhance Collaboration? Ask About Exchange Sharing

Administrative and academic office staff with accounts on the Microsoft Exchange server can share contact lists and calendars and other useful information with colleagues, all without sacrificing privacy by giving away an individual's password (in violation of Drexel's policy).

The Outlook email application provides for sharing of Calendar, Contacts, Inbox ... virtually any item in the user's folder list under Mailbox-YourUserName. You simply identify who should share which folder(s) and specify the level of "permissions" for each: view only, add-and-remove only one's own information, or full access rights as folder owner to all information stored therein.

This may be used among individual users or in conjunction with a departmental Exchange account. It is a useful mechanism for boosting office collaboration.

This "Share Folders" functionality should not be confused with "Delegate Access," another feature of Microsoft Outlook on Exchange that enables another person to send and reply to messages in your mailbox on your behalf.

For information about these and other capabilities of Exchange mail, faculty and staff members may ask for help from IRT's Desktop Support staff. Email consult@drexel.edu or phone 215-895-2698.

7. Students Are Always First at IRT

Here in the Instructional Technology Support group of IRT, customer service has always been at the core of our mission. So it is especially gratifying that our own Jim Mergenthal was a Drexel Salutes award winner under the new StudentsFirst initiative.

Jim, a specialist in website development, was nominated by the Human Resources department for the help he gave them in creating some of their new web presentations.

The 48 Drexel Salutes award winners were honored at the Inaugural Drexel President's Award Ceremony on March 22 at the Kimmel Center.

Congratulations, Jim! We appreciate you too.

8. Fourth WebCT Users Conference Held at Drexel During Spring Break

The fourth annual Northeast Region WebCT Users Conference was held at the Creese Student Center on Drexel's University City campus on Thursday, March 30, 2006. There were 113 attendees from a five state region (PA, NJ, NY, DE, MD), with 25 WebCT users from Drexel and 78 from other institutions.

The attendees heard presentations in three parallel tracks: pedagogy, support, and tools. Topics featured redesigning courses for delivery in hybrid format (part face-to-face, part online), strategies for teaching and assessing large science classes, student satisfaction with online learning, and the use of rich media and podcasting.

WebCT Vista News

9. New Expanded Hours for FDC

IRT will staff the Faculty Development Center (Korman room 109) on Saturdays during Spring term from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. A WebCT Support Team member will be available for walk-in visits and to handle phone (215-895-1224) and email (webct@drexel.edu) inquiries.

This is a pilot effort. We will be keeping track of usage statistics to determine whether this service is of value to Drexel educators.

There will be no coverage on Saturday, May 27 of Memorial Day weekend, which is an official university holiday.

10. Short Topics in a New Focused Training Format

IRT will continue to offer its traditional roster of workshops, boot camps, and brown bag lunch sessions during Spring term (see below). In addition, by popular request, a new series of focused short sessions will introduce some specific elements of WebCT Vista. The times and lengths of the offerings will vary to accommodate the wide differences in class schedules.

Some of the topics under consideration are:

Organization and File Management
Managing the Course (Grade Book, Group Management, Selective Release)
Communication Tools (Mail, Discussions, Chat)
Evaluating Student Performance (Assignments, Assessments)
Specialty Tools (Media Library, Local Content, Announcements)

If there's a particular topic you want, do send us an email to webct@drexel.edu. Give us your schedule so we can try to offer your topic at a time convenient for you.

11. Training for WebCT Vista

IRT offers faculty members two kinds of training - Boot Camps for new users and Workshops for current users. As sessions fill up, more may be added, so watch for schedule updates on the IRT Web site at http://www.drexel.edu/IRT/services/workshops/index.html.

* For New Users: WebCT Vista Boot Camps
WebCT Vista Boot Camps, held from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. in room 116 of the Korman Computing Center, provide an introduction to the most essential WebCT tools for novice users. Boot Camps are scheduled for the following dates:

Friday, April 28 from 9 a.m.-4 p.m.
Friday, May 19 from 9 a.m.-4 p.m.
Friday, June 16 from 8:30 a.m.-3 p.m.

Laptops are provided as well as lunch. Reserve your slot at webct@drexel.edu.

* For Current Users: WebCT Vista Workshops
These are four-hour workshops to enhance your knowledge in selected areas, for experienced users of WebCT Vista. The next WebCT Vista Workshops will be held in Korman room 116 on:

Wednesday, April 19 from noon-4 p.m.
Wednesday, May 10 from noon-4 p.m.
Thursday, June 8 from noon-4 p.m.

To sign up, email webct@drexel.edu.

* Departmental Training
If you would prefer to have a WebCT Vista Workshop or Boot Camp just for your department, let us know. We'll provide the same information at a time convenient for your group. We can, if you wish, break it into shorter segments spread over several days. We can do it in Korman or in your own lab. Contact us at webct@drexel.edu.

12. Brown Bag Lunch Sessions

Bring your lunch, share your experiences, and learn more about WebCT Vista and other academic technologies in informal sessions with fellow faculty members.

Brown Bag Lunches for faculty and staff are scheduled for noon-1 p.m. in Korman room 116 as follows:

Tuesday, April 25 - Emerging Technologies Available Now at Drexel
Thursday, May 25 - Topic TBA
Wednesday, June 28 - Topic TBA

To reserve a spot, complete with a soda and a dessert, send email to webct@drexel.edu.

Topics are invited. Use the same email address to suggest topics for future brown baggers.

13. Tips for This Month

* In the Grade Book, use caution when making changes to "calculated" columns, that is, columns you use to add up several scores and display only one "calculated" score for students.

If you have manually entered grades in a calculated column and now want to change that column to a numeric column, you should first export the grades. After you have exported and saved the CSV to your Desktop, you can convert the column. All the grades will be gone. Now import the original grades from your Desktop to repopulate your new numeric column.

If you do not follow this procedure, you will lose the original grades.

To read previous issues of the IRT Technology Update, go to http://www.drexel.edu/irt/news/technews/

To manage your subscription options to the IRT Technology Update and other Drexel Announcements, go to http://www.drexel.edu/irt/subscriptions. If you prefer to receive a plain text version, please email your request to mailreq@drexel.edu.

Modified: October 3, 2008

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