IRT Technology Update
Wednesday, June 4, 2008
01. Computer Account Information for New Graduates
02. Rescuing Correspondence from Outlook's Junk Email
03. Summer Moves and Computer/Telephone Reconnections
04. Windows Vista - Reduced Functionality Mode
05. New Digest Submission Software Progress
IRT Tips and Tricks
News & Notes on Online Learning
08. Drexel to Host a Wimba Showcase
09. 24/7 Technical Support Available for Wimba Live Classroom
10. Using TurnItIn on Windows Vista Machines
11. Go Green with the Assignment Tool!
12. Crosslisting Course Sections for Summer Quarter
1. Computer Account Information for New Graduates
Drexel alumni may keep their fully functioning Drexel email accounts for up to two years after graduation. These two years form a bridge from graduation through the period of the first job search to the first position acquired and offer a way to keep in touch with college friends. During this two-year period, graduates may read email directly from their Drexel email account or forward it to a non-Drexel account, such as one provided by an employer, an ISP, or an online service such as Google or Hotmail.
At any time during this two-year period, graduates may close their Drexel accounts by notifying IRT of their preference at accounts@drexel.edu. After the two years, graduates receive an email from IRT stating that the account will be closed if it is still open. However, alumni may still keep their userID and official Drexel email address for long-term forwarding to a non-Drexel account.
For a summary of these and other electronic services after graduation, see http://www.drexel.edu/irt/policies/email.html#continue.
Also, as a longer-term solution to keeping in touch with Drexel friends, investigate the services offered by the Office of Alumni Relations by visiting http://www.drexel.edu/alumni, calling 1.888.DU.GRADS or emailing alumni@drexel.edu.
2. Rescuing Correspondence from Outlook's Junk Email
Ever found email from some favorite correspondents inexplicably deposited in the Junk Email folder? If the email does not display a subject beginning with [SPAM:XXXXXXX, then that email was likely filtered according to the email application's spam filtering rules. For correspondence inappropriately filtered in this way, there is a solution. For individuals using Outlook as their email client, we can explain how to eliminate this problem.
While the email application is being trained to recognize junk mail, correspondence can be rescued. In Outlook 2003, you can add the sender to your Safe list. Here's how:
- • Select an email in your inbox or other folder showing the sender's from address.
- • Click on the "Actions" menu item and select "Junk Email."
- • From the submenu select "Add Sender to Safe Senders List."
- • Click "OK."
As an alternative, individuals can rely on IRT's robust spam filtering process to filter spam for them and thus avoid the issue of Outlook labeling favorite contacts as spam. To enable this option, turn off Junk Email filtering in Outlook by going to Tools > Options > Preferences > Junk Email. This will take you to Options, where you can choose the level of filtering you want from Outlook. To leave spam filtering totally to IRT's filters, choose "No."
Please keep in mind that spam filtering applications and functions within your email applications, in general, need to be trained by you. When filtering is begun within the email application, some contacts will still end up in the junk mail folder--this folder must therefore be checked on occasion to make certain that important emails are not incorrectly tagged.
Relying on IRT's spam filtering might mean that fewer important emails arrive in the junk mail folder. Computers that rely on both IRT's spam filtering as well as the email application's filtering rules have a higher likelihood of incorrectly tagging spam. For more information about spam filtering, please see http://www.drexel.edu/irt/support/spam.html.
Phishing is still an ever constant, ever evolving problem that will try all kinds of new tricks to snare the unsuspecting person. Safe Lists and personal address books are a good means of separating the safe emails from the malicious ones.
3. Summer Moves and Computer/Telephone Reconnections
Summer is a time to relax and enjoy the sun, but it is also a time for summer classes and preparation for the fall term. Moving between offices or rooms during the summer can be a chore, and IRT would like to help. Moving into new offices or rooms entails switching telephone numbers and voicemail to new jacks, setting up a computer in the new space, reconnecting computers to Drexel's network, and making certain that computers are secure.
IRT is here to assist in these moves and reconnections, but sufficient notice of the move is needed for assistance. As soon as you begin planning stages of moving, keep us informed so that everything is ready for business in your new location.
For networking and desktop help, call the IRT Help Desk at 215-895-2020 or email consult@drexel.edu. For inquiries about moving telephone numbers to new jacks, or for voicemail questions, call 215-895-5862 or email telephone-request@drexel.edu.
4. Windows Vista - Reduced Functionality Mode
Windows Vista Enterprise, installed on university computers with a Drexel licensed image, may enter reduced functionality mode if users have not activated their installation of Windows Vista within a set grace period (3 days for the retail version, and 30 days for volume licensing), or if Windows detects the installed version of Vista as "non-genuine." Users might also see this mode if they modify their computer hardware so much so that Windows determines that it is running on a different machine.
Limitations to this mode disallow users to do anything except activate the Windows Vista product key or change the key itself. While users can enter safe mode to access local data, other actions are extremely limited.
Please remember that staff and faculty who are using a laptop or desktop that is running a Drexel licensed install of Vista Enterprise will be required to log into the Drexel domain once every 180 days in order to prevent reduced functionality mode.
5. New Digest Submission Software Progress
The Office of University Relations and IRT have been vigorously testing the new Drexel Daily Digest submission form and approval process. While more testing is yet required, we hope to have this new software in place during June 2008. Digest submitters, please stay tuned for more details about the new submissions form. Updates will be posted in the Drexel Daily Digest.
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Tips & Tricks are helpful articles that address a variety of tips and techniques in Windows and Mac applications. Click on one of the links below to access the individual item. To read the entire document, click http://www.drexel.edu/irt/news/technews/techupdate060408_tips.html.
Save Ink and Paper: Publish PowerPoint as Handouts
Best Practices in Bb Vista: Naming Conventions
News & Notes on Online Learning
8. Drexel to Host a Wimba Showcase
On Tuesday, June 17, Drexel will host a showcase of practitioners from Drexel and regional schools who use Wimba Classroom or the Wimba Voice Tools in their face-to-face, hybrid, or online classes. Similar events held recently at Temple (November 8) and University of Pennsylvania (March 26) were informative and well-received. Please consider attending.
Wimba is a fully-featured, live virtual classroom that supports audio, video, application sharing and content display, enabling instructors to add vitally important elements of interaction. Instructors can customize online courses by holding live, online classes, office hours, guest lectures, webcasts, and meetings. Wimba is available through Bb Vista.
The event is free to registrants.
Times:
9:00 a.m. - Sign-in and continental breakfast
9:30 a.m. - 11:30 a.m. Presentations on the use of Wimba
11:30 a.m. - Networking opportunity and light lunch fare
Location:
Patten Auditorium in Matheson Hall (ground floor, at the west end of the building)
To register:
Go to http://www.wimba.com/eventreg/participant/registration.php?eventid=1157
9. 24/7 Technical Support Available for Wimba Live Classroom
For faculty who are using Live Classroom, Wimba offers technical support for Live Classroom 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. The toll-free number is 866-350-4978 and the email address is technicalsupport@wimba.com. It is best to contact technical support if instructors and/or their students are experiencing difficulties.
Also, faculty should consider posting this phone number and email address below the link to their classroom in Bb Vista so that students with questions or problems of a technical nature can contact Wimba directly for 24/7 technical support. To add this contact information to Bb Vista, click on the ActionLinks menu next to the Live Classroom link, select "Customize Link" (from the Build tab) or "Edit Description" (from the Teach tab), and enter Wimba's contact information under "Custom Description for this Link."
10. Using TurnItIn on Windows Vista Machines
Users have reported difficulties with TurnItIn while accessing it through Internet Explorer on computers running Windows Vista.
Their recommended solution? Use Firefox instead.
Preliminary testing with both of these set-ups has been done; Internet Explorer was problematic, while Firefox functioned without noticeable errors.
11. Go Green with the Assignment Tool!
Marking up student papers by hand? With Bb Vista's Assignment tool, instructors can save paper (and the extra time it takes to handwrite comments) by marking up student assignments electronically.
First, download the submissions by accessing the "Assignment Dropbox," which is located on the Teach tab under "Instructor Tools" in the left-hand pane. Next, choose the assignment to be downloaded by selecting it from the drop-down list in the upper right-hand corner of the screen and clicking the green arrow. To download all student submissions on the screen, check the box in the blue header row (next to "Title"), and click on the "Create Printable View" button at the bottom of the screen. On the next page, click the "Save to File" button to create a zip file containing all of the student submissions.
To access the zip file, click on the link entitled "[Course name]-AssignmentSubmissions-[date]-[time].zip." Each student submission is saved in a separate folder containing an HTML file (containing any text or comments entered by the student into the textboxes) as well as any attachments that were uploaded. From here, instructors can open up each MS Word document and enter comments/revisions electronically using the Track Changes and the Insert Comment features.
12. Crosslisting Course Sections for Summer Quarter
The summer quarter is approaching! If instructors want to combine students from different sections into one environment in Bb Vista, they can accomplish that task through a process called crosslisting.
Having the department crosslist sections in Banner is the preferred method. Banner administrators can crosslist the sections in Banner, and when the classes flow over to Bb Vista, instructors and all of the students in the various sections will be enrolled into one Bb Vista section.
If it is too late to crosslist them in Banner, it can be done on the Bb Vista side. However, because the crosslisting process expunges all student activity to date, a crosslist can only be created before instructors and their students begin using Bb Vista (although we prefer to do it prior to the start of term).
If instructors have missed the opportunity to crosslist their courses in Banner, they can send an email to olt@drexel.edu with all of the details, including your Bb Vista username, the full names of the sections (e.g. ENG-101-001), and the 5-digit section CRNs, and the OLT will help crosslist them in Bb Vista.
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.
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