IRT: News & Events: TechUpdates: July 18 2005

In response to high demand, IRT has added two new training sessions for WebCT Vista during July. They will be held Friday, July 22, 2005. The morning session - from 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. - is already fully subscribed. Space is still available for the afternoon session from 1-5 p.m.

These sessions are for faculty and staff members who have previously used WebCT Campus Edition or who have already taken a WebCT Boot Camp.

To reserve a space, email as soon as possible to webct@drexel.edu. Future WebCT Vista workshops and boot camps are listed at http://www.drexel.edu/irt/services/workshops/index.html.

02. A Rite of Passage: New Students Take Placement Tests Via WebCT

About 2200 new student accounts have been activated since March. Of that number, about 1800 students are enrolled to take one or more placement exams online. A couple of majors do not require placement exams, hence the difference in numbers.

An advantage to having the DrexelOne portal is that incoming students become part of the Drexel online community as soon as they are confirmed. What's more, all math, calculus, physics, and English placement exams are available to new students to complete as soon as they have activated their computer accounts.

Since the incoming students are able to activate their accounts as early as late February, they are encouraged to access DrexelOne to begin using Drexel email immediately. Once Student Life has sent Orientation invitations to all those confirmed, the students again log in to DrexelOne, register through "Bannerweb" for their summer orientation session, and complete the placement exams in WebCT.

Close coordination of effort among Math, Engineering, IRT, and the Office of Information and Systems makes all this possible. Drexel's college advisors have their new charges' results as soon as the test is completed and can begin building the freshman schedule and place them into the correct level classes much sooner than before.

WebCT handles all types of online tests, exams and quizzes very efficiently. If it's good enough for placement exams, it could be better than good enough for other course work and exams, too.

03. Use Strong Passwords to Safeguard Privacy

The computer account password is the primary method for safeguarding both personal information and private electronic communications at Drexel.

To change your password, which you should do frequently, go to http://accounts.drexel.edu. Authenticate your identity using your computer account user-ID and current password. Click on the large key icon in the header area to change all passwords, or on the small key icon on line with an account name to change a single account password.

Passwords need to be "strong," i.e., not easy for others to guess. Avoid obvious mnemonics like your name(s), nickname(s), initials, or date of birth. Try some simple character substitutions (e.g., "1" for "l") or the initial letters of a mnemonic phrase to make it easier to remember (e.g., "egbdfa" = "every good boy does fine always").

Strong Drexel passwords will:

Be six to eight characters long
Contain at least two letters and one non-letter
Contain a non-letter character between two letters (not just at the beginning or end of the string)
Not be a word in any dictionary
Differ from your previous password by at least three characters

Above all, keep your password secure. Don't paste it to your monitor with a sticky note.

04. Peer-to-Peer: Is It Worth It?

On June 3, after receiving dozens of subpoenas, the University sent out an alert to students about the illegal sharing of copyrighted materials via peer-to-peer (P2P) software. That warning has now been reinforced by the U.S. Supreme Court, which leaves in place earlier restrictions on this form of copyright infringement.

The full Supreme Court decision - all 50-plus pages of it - can be read at http://fairuse.stanford.edu/MGM_v_Grokster.pdf.

The short version is that it's illegal to use any method - electronic or otherwise - to share copyrighted materials without permission of the copyright holder. Possible penalties are severe, involving major fines (up to $100k per infraction) and even prison.

There are some legitimate uses for P2P file sharing. Those who need to use that technology have the personal responsibility to make sure that their computers are not "serving" copyrighted materials without their knowledge or intention. Others would be well advised simply to de-install those technologies.

For more information about which programs are at issue, and what to do about them, see the following sites:

http://www.eff.org/IP/P2P/howto-notgetsued.php
http://security.uchicago.edu/peer-to-peer/no_fileshare.shtml

05. Special Software for Computer Classrooms

Faculty members who need computer classrooms equipped with special software for Fall term courses need to make arrangements well in advance.

Korman classrooms may be reserved at http://www.drexel.edu/irt/facilities/korman/classrooms. For Fall term, this must be done by the second week before the end of Summer term. Requests are processed on a first-come-first-served basis.

If special software is required, however, there are some considerations that may call for additional lead time. The faculty member must supply both the media and a copy of the appropriate license to IRT techs in time for the package to be installed in the assigned computer lab.

Once the package is installed, the faculty member will be notified to come in and test it.

For questions or additional information, contact IRT's classroom reservations coordinator Connie Williams at 215-895-2635.

06. ExchangeWeb Now Uses Secure URL

ExchangeWeb now requires access by way of a secure connection. A few weeks ago, those attempting web access to Exchange mail via "http://" suddenly started receiving a Security Warning box.

The fix? Use the URL https://exchangeweb.drexel.edu. (Note the "s" on "https").

WebCT News

07. Migrating Courses to WebCT Vista from Campus Edition

WebCT staff is ready to migrate the "best" version of each current WebCT course from the current environment (Campus Edition) to Vista. Staff now has about 120 courses identified and already available in Vista.

Faculty members should send name and course CRN, along with information on which version of the course to migrate, to webct@drexel.edu.

08. Report from the Faculty Showcase

The WebCT Faculty Showcase on Wednesday, July 13, included presentations by Scott Warnock, Jeff Popyack, Bruce Char, Yiannia Nicolau, and Jean-Claude Bradley. They spoke about various features and functions of WebCT and other technologies and applications that can enhance the WebCT educational experience.

The next Showcase is planned for mid-October. If you have presentation proposals to submit, let the WebCT support group know about them via email at webct@drexel.edu.

Stay tuned.

09. Brown Bag Lunch Sessions: Join Us

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

Wednesday, July 27 - WebCT Vista: Getting Ready for Fall Term
Thursday, August 25 - Dreamweaver and WebCT: Home Pages and HTML Pages
Tuesday, September 27 - Topic to be determined
Thursday, October 27 - Topic to be determined

To reserve a spot, complete with a soda and a dessert, send email to webct@drexel.edu. Use the same email address to suggest topics for future brown baggers.

10. Training for WebCT

IRT offers 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. Boot Camps have been scheduled for the following dates:

Friday, August 26
Friday, September 23
Friday, October 21

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, and help to convert your courses from WebCT Campus Edition to WebCT Vista. These workshops will be held in Room 116 Korman Center on the following dates and times:

Friday, July 22, 8:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m. - FULL
Friday, July 22, 1-5 p.m.
Friday, August 19, 9 a.m.-1 p.m.
Friday, September 16, 9 a.m.-1 p.m.
Friday, October 14, noon-4 p.m.

To sign up, email webct@drexel.edu.

* Departmental Training
If you would prefer to have a WebCT 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.

11. WebCT Tip for This Month

Note for current WebCT users. In the Calendar tool, the default setting for entries was inadvertently left on "private" rather than "public." This means that each Calendar entry you make will be viewable only by you - unless you change the setting to "public." Hint: Private entries are italicized in the Calendar and Public ones are not.

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: August 20, 2008

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