SHSU Information Resources Update

It's Nagging Time Again

We are still finding credit card numbers and social security numbers in files on the campus network. You do not want to have someone using that donor's or prospect's' information which you were responsible for protecting!

SHSU is not permitted to store complete credit card numbers, and should only have social security numbers in cases required by law. If the SS# is required, it should be locked down for only authorized viewers. The campus IT Security office will be deploying Identity Finder in the coming days. Ensure your department is not found to be one of the offenders; clean your files now.

Never Ending (it seems) Moves

The departmental moves are still taking up lots of UCS resources in time and people. In February, HR is scheduled for the first week, some English moves the second week as well as Payroll. Later in the month, the Career Services and Psychological Services are also moving. So you can see, it is not slowing down yet!

For those of you staying put or already moved, we appreciate your patience as we deal with all the scheduled relocations. We plan to investigate alternative solutions for technological moves in the future so that all your other maintenance WO's are not so drastically delayed.

Survival Tips for Classroom Technology

Remember the old days when your biggest problem was running out of chalk? Things have changed a bit!

As more and more faculty are relying on PowerPoint or other software/hardware use during class: the network connection, computer, your computer account, the appropriate software, and the projector are all five essential. Unfortunately each problem requires a completely different skill set to fix. These problems would be handled by our network team in Systems, our maintenance team in Client Support, our Helpdesk in Client Support, a software analyst in Systems or our telecommunications specialist in Client Support.

Adding to the mix of this complicated fix is the desire by faculty to not be interrupted during class. Therefore, we are asking for help from each of you . So here are some tips to improve your classroom experience.

Things just not working right? Do a restart and give yourself a fresh beginning.

No connection? It could be that the podium is actually sitting on the wiring. Check and see. Do not move the podium. If you roll over the wiring, you may disconnect the connection to the network.

Computer Locked? Force a shutdown by holding in the power button three seconds or more, then turn it back on.

Don't have PowerPoint on that computer? Use the Remote login option to use the software from there until our software or maintenance team can push the software to that workstation.

Too slow? This could be your profile. Give the Helpdesk a call and ask us to help review and/or reduce the size of your profile.

Too slow? Run Start, All Programs, SHSU Utilities, Check Computer System Utility to check if the workstation is up-to-date. The computer may need additional memory and that's a quick fix.

Projector problems? Turn it off and let it cool for a couple of minutes and turn back on.

Starting a new semester or using a different classroom? Check the classroom out a couple of days ahead. Last-minute calls to the Helpdesk are even more difficult when thousands of students are wanting help figuring out their schedules.

Can't log in? Make sure the initial prompt is for username, password, and that the domain is SHSU.

Want it fixed quickly? If a problem is discovered at 8 a.m., in a heavily-used classroom, it's possible that there would be no break all day. This postpones even the initial diagnosis since faculty in the past have not allowed our staff in. Let our student technicians work in the background while you lecture. Your colleagues who need the room after you will be grateful.

Have a back-up plan. Electricity, the Internet, the network, software, and technological equipment can all fail at times. Whether it's caused by a dozer cutting our Internet connection or a squirrel ruining the electricity, plan ahead with your PowerPoint in hard-copy form or on a laptop. Use the Boy Scout motto and "be prepared."

Blackboard

The UCS department is glad to help you with the technology of Bb. Fortunately, there's now a group who we hope will help with the pedagogy and teaching examples of how to fully enhance your courses. The first Blackboard Users Group meeting will be held on 2/12 at 2 p.m. in the CHSS Room C070. It'll give you a chance to check out the new building and learn from a colleague. We are grateful to Dr. Victoria Titterington for agreeing to provide the first presentation on the subject of using multimedia in her Bb course.

Scheduling

Did you know you can maintain reservations for spaces such as a conference room in Exchange? You can set which people can schedule it in Outlook.

An added feature is the ability to create a smaller subset of people who can be delegates of the conference room. They would then get an email whenever someone schedules the room in Outlook. This method would give them an approval over the final scheduling. Want to know more? Call the Helpdesk for assistance.

Training

Classes this month for which you can register are Using Social Media in Your Course, Creating Mailing Labels. and Microsoft Visio.

Check the Calendar and sign up now to reserve your seat. You may also request one-on-one training or training for your department. Just e-mail the Helpdesk.

New Staff

We are pleased to welcome Wes Jones to the UCS-Systems department. Wes will work as a Network Analyst I on the automation of the phone, video,and network systems. Wes has been a student worker for UCS-Systems for 18 months and will be graduating with a B.S. in Computing Science May 2009.

What's Good, What's Not, and What's Happening When?

The Helpdesk provides support for university equipment and software on the local area network. Each month's update will include the versions of software and minimum requirements for hardware with the new or changed information highlighted and bolded.

Memory Sticks: Purchase (and encourage your students to buy) flash drives that are USB Mass Storage Compliant.

Operating Systems: The supported version of Macintosh machines will be OS X, version 5 after the Leopard conversion which is underway. The supported version of Microsoft's operating system is Windows XP.

Software Packages: The supported versions of office suites are Microsoft's Office 2007. The new version of an office suite for Macintoshes is Microsoft Office 2008 and is being packaged for installation on campus machines.

Hardware Configurations: The new minimum requirements for the SHSU local area network support for a PC are a 2.5 GHz processor, 1.5 GB RAM, and an 80 GB disk, with 15 GB free. Our recommended configuration is a 3.0 GHz Core 2 Duo 2 GB, 800 MHz memory, and a 250 GB hard drive. The recommended configuration for a Macintosh on the LAN is a 1.6GHz PowerPC Single-core/Single processor, 1GB RAM, and a 40GB hard drive.

Computer Services may schedule significant periods of downtime for major system upgrades and maintenance. For your planning purposes, the weekend following each graduation will be set aside for scheduled outages. Additionally, certain systems may be unavailable on Friday nights after 6 p.m. and on holidays.

All offers, training, and software above pertain to faculty and staff at SHSU only. If you have any questions, compliments, comments, or concerns, please let us know.