May 2007
National Lambda Rail
SHSU has joined the NLR. If you want to collaborate with scientists elsewhere, it just got easier. Find out more about the possibilities with NLR.
Almost Time To Relax
The Registrar's Office is generating new personal identification numbers for faculty to use in grade entry for Spring 2007. Make sure you have that new PIN ready for grade entry.
Remember to log off when you leave for the May break. Power outages can wreak havoc on your profile if you are logged on. Just leave your workstation turned on and logged off. Enjoy your break!
Training
A one-hour session is being offered to show you how to request, approve, and track your technological purchase via the SamWeb Work Order System. This class will be May 17th, from 10 a.m. till 11 a.m. in the Criminal Justice Building, room A111.
A new course is being offered this month, Higher Ed 101. If you're new to the collegiate working environment, this course was created to explain the ropes of university hierarchy, terminology, stress points, and funds. Come find out why staff have resumes while faculty have vitae; how an "11" account differs from a "10" account; and more. This participatory class will be May 16th from 10:30 till noon in AB1, room 213.
Microsoft Office 2007 will replace Office 2003 this fall. You know you will be too busy then to learn something new. Take the time during this May iterim to get a preview as to what's changing in Word 2007. On May 22nd, at 10 a.m., come hear about the changes in AB1, room 213.
Register now.
E-mail Alerts 
SHSU has added a couple of new tags to your e-mail. In addition to the "spam" note indicating it is likely junk mail, you may now see "disarmed" and "fraud".
The "fraud" tag will show up in the subject of e-mail which has a web page link if the link does not match the displayed text. For instance, the link at the bottom of an e-mail may actually go to "go5.travelpn.com", but the link text is "www.travelocity.com".
This example is perfectly innocent. However, phishers (criminals looking to steal your credit card information) will do the same thing. In a phishing case, the link text might display "bankofamerica.com" but actually point to their site where they will capture your confidential information.
A fraud alert provides you a quick notice that something is amiss so it is up to you to protect yourself and the system. Bottom line: only follow links in any e-mail if you are certain they are trustworthy. Be especially careful if the e-mail is marked "{Fraud}".
The "{Disarmed}" tag means that the SHSU mail scanner removed potentially dangerous <script> tags from the e-mail or modified the link from a {Fraud?} e-mail. Removing <script> tags is a safety measure since they can be used to remotely run potentially dangerous javascript on your machine.
Least Privilege
Supervisors: In the past, we have asked you to visit with your departing staff members to ensure you realize fully what programs they use so that you can determine what will be needed for their replacements. If a staff/faculty member is leaving the university, menu access will automatically be removed on the date listed by the Human Resources office as the last day of employment. If you need someone's access removed prior to their final day on payroll, please ask HR to share that earlier date with us.
If you have a staff member transferring to another department, add a checkoff item to his/her last day with you. Review administrative program access, whether on SamWeb, SamMenu, or Nell. Decide if these programs were provided expressly for your office functions. Use MITX06RG on the Sam Menu to review a list of programs to which your departing staff member has specifically been granted access. Program owners can use MITX07MG on the Sam Menu to easily remove access to multiple programs. Please notify other program owners (from the MITX06RG report) that your staff member is leaving your department and will not be needing programs they own specifically tied to the staff member's job in your department.
Administrative Program Owners: When you receive a request for permission to a menu program, follow up with questions to departments if you are unsure why a requester should receive access to a program that you "own." As the owner of a Nell, SamMenu, or SamWeb program, you must review who has access to your program. You should be able to respond to audit staff that you are confident only users that should have access do. Your ownership responsibility is delineated in the Texas Administrative Code for Information Security Standards.
Don't Just Give Us the Time; Build Us a Clock
Please include as many relevant details in your SamWeb Work Order requests as possible. If your WO is for a programming modification needed for a problem, include first the actual name of the program, for example POST53RG. Add in the choices made when the program failed or did not work as expected. Examples of specifics that will help are semester and year, SamID, CID, building number, fiscal year, or the account numbers. The more information you can provide, the more likely we can duplicate the error. We can then hopefully diagnose and fix. Attach PDF examples of the report if the error is in the report.
We may be reassigning the WO to "Waiting on User" with additional questions for you. You will get an e-mail from the WO system telling you that. You will then need to log in to SamWeb and add the needed details. At anytime, you can check your Inbox to see the WO's waiting on your response and you can look at the Open Work Orders to see all the WO's that you have requested.
Software
We did renew the licensing for FileMaker Pro. Thanks for your feedback. We are still testing Adobe Acrobat 8 Professional.
Blackboard
Inquiring minds want to know the fun, exciting or innovative ways you are using Blackboard. Are you streaming media? Do you use the blog or wiki collaboration tool? How are you encouraging discussion in your course? We want to hear from you. Share your secrets to Bb success. Just send an e-mail and let us know how you are connecting with your students. Your ideas will be posted online to share with the Blackboard faculty community.
Wikis: they're not just for breakfast anymore. Last month we started offering wiki training for your classes. Our online guide walks you through how to set your wiki up. You can use the wikis to host group projects and student portfolios. Another possible use is a bit off the normal classroom path. Perhaps you and a colleague are working on a collaborative research project. You can utilize a Bb Wiki to jointly work on your content. The wiki stores previous versions so you can see the differences between what you and your colleague(s) have posted. The wiki can also be used on large levels such as a department wiki. If any of these suggestions awaken your interest, come to one of our Wiki courses this month or sign up for one-on-one training. We can also tailor-make a course for your department; just ask.
Blackboard Version – Movin' On Up A Bit Further Down the Road. Change in Plans: The new version of Blackboard will not be installed prior to summer school as we had announced. Instead Bb 6.3 will remain up throughout the summer. The timing was just too close to ensure you had a workable Bb by Summer I. Instead we are going to order more hardware and "ramp" up the power and redundancy options before we install 7.3. We are targeting July 1st as the date that the new system will be available. Beyond resolving some technical issues, Bb 7 gives us a newly revamped discussion board and some important bonus features for the Blackboard gradebook. We appreciate your patience as we work to ensure you have access to the features you need in the new Blackboard.
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 is OS X, versions 2, 3, and 4. The supported version of Microsoft's operating system is Windows XP. Tentative plans are to move to replace XP with Windows Vista Summer 2008.
- Software Packages: The supported versions of office suites are Microsoft's Office 2003 and WordPerfect 12 for PC's. This fall Microsoft Office 2007 will replace Microsoft Office 2003. The supported version of an office suite for Macintoshes is Microsoft Office 2004.
- Hardware Configurations: The minimum requirements for SHSU local area network support for a PC are a 1Ghz processor, 512Mb RAM, and a 40Gb disk. The minimum requirements for a Macintosh on the LAN are a 733 Mhz processor, 512Mb RAM, and a 40Gb disk.
- 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.
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.
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