Reserve your teaching or testing lab space as soon as possible. Before you finalize your Spring 2005 schedule, check to see if lab space is available. Prior to advertising hands-on exams, please first find out if there are open labs with enough seats/computers.
There are two web pages to help you with this process: the Reservation Page and a page showing you which computer labs are already reserved. The drop-down menu will provide an informational sheet describing the hours, number of machines, and the peripheral equipment for each lab.
Blackboard
Are you tired of typing in test questions individually within Blackboard? Do you find yourself fed up with the tests the publisher is giving you for Blackboard, but don't want to go through the painstaking process of creating the upload file? Better still, have you been waiting for the right time to institute online exams to your classes? Well now is the time to try Respondus 2.0. Respondus is a PC product that we have purchased for the on-campus PC network. You can:
Create exams and assessments offline using a Windows interface
Have six question types, including feedback
Import questions and accompanying images from rich-text files (ideal for converting publisher test banks)
Spell check (includes dictionaries for English, French, German, Spanish, Dutch)
Add tables, bulleted lists, font changes, and enhanced formatting (e.g. bold, italics)
Insert mathematical and scientific symbols using the Respondus Equation Editor or MathType
Embed graphics, audio, and video without having to write it in HTML
Resize graphics and convert them to JPEG format with one click
Add links to multimedia content on other servers
Use the Exam Wizard to create an assessment in minutes, randomly select questions from multiple files, and assign point values by question type
Create random sets of questions in seconds with a one-step wizard
To learn more, sign up for the Demo/Orientation session on the 12th of October in the Olson Auditorium in AB4.
ITV Classroom
Alecia Wolf from NETNet will be on campus Monday, October 18 to train interested faculty members on the NETNet ITV classroom: AB1 213. There will be two sessions; the first from 9:00 a.m. - 11:30 a.m., the second from 1:00 p.m. - 3:30 p.m. Please RSVP to James Van Roekel at vanroekel@shsu.edu or 4-3129 by Wednesday, October 13.
Security
National Cybersecurity Day is Halloween. Perfect timing because it is very spooky to hear reports of staff and faculty with passwords on Post-It notes stuck to computers. Please do your part in protecting our campus information and network.
Do a walkthrough of your department. How easy would it be for someone to see confidential information on yours and/or your staff's monitors?
Review your departmental forms and procedures. Make sure you are not requesting the social security number when the SamID number could be used instead.
And the old standby which apparently cannot be repeated too often: CHANGE YOUR PASSWORDS. Make them between 6-9 characters and include letters and numbers. It makes it much harder to hack if you also use both upper and lower case. On Nell: type set password, and you will be prompted for your old and new passwords. On a Macintosh, use the SamInfo utility to set your e-mail pasword. On a PC, change your password by pressing Ctrl-Alt-Del and choosing Change Password.
After changing your Nell or Windows password, send
saying that you have changed it IF you would like one of our freebies this month. This month's giveaways are: 1) a Latitude C series docking station for a laptop 2) a Latitude C series monitor stand or 3) a memory stick.
Ordering PCs
Do you need a number of new PCs for your department? This may be the time to place your order through Computer Services. Dell has a special Optiplex GX280 Small Desktop now available at an additional 29% discount through 12/13/04. As an incentive for orders of 5-9 computers, Dell is providing a free Laserjet printer. If you order more than ten, Dell is including a color LaserJet.
Helpdesk
The Helpdesk staff answering the phones are now also the maintenance staff coming to your offices. We have merged the software and hardware technicians with the goal of resolving your problems on the spot. Learning about Nell, Blackboard, residence hall networking, dial-ins, SamWeb, SamInfo, Sam Menu, printing, laptops, PCs, and Macintoshes takes time. We appreciate your patience as a LOT of new student helpdesk technicians get up-to-speed on this wide range of equipment and applications.
Training
Sign up for hands-on training with Respondus 2.0 this month. We are offering it four times so pick the time that is right for you. We will also be offering Adobe InDesign and Blackboard Course building.
Anything specific you would like to know more about? First check out the Documentation Training page within Blackboard or on the PC desktop with the icon SH Help. It is a good first stop for your new faculty and staff members. If you have suggestions of online demos you would like for students, please contact us. We would be glad to create those also.
Miscellany
The new telephone directories will be here by October 4th.
Under Construction! We are in the final stages of creating a new University home page which will give more emphasis to news highlights, more space for vibrant photos, and an enhanced emphasis on communicating and interacting with parents.
The final push to move all the University PCs to XP is underway.
Reminder for real Mail: Use 77340 if it is a building delivery. The 77341 zip is only for box numbers.
New Staff
Please help us welcome two new staff members:
. (We're including his middle initial to eliminate confusion with the Mike C. Taylor, who has been a programmer here for years.) Mike E. has been a student programmer since Fall 1999. He graduated with a CS major and an Electronics minor December 2003. Mike is a graduate CS student.
also started as a student programmer in the Fall of 1999 and graduated December 2003. Dan was a graphics design major and plans to complete his master's in the new program of Digital Forensics.
All offers, training, or software above pertain to faculty and staff at SHSU only. If you have any questions, kudos, comments, or concerns, please let us know!
Approved for campus-wide e-mail distribution by Associate Vice President Jim Stevens
also started as a student programmer in the Fall of 1999 and graduated December 2003. Dan was a graphics design major and plans to complete his master's in the new program of Digital Forensics.