Web client for um3270 unavailable

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3 days
by in Uncategorized

The Division of IT has posted a Global Incident alert regarding:

The web-interface for accessing um3270 is unavailable.  System administrators are working to resolve the issue.

Mainframe applications can still be accessed via a terminal client such as tn3270 or HostExplorer.

 

New Equipment in Classrooms

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1 week
by in Announcements

New Equipment in 12 VMH Classrooms

The 12 affected classrooms:  1411, 1418, 1505,1511, 1518, 1520, 1524, 1528, 2505, 2509, 2511 and 2515.
Come try it out at one of the info sessions planned for this summer.  We’ll show you  the New Crestron system,  A/V Operation, AirMedia, and Epson Brightlink projectors.  Each session will be held on Friday from 2pm until 3pm in the following locations:
July 25   Room 2511
Aug 1     Room 2509
Aug 8     Room 2505
Aug 15   Room 2505
Aug 22   Room 2511
Aug 29   Room 2505

If you feel that individual training will assist your needs better, we request that you submit a ticket to helpme@rhsmith.umd.edu. Within your request please advise your available times so that we can assign an available staff member for your training.

Summer Changes to Canvas

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1 week
by in Canvas

Change #1 – Draft State:

As we mentioned in May, there is new functionality in Canvas called Draft State which changes the way a lot of your pages look.  It is active in all courses now and is not optional any longer.  Draft State allows individual content in Modules, Pages, Assignments, Quizzes and Discussions to exist in an unpublished (draft) state if you choose to make it invisible to students for a time.  Here is a 4 minute overview:  http://guides.instructure.com/m/4210/l/201400-draft-state-overview-video
More details on how to use the new Draft State:

Set your home page changes with Draft State:

Those of you who set your course home page to one you design yourself will notice a change in how to set that now.  Details on how this has changed:

Change #2 – Conversations (Inbox)

It looks different than before.  We think you’ll find it easier to sort and search than before.  canvasinboxtools  More about using the Inbox the new way:  http://guides.instructure.com/m/4152/l/48299-what-is-the-conversations-inbox

https://umdsurvey.umd.edu/SE/?SID=SV_4I9BAlS7a4Yyaod

 

Adobe Acrobat 11 and CS6 campus license issues

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2 months
by in Alerts

Notice from campus SLIC:  

UMD customers who have downloaded Adobe Creative Suite 6 (CS6) or Adobe Acrobat from TERPware may be experiencing problems with licensing keys. The TERPware CS6 packages and Acrobat downloads had licensing keys that expired on June 1, 2014. The Division of IT is working with Adobe to resolve the licensing issues. New downloads will be available on TERPware soon.

In the meantime, UMD community members can use Adobe programs through Adobe Creative Cloud App subscriptions available through TERPware. Using Creative Cloud Apps will be a more permanent solution to the licensing issue, as Adobe is moving away from individual downloadable programs to a cloud app system overall.

Information on how to redeem subscriptions for individual faculty, staff, and students is available at http://kb.umd.edu/198547.

The Division of IT is also working on an Creative Cloud package for computer lab and shared-user environments.

If you have any questions, please contact the Help Desk at 301.405.1500.

Adobe Creative Suite 6 and Adobe Acrobat 11 software applications are affected by license issues.  System administrators are working to resolve the issue. As an alternative, you may use Adobe Creative Cloud.

 

Changes on how you access your Smoogle account beginning Wednesdsay May 28th, 2014

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3 months
by in Announcements, Smoogle
Google has been updating it’s authentication methods to allow for new safety features such as two-factor authentication. A side-effect of that has required us to change how you access your Smoogle account, so starting Wednesday May 28th you will access your Smoogle account using your Smith email address as the username and a separate Google password. You will no longer use your University Directory ID.

 

On or before the change over date of Wednesday May 28th you will need to set a Google password on your account, by going to http://reset.rhsmith.umd.edu and logging in with your University Directory ID and password. You will then be prompted to set your new Google password. Starting Wednesday May 28th you log in to your Smoogle account with your full Smith email address and Google password whether using a web browser or mobile phone or tablet.

 

We will be delivering a flyer to all the office’s at VMH with more detailed instructions over the next week and will send further reminders via email with the flier attached. We apologize for the inconvenience that the timing and changes of this may cause. You can find more detailed information on these changes and what impact they have at smoogle.rhsmith.umd.edu/changes.

 

Please contact the Office of Smith IT Helpdesk at 301 405 2269 or by email at helpme@rhsmith.umd.edu.

 

Thank you.

 

 

 

Office of Smith IT

 

Phishing attacks increase – DON’T CLICK!

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4 months
by in Security

Today, there has been an increase in the number of phishing email attacks sent to campus e-mail accounts. Those are the messages that try to convince you to click on a link and enter your ID and password into a fake university website.

Here is a review of our standard warning about phishing attempts:

The Division of Information Technology has become aware of mailings some portion of the University of Maryland population has received, ostensibly from system support staff, with subjects such as “UMD Mail Alert Notice”. These emails ask for you to click on a link and provide your Directory ID and password. DO NOT do this!

These spam emails are an attempt (called “phishing”) by someone to gain access to personal information which they should not have. The “From:” address is forged (or “spoofed”), and may or may not be an actual email address, but is not where the email actually originated. Targeted versions of phishing have been termed “spear phishing”.
Users who have recently replied to such emails should change their university password immediately.

For more information about phishing attempts, see this article:  kb.umd.edu/6509

Tech not always better!??- Hand writing notes better than typing them

0
4 months
by in Pedagogy, Uncategorized

This is interesting research on how more is retained when scribbling notes by hand rather than typing them:

http://www.eduwire.com/technology/taking-notes-by-hand-benefits-recall-researchers-find/

I remember writing being listed as one of the ways people learn from an old education class way back in the dark ages, but we didn’t have laptops to take notes on when I took that education class.   Now I won’t feel so out of date when I take a pad and pencil to a meeting for notes!

Thinking of blending or flipping your class?

0
4 months
by in Blended Learning, Canvas

Be a student in an online course.  MOOC on designing a blended course begins April 21:

https://www.canvas.net/courses/becoming-a-blended-learning-designer  

A Faculty Focus Article on “Looking for Flippable Moments”

http://www.facultyfocus.com/articles/instructional-design/looking-for-flippable-moments-in-your-class/

Food for thought – good quick read:

What’s Old is New: Blending F2F with Canvas

Office for mobile devices is released!

0
4 months
by in Announcements, iPad
 Microsoft has officially released Microsoft Office for iOS and Android.
 There are two versions, depending on your device. If it’s not an iPad, you can get Office Mobile. If it is an iPad, you can get Office for iPad.  Both are versions free* and available from the App Store/Google Play.  Either version has Microsoft Word, Excel, and PowerPoint available up for grabs. The Office Mobile has all apps together in one app download, while with Office for iPad, all three will need to be downloaded separately.
Either version needs at least iOS 7 (if you’re stuck on iOS6, get upgrading!) and at least Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich) to work.
*Caveat: it’s absolutely free if you are using an iPhone or Android (read: no Office 365 subscription needed), however for the iPad version, the app is still free but you need an Office 365 subscription in order to edit documents. Basically the app is read-only – but we can already do that out of iOS/Android anyways – until you get a subscription. (And, no, Office 2013 from Terpware doesn’t include an Office 365 subscription.)
If you’re a visual person like myself, this may make it easier:
officeapp
Thanks Chris Hsia for this report!

IMPORTANT! – XP Support ending

0
4 months
by in Alerts, Announcements
To: Smith Community
From: Office of Smith IT
This is a notice to advise you that the Operating System Windows XP will no longer be supported in any way. Below is the statement sent out by Microsoft advising End of Support. If you have a system currently that is running XP the Service Desk will be upgrading it to Windows 7 Enterprise. To verify what operating system you have on your system you can “Right” click “Computer“, when the menu appears click “Properties” the version of the OS will be listed in the properties window.

If you find that you do have Windows XP, send an email to helpme@rhsmith.umd.edu and a ticket will be created so that we may schedule your upgrade to Windows 7 Enterprise.

From Microsoft:
Windows XP End of Support

After April 8, 2014, technical assistance for Windows XP will no longer be available, including automatic updates that help protect your PC. Microsoft will also stop providing Microsoft Security Essentials  (Virus Protection) for download on Windows XP on this date. (If you already have Microsoft Security Essentials installed, you will continue to receive antimalware signature updates for a limited time, but this does not mean that your PC will be secure because Microsoft will no longer be providing security updates to help protect your PC.)

 

If you continue to use Windows XP after support ends, your computer will still work but it might become more vulnerable to security risks and viruses. Also, as more software and hardware manufacturers continue to optimize for more recent versions of Windows, you can expect to encounter greater numbers of apps and devices that do not work with Windows XP.

Please direct any questions to the Office of Smith IT Help Desk at helpme@rhsmith.umd.edu or 301-405-2269.
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