From Carol L. Smith, CIO
Greetings, Campus Colleagues.
Welcome back as we begin the new academic year!
I wanted to take a moment to provide some quick tips from the Information Services team, offer updates about IT projects that are underway, and summarize highlights of some other more-detailed emails that you will also receive over the next few days.
If you have any questions about these (or any other IT-related projects), please don’t hesitate to contact me at clsmith@depauw.edu.
Have a great start of semester!
--Carol.
Topics in the following include:
- Keeping in touch with Information Services and IT at DePauw
- Helping students get logged in to Moodle, P: or I: drives, printers, etc.
- The new “DePauw Account” – Synchronizing your e-Services and network/Moodle/printing account passwords
- Student Laptops – An update about the new, more flexible (un) Laptop Program
- The Moodle 2.3 Upgrade
- Moodle Course and Library Course Reserves (Ares) enrollments during the Drop-Add period
- Upgraded computers in technology classrooms now require you to log in
- Windows 8 and Office 365 – What’s the timeline for campus?
- Atomic Learning – Online technology tutorials
1) Keeping in Touch with Information Services and IT at DePauw
The HelpDesk – The Help Desk provides technical support services to students, faculty and staff members in DePauw campus community.
The IT KnowledgeBase – The KnowledgeBase offers immediate 24/7 access to a broad collection of self-service IT support information and documentation.
HelpDesk Status Hotline – Available 24x7, includes a blog, phone number (x6666) and RSS feed to provide up-to-the-minute notices about IT-related service announcements, known system issues, and other useful IT tips & tricks.
Information Services Blog – Provides periodic articles about I.S. activities, DePauw IT updates, etc., aimed at the whole DePauw community.
Faculty Instructional Technology Support (FITS) – FITS assists faculty members in enhancing their teaching and their students' learning through the latest technology with an emphasis on the pedagogical applications of technology rather than with explicit technical training.
2) Helping students get logged in to Moodle, P: or I: drives, printers, etc.
After being away from campus for the summer some students may have forgotten their passwords, while many new students are unfamiliar with tools like Moodle, the network (I: or P: Drives), or the public campus printers. Following are a couple of resources that you can guide them toward that will help them figure things out:
Overview of DePauw students IT accounts -- Provides a quick description of all their accounts, including which account to use to login to each resource
If they’ve forgotten a password – Direct them to visit the HelpDesk in person to have it reset.
-- HelpDesk hours: Monday – Friday, 7:30 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.
3) The New “DePauw Account” -- Synchronizing your e-Services and network/Moodle/printing account passwords
With the new “DePauw Account,” your e-Services and Network account can be synchronized to use the same password, reducing the number of passwords you have to manage to just two (your DePauw Account and your Google Apps account). This simplifies logins and password management for everyone and it ensures better account security for DePauw data resources.
What you need to do:
Follow the Checklist for creating your DePauw Account to sync your e-Services account with your network/Moodle/printing account. Syncing your accounts is a one-time process.
Find more details at http://lisnews.wordpress.depauw.edu/?p=1763.
4) Student Laptops – An update about the new, more flexible (un)Laptop Program
Incoming students:
This fall, all students entering DePauw are expected to have a laptop computer and a copy of Microsoft Office, and they may bring a model of their choice as long as it meets minimum standards that we define. The incoming students do not have a requirement (or option) to purchase the former software/repair technology bundle, nor are they required to purchase a DePauw-specific laptop.
This represents the retirement of the former Required Student Laptop Program, in which previously entering students were required to purchase a specific laptop through the University and pay a one-time fee for a software/repair technology bundle, to a more flexible BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) model.
To support the incoming students, we have
- Provided recommended hardware standards to guide them in purchasing their laptops,
- Partnered with Apple and HP to provide an online portal for those who wish the simplicity of just purchasing a DePauw-identified discounted laptop, and
- Provided an online link for purchasing and downloading Microsoft Office at a significant educational discount.
In addition, the Technology Service Depot located in Eli’s Books downtown will provide no-charge warranty repairs and fee-based non-warranty repairs for student-owned laptops.
For full details about support and services for student laptops, see http://www.depauw.edu/it/laptop
What about returning upperclass students?
While the new “un” laptop program begins this summer with the incoming Class of 2017, upperclass students who purchased their laptop and software/support bundle through DePauw prior to this fall will continue to receive the same support benefits and software upgrades as was originally part of their package. Details about benefits for returning students are at http://www.depauw.edu/it/laptop/current
If you have questions about student laptops, you can contact Mike Moore, mikemoore@depauw.edu, x4293.
5) The Moodle 2.3 Upgrade – We’re in the home stretch
The upgrade from Moodle 1.9 to Moodle 2.3 is going well and as planned.
As a quick reminder:
- All Fall 2013 courses and active non-academic Moodle sites are at http://moodle.depauw.edu, using the new version.
- Archived courses and sites from Fall 2011 through Spring 2013 are at http://moodlearchive.depauw.edu.
- Courses from Fall 2009 through Spring 2011 are at http://moodlearchives.depauw.edu (note the additional ‘s’).
FITS is offering several sessions and open lab times to assist faculty members preparing their Moodle courses for the semester. Find the schedule of these at http://www.depauw.edu/it/fits/events.
If you have any questions or need additional help with Moodle, contact Donnie Sendelbach at fits@depauw.edu.
6) Moodle Course and Library Course Reserves (Ares) enrollments during the Drop-Add period
So students who make schedule adjustments during the drop-add period at the start of the semester can access their course materials as soon as possible, student enrollments in Moodle courses and Library Course Reserves (Ares) will be updated hourly. Once a student’s course adjustment has been entered through the Registrar’s Office, s/he will be able to login into newly added courses in Moodle and/or Ares in about one hour later.
7) Upgraded computers in technology classrooms now require you to log in
The technology classrooms with a built-in Windows computer were upgraded over this summer with new software that requires you to log in with your DePauw Account to access the computer.
If you are teaching in a classroom that has a computer in it, you may wish to take a few minutes prior to your first day’s class to visit the room and preview the new computer image so you’re familiar with it ahead of time.
If you have questions about using a technology classroom or would like to have someone give you a quick overview of the equipment in a room, you can contact FITS for assistance at fits@depauw.edu.
'8) Windows 8 and Office 365 – What’s the timeline for campus?
For faculty, staff, computer labs, and technology classrooms:
This fall, we focus on Windows 7 and Office 2010 as the standard supported versions for Windows-based faculty and staff computers, computer labs, and technology classrooms. We do not plan to begin any campus-wide transition to Windows 8 or Office 2013 until very late next spring or next summer.
For student laptops:
For incoming students, we recommended Windows 7 and Office 2013 as preferred for their laptops, but acknowledged that Windows 8 could be supported as well. Overall, we anticipate that students who carry Windows laptops will bring a mix of Windows 7 or 8 and Office 2010 or 2013, but we don’t expect the variety of systems to introduce any incompatibilities when sharing documents or files between students and their faculty members.
If you have any questions about Windows or Office versions, contact Mike Moore (mikemoore@depauw.edu).
9) Atomic Learning – Online technology tutorials
We have recently arranged a campus-wide subscription to Atomic Learning (www.atomiclearning.com), which offers a large collection of online training tutorials ranging across 250+ topics and applications. Atomic Learning will be available for all students, faculty, and staff, and will provide a rich resource for a variety of uses, ranging from quick reference questions to in-depth, self-paced IT training strategies.
Watch for upcoming email with details about how to log in to Atomic Learning with your DePauw Account. In the meantime, if you have questions contact Lynda LaRoche (llaroche@depauw.edu).
