Featured Article:  ANGEL 7.3 Upgrade Scheduled

On Monday, December 29 and Tuesday, December 30 the SUNY Oswego ANGEL Learning Management System and Community Groups will be unavailable while the system is upgraded from version 7.1 to 7.3.  The system is expected to be available again for logins starting Wednesday, December 31.

Once the upgrade has been completed, all faculty using ANGEL for the winter session and spring 2009 semester will be working in their course shells in version 7.3.  To get a sneak peek of the new version prior to the upgrade, you can sign up for a sandbox account on ANGEL Learning's web page at www.angellearning.com.

What can you expect in version 7.3?  You'll notice improvements in assessments, discussions, and the HTML editor.  New features for integrating podcasts, blogs and wikis have also been integrated. 

What do you need to do to prepare for the upgrade? This upgrade will require users to use the Internet Explorer version 7 and FireFox version 2 web browsers.  If you have an older version of one of these web browsers, you will need to upgrade.  Instructions for finding the version you are currently using and if necessary, how to upgrade, will be available soon from the SUNY Oswego ANGEL web site at www.oswego.edu/academics/angel. 

Multiple training opportunities will be available in the month of January that will review what has changed in addition to the new features of version 7.3.  Look for a schedule and training information on the SUNY Oswego ANGEL web site.

Rave Guardian Goes Live!

On November 3, SUNY Oswego released the Rave Guardian personal safety system for all of its students, faculty, and staff.  The system makes use of  personal cell phones to communicate with University Police (UP).  Basically, if a member of the campus is in danger, they can call the Rave phone number which will trigger an alert at UP. The police officer on duty receives the alert along with the endangered person's name and picture to be able to assist. 

There is also a general safety feature.  If a person feels they might be in a potentially dangerous situation, they can activate a timer.  For example, a student might want to activate the timer as they walk to their car in a parking lot late at night.  If the timer expires before the person has deactivated it, UP is automatically alerted.

Students, faculty, and staff are invited to subscribe to the service through myOswego at myoswego.oswego.edu.  Please note this is not the same system as NY Alert and requires a separate subscription.  NY Alert is used for campus emergencies while Rave Guardian is used for personal safety.

ATC Upgrades Scheduled for Rich and Poucher

During Thanksgiving Break, CTS will be upgrading the Advanced Technology Classrooms (ATCs) in Poucher 223 and 225.  Each room will receive a desktop computer and monitor connected to the classroom presentation system.

Over winter break, CTS will be upgrading all of the Rich Hall Advanced Technology Classrooms (ATCs).  The classrooms will be equipped with new document cameras, projectors, a simplified audio system, and control equipment.  Operationally, there will be no changes.  The way you use the ATC controls now will be the same after the upgrades.  All new ATC equipment will be installed and ready for the Spring semester.

New Voice on the Main Campus Phone Number

Mark Your Calendars: CIT is coming to SUNY Oswego!

From May 19-22, 2009, SUNY Oswego will be hosting the SUNY Conference on Instructional Technologies (CIT). 

CIT 2009, "Engaging Minds: Innovative Teaching and Learning" is supported by six tracks covering a range of pedagogical and technological issues.  The conference provides an opportunity for faculty, instructional support professionals, librarians, and administrators throughout the SUNY system, as well as outside institutions, to share best practices and innovations in the use of technology to enhance teaching, learning, and research.

As the hosting campus, we would like to encourage all SUNY Oswego faculty and instructional support staff to present on interesting ways of how they are using technology in the classroom. By presenting, there will be a reduced conference fee.  Additionally, a limited number of scholarships are available for new faculty and first-time CIT attendees.  You may submit an abstract at http://www.cit.suny.edu/ before January 26, 2009.

As you may recall, the OU Campus web editing software used by departments for updating their SUNY Oswego departmental web sites was upgraded over the summer and a number of bugs were introduced.  These included uploading, deleting, and moving files.  The CTS and Public Affairs Web team were communicating regularly with OU to get these issues resolved. As of this newsletter, these bugs and a number of others have been fixed.   If you encounter any problems while using the software, please contact webcoord@oswego.edu with information about what you were trying to do and any error messages that displayed.

Also, be sure to check out the SUNY Oswego OmniUpdate Newsletter at http://www.oswego.edu/training/newsletter/ for OU Campus updates, training opportunities, and tips and tricks.

Did You Know?

Do you have any old cell phones lying around?  With the holidays approaching, perhaps you will or will have even more.  Did you know that you can recycle them? 

According to research performed by INFORM, a NY-based company focused on researching and raising awareness of environmental issues, about 170 million cell phones are replaced each year, but less than 20% of them are reused or recycled.  What happens to the rest?  They end up in landfills or incinerators which can pose problems to the environment as cell phones contain toxic substances like mercury and lead.  

By recycling, the phone can be given a makeover and resold as refurbished or it can be taken to a smelter where precious metals such as silver and gold can be extracted.  This keeps the phones out of the environment while also reducing the amount of mining needed to make cell phones.

How can you recycle your cell phone?  There are a few options available to you.  You can mail it directly to a recycling facility, take it back to a cell phone provider, or sell it.  New York State is one of a few states in the US to pass a law requiring cell phone provider companies to offer take-back programs at no cost to the customer.  The NYS Wireless Recycling Act became effective January 1, 2007 and requires cell phone providers that sell phones to accept up to 10 used cell phones per person or offer to ship them to a recycling program.  These providers are also required to post a sign about their take-back service in their stores.

So, before you throw that old phone in the garbage, think twice!  Help the environment and take it back to a cell phone provider. 

For more information, watch an online video about the "Secret Life of Cell Phones" produced by a project of INFORM or view more information about recycling options.

Notes from the Help Desk

There are still a number of phishing scams circulating on email.  These are emails that ask for personally identifying information including birth date, social security number, bank accounts, PINs, and/or passwords.  Some of these messages try to impersonate CTS.  Please know that CTS will NEVER solicit username and/or password information from you.

If you are in doubt over the validity of an email call the help desk and inquire. If you receive any type of email message that asks for personal identifying information, you should be extremely suspicious. It is probably an email phishing scam being used for identity theft purposes. DO NOT respond to these messages - delete them!

If you have responded to one of these phishing emails you should immediately change your password.

In addition to the phishing emails, there has been some malware circulating within Facebook.  There is a new worm circulating within Facebook similar to the Koobface worm last July.  It wants you to look at a video by cleverly taking you to a google.com web page where you then need to click on the video to watch it.  Clicking on it will actually download Trojan software to your computer.  Facebook and Google are working together to stop it.

Professional Development

CTS fall workshops continue to be available for registration. Workshops on Office 2007, Mailman mailing lists, ANGEL community groups, email best practices, creating and maintaining departmental web pages, and more are still available. Links to the full listing of workshops as well as online registration are available from our main CTS web site at www.oswego.edu/cts.

CTS Workshops are freely available to all SUNY Oswego faculty, staff and students.

Our Skillport e-learning software has been recently updated to include additional courses.  There are now 1500 courses you can choose from for your professional growth or classroom needs.  Courses on Office 2003 and 2007, Windows XP, customer service, project management, communication skills, accounting, management and leadership, and more are available.  All faculty, staff, and students can login to Skillport with their SUNY Oswego email username and password to access courses.

Looking Ahead

The following are major projects CTS is currently working on:

• Blogging Software: A couple of blogs have been introduced to the campus from the Public Affairs Office.  The CTS and Public Affairs Web team is now working on offering this to faculty and staff to incorporate into their departmental web pages.  The blogging software is getting its final round of configuration, a web-based request form is being worked on for those interested in starting one, and guidelines are being developed.  We hope to introduce it to the campus later this fall semester.
• iTunes U: iTunes U is a site provided to SUNY Oswego by Apple that allows users to post and download SUNY Oswego academic and university-related podcasts. The downloading and uploading is all done through the iTunes application.  CTS and Extended Learning are working together to get the SUNY Oswego site active. A pilot project with a variety of users on campus is about to get underway. 
• iPhone/iTouch network access: Users have been asking CTS about connecting their iPhone/iTouch devices to the campus wireless network.  CTS is working on a way for these devices to connect and should be able to offer a solution in the near future.
• Construction Projects:  CTS continues to assist with campus construction projects, including the design of the science building and the new townhouses near Glimmerglass Lagoon.
• Communications Express Calendar Module:  Communications Express has a personal calendar module that when installed and configured will show up as another tab within Communications Express.  The calendar module will allow users to keep their own personal calendar, schedule single and recurring events, schedule meetings with others, share calendars and more.  The module has been installed and CTS employees have tested it.  We expect that it will be released to the campus in the spring 2009 semester. 
• Document Imaging is Not Dead!: After a short hiatus, our campus-wide document imaging project is back on the front burner.  With the approval of the final project proposal and initial budget, the project team hopes to pilot the system in the Admission Office over the next year.  Upon completion of a successful pilot, other offices throughout campus will have the opportunity to consider going "paperless" or at least "paperlight".
• Improving Security and Convenience - You can Have Both:  CTS is in the process of reviewing its identity management strategy that defines how students and employees access the various systems they are authorized to use such as email, calendars, MyOswego, and many others.  The ultimate goal is to provide all users with "single sign-on" capability - enter your ID and password once and your security credentials are automatically communicated to whatever program you want to use.  A significant component of a new identity management strategy for our campus will likely include the expansion of the use of Microsoft's Active Directory system.  As planning progresses the appropriate governance bodies will have the opportunity to provide input to the final design.

 If you have any questions related to any of these projects, please contact the Technology Support Center at x3456 or by email to help@oswego.edu.

Tech Tips

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