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Archive: January 5, 2005

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Security and
Internet Services

Security home

TIME FOR NEW YEARS RESOLUTIONS
With all the e-mail scams and viruses that have bombarded us in 2004, electronic privacy has become a concern for many people. This list of consumer privacy resolutions offers some ideas to protect your privacy in the new year: http://www.epic.org/privacy/2004tips.html.

QUICK DESKTOP SECURITY TOOLS TO GET YOU STARTED
Microsoft Windows XP and 2000 Workstations users can verify their current desktop security settings at a new web page called QuickStart. That page has a tool that can automatically make many of the needed setting changes for those Windows XP and 2000 users: http://www.quickstart.umn.edu.

SPAM AND VIRUS STATS
In December, 2004 Central e-mail spam controls blocked 8,457,037 messages. Anti-virus controls blocked an additional 75,041 messages.

Network and Telecommunication
Services

NTS home

JAN 14 NETWORK CUTOVER TOWN HALL MEETING
Join us for an open discussion of what is new and what to expect with the cutover schedule by attending the Town Hall meeting scheduled for the East and West Bank Network cutover review on January 14, 1 pm, Coffman Union, President's Room. To confirm your reservation, send an e-mail to networkupgrade@umn.edu or check the project web site at http://www.umn.edu/nts/networkupgrade.

UPDATE: NETWORK CUTOVERS
During December the NTS installation crew cutover 4,361 ether jack connections in 8 buildings, nearly completing the Health Sciences area of the East Bank south of Washington Avenue. Remaining to complete are Children's Rehabilitation, Comstock, Frontier, Weisman, and Coffman. Work on the West Bank campus began on January 3 with Heller and Willey Halls. The total cutover network connections are at 21,000 for the end of December.

UPDATE: TROUBLE TICKETS FOR NETWORK CUTOVERS
Fewer trouble tickets (177) were reported during December than in previous months. With our database tracking and cutover process we hope to do even better. The 3-week freeze imposed on work orders (2 weeks before and one week after each building cut) enables the team to make a cleaner cut sheet for each building. We thank everyone who waited out this time to make data changes.

SPEED SETTING AND NETWORK CUTOVER
Speed settings remain the dominant questions posed to us after the cutover. The default setting for new network connections is auto-negotiate. Older Network Interface cards and some Macintoshes may require manual settings. Descriptions and instructions are provided on the project web site: http://www.umn.edu/nts/networkupgrade/speed_duplex_changes/.

FEEDBACK WANTED AND NEEDED
Every week more buildings are cutover to the new Gopher GigaNet. Help us with your feedback on the cutover and the overall upgrade. Tell us how we've done so far and how we can do better! Visit the Network Upgrade page, pick from the list of completed buildings, and fill out the evaluation form: https://wwws.nts.umn.edu/cgi-bin/nu/giganet_survey.cgi . As always, you can send your questions to networkupgrade@umn.edu or call 1-HELP (301-4357) with any problems.

Academic and
Distributed
Computing
Services

ADCS home

JANUARY 2005: WATCH THIRD SEASON OF TECH TALK
University and local experts discuss the digital technology we encounter in our daily lives as Tech Talk resumes on January 9 with "Getting the Most Online." Other January topics are: Techno Identification; Identify Theft; Spyware, Adware, and More. Details at http://techtalk.umn.edu/schedule/season3.shtml.

NEW, IMPROVED TRAINING REGISTRATION SYSTEM
UTTC has streamlined the registration process for computer training. Logging in with your Internet ID saves you time filling out the registration form, and allows us to communicate with you more immediately via e-mail. With these changes comes a new URL for our web site: http://uttc.umn.edu.

SPRING 2005 TRAINING SCHEDULE
The Spring 2005 computer training schedule is now available on the UTTC web site. New WebCT Vista offerings include courses on managing content and working with assessments. Office 2003 offerings have been expanded to include basic courses on Access 2003 and Project 2003. See http://uttc.umn.edu.

EXPANDED WEBCT VISTA TRAINING SCHEDULE
Vista basics and conversion classes will each be offered a couple times per week January through March. Need to learn how to create a basic course web site in Vista? Take the hands-on basics class. Looking for guidance on converting sites from Campus Edition to Vista? Take the conversion seminar. Both are free. Register at http://uttc.umn.edu/training/resources/webct/.

WEBMAIL ENHANCEMENTS
Webmail now supports BCC (blind copies) and will put copies of your outgoing messages in a sent mail folder. To set it up, select "Preferences", scroll down to the "Sent-mail folder" section and change the option, if necessary, from none to a "new sent-mail folder" or to another folder of your choice. When you are done, select the "Apply My Changes" button at the bottom of the Preferences window. See http://www.mail.umn.edu.

Digital
Media
Center

DMC home

JAN 7 PROPOSALS DUE:
IMPROVING LEARNING IN LARGE CLASSES
Through a Bush Foundation grant program, the Center for Teaching and Learning Services and DMC will work with Twin Cities faculty and staff members to improve student learning in large classes with innovative teaching and technology strategies. See http://www.umn.edu/ohr/teachlearn/innovative/.

JAN 20: TA WEB CERTIFICATION PROGRAM
CREDIT COURSE BEGINS
This spring, this popular program is offered both as a noncredit program and a 2-credit non-nursing-specific course, Nurs 5800. Participating TAs learn about web-based teaching and learning strategies and web design and development techniques. See http://dmc.umn.edu/ta-web/.

JAN 25 MEETING: EDUCATIONAL TECHNOLOGISTS FORUM
Discuss common concerns and participate in break-out sessions about participant-chosen topics with other campus developers of technology-enhanced learning (TEL) projects: JAN 25, 3-4:30 P.M., 402 WALTER LIBRARY. See http://dmc.umn.edu/etf/.

FEB 1 SEMINAR: TEL IN LARGE ENROLLMENT CLASSES
Instructors will discuss how they are using technology to promote active learning, assess learning, and obtain feedback from students in class at the next technology-enhanced learning (TEL) seminar: FEB 1, NOON-1:30 P.M., 274 MCNEAL HALL. See http://dmc.umn.edu/series/spring05.shtml.

FEB 15 APPLICATIONS DUE: TEL GRANT PROGRAM
Through this program, faculty members are awarded grants for developing, implementing, and evaluating technology-enhanced learning (TEL) experiences. A Call for Proposals for 2004-05 will be available the week of Jan. 18 at http://dmc.umn.edu/grants/.

DUE FEB 21: FACULTY FELLOWSHIP PROGRAM APPLICATIONS
Each year the DMC accepts new applications for the program from Twin Cities faculty members; 3-5 are chosen to receive fellowships. A Call for Proposals for 2004-05 will be available in early January at:
http://dmc.umn.edu/fellowship/.

SPRING TEL SHORT COURSES
Learn how to enhance learning with tools such as Vista, the newest version of the WebCT online course management system, PowerPoint, and more in spring technology-enhanced learning (TEL) short courses. The fee is waived for eligible faculty members. See http://dmc.umn.edu/training/.

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