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Issue : July 6, 2007

No contacts? No links? No problem: send your inquiries and comments to oitbrief@umn.edu.

The UM Tech Brief is a resource for University of Minnesota technical support staff and department and unit decision makers.

Security and
Internet Services

Security home

SPAM AND VIRUS STATS.
For the month of June - (more precisely May 28 - Jun 24)

Attempted 60 million
Accepted 17 million
Blocked 25 million
Unknown User 7 million
Greylisted/Rate-limited 15 million

Messages were blocked because of the following reasons:

Unauthorized access: 14 million 48%
Spam source: 3 million 11%
Dynamic: 3 million 11%
Insecure: 6 million 22%
Protocol Violation: .5 million 2%
DNS problems: 2 million 6%

Anti-virus software caught 553 messages

Network and Telecommunication
Services

NTS home

WIRELESS 2008.
The NTS Wireless 2008 Project site is now posted at www.umn.edu/nts/data, via the "Wireless" tab. Project updates will be posted regularly. Wireless vendor finalists are participating in "Proof of Concept" test periods, while NTS continues interviewing customers to assist in defining wireless requirements.

MODEM POOL.
NTS Vendor Finalists for Internet Service Provision (ISP) are awaiting approval and notification from the University Purchasing Office. Both the University Modem Pool and the 800 Modem Pool will be phased out within the next year. New ISP services may be purchased via www.umart.umn.edu. Additional details of this transition will be released upon authorization.

WORK ORDERS.
Move, Add, and Change orders for telephone and data services are at seasonal highs during July and August. If you know of upcoming moves or changes for your department, please contact NTS in advance to schedule your work.

Academic and
Distributed
Computing
Services

ADCS home

MKEY ROLL-OUT.
The first phase of the MKey, a two-factor authorization process, has been implemented campus-wide for Enterprise password customers. The new data security system is designed to improve system security and reduce unauthorized access and disclosure of private data. MKey uses an authentication token (a maroon and gold one!) that generates a one-time-use password. Watch your campus mailbox for details.

MICROSOFT PROGRAM UPDATE.
Since May 2007, over 8600 student software orders have been placed through the Microsoft Campus Agreement program. The majority of the orders are for the new Microsoft software versions of Office Enterprise 2007 and/or Vista operating system upgrade software. Visit the UCS website for monthly software order statistics. Microsoft Vista Business operating system upgrade software and Office Enterprise 2007 media is now available for faculty/staff personal computers. Visit the UCS website for more information and the online order form: www.umn.edu/ucs.

RENT A LAPTOP.
Have an upcoming conference and need to rent a laptop overnight or for an extended period of time? UCS offers bulk laptop rentals to students, faculty and staff. Visit the UCS website for more information: www.umn.edu/ucs.

NEW COURSE! POWERPOINT 2007: PRESENTATION BASICS
PowerPoint 2007 has many exciting new features that make it even easier to use! This hands-on course will show you how to create a professional presentation from scratch and deliver it to others. Check out Office 2007 Training in the Featured @ UTTC section at uttc.umn.edu.

NEW UMCONTENT COURSES!
UMContent is the University's new content management system. Wondering what UMContent has to offer? Take an orientation to explore the possibilities. Ready to dive right in? We have hands-on courses for both site developers and content contributors. Search for "umcontent" at http://uttc.umn.edu for more information.

Digital
Media
Center

DMC home

AUGUST 8: EDUCATIONAL TECHNOLOGISTS FORUM MEETING.
Campus educational technology designers and developers will socialize and discuss "Assessing Learning with Technology" at the next Educational Technologists Forum (ETF) meeting: August 8, 3-4:30 p.m., 402 Walter Library. See: http://dmc.umn.edu/etf/.

IS TECHNOLOGY-ENHANCED LEARNING EFFECTIVE?
Read our review of four articles that analyze the results of, in total, 305 studies comparing the learning outcomes of students in traditional, face-to-face sections of a course with those of students in technology-enhanced sections of the same course. See: http://dmc.umn.edu/spotlight/tel-effectiveness.shtml.

STUDENTS TALK BACK IN THE LECTURE HALL.
Donald Liu teaches economics in a room that holds up to 110 students. The large lecture format used to thwart his attempts to engage students. But now, 95% attend, and when he poses a question, he hears from every single one. Read more: http://dmc.umn.edu/projects/liu/.

The URL of this document is http://umtechbrief.umn.edu/07/tb0707/tb0707.html
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