Phishing Attack

We are receiving some notices from users who are receiving an email asking for account information.  Please be advised that these are not from OWU and should be marked as SPAM.  Below is an example of the message.  Remember, you should never provide your password or any other sensitive information via email.


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Subject: Ohio Wesleyan University,Email Account Upgrade
To: 

Ohio Wesleyan University,Email Account Upgrade

ATTENTION WEBMAIL USER,

We regret to announce to you that we will be making some vital maintainance on our website.

During this process you might have login problems in signing into your Online account. but to prevent this, you have to confirm your account immediately after you receive this notification.

To confirm and to keep your account active during and after this process, please reply to this message with the below account informations.

Failure to do this might cause a permanent deactivation of your user account from our database to enable us create more spaces for new users.

YOUR ACCOUNT CONFIRMATION

Name:
E-mail ID:
E-mail Password:
Departments:

Your account shall remain active after you have successfully confirmed your account details to the email address below.

The above informations should be sent your help officer with the below email address for prompt response

Thanks for bearing with us.
Ohio Wesleyan University,Service Help Desk
Warning Code: 002671

Blackboard Training Scheduled

David has setup the Blackboard training sessions, see his message below:

As announced, Information Services will be upgrading our Blackboard learning management system in January.  Training on the new system, version 9.1, will be available in several ways.  The new system with all historical course content and all spring 2011 courses will be used for training.

• Workshop sessions will be offered by me and/or staff from the University of Cincinnati on the following dates/times:
• Monday through Friday, November 29 through December 3, a morning session from 10:00 to noon covering what's new in the new version--everything except the Grade Center.  There will be a separate session from 2:00 to 4:00 p.m. to introduce the new Grade Center.  These sessions will take place in Corns 109.
• Tuesday through Thursday, January 4 through 6, the same schedule as above, a general transition session at 10:00 and a Grade Center session at 2:00 in Corns 109.
• Tuesday through Friday, January 11 through 14, open Q&A sessions from 4:00 to 5:00 in Corns 109.
I will be available for one-on-one and small group trainings sessions at times and locations convenient for you.  To arrange a personalized session please contact me.
Atomic Learning has online video tutorials on Blackboard 9 for instructors.  You may access these tutorials by logging in to J/CX Web and selecting the Atomic Learning link on the left.
In the coming weeks we will be posting documentation on Blackboard 9.1 to the Self Help Site, including basic instructions for how to access it, how to make your course available, how to enroll students or additional instructors, how to copy content between courses, and more.
There will also be online resources produced by Blackboard available within the new system once it is available.

Access to the new Blackboard system will be available by December 1 at a web address (URL) to be announced.  The primary URL for our Blackboard system, bb.owu.edu, will be switched to the upgraded version no later than Wednesday, January 5.  All Spring 2011 courses will be in the new version 9.1 system.

Please direct your questions about this upgrade to me.  We look forward to making this project a smooth success, and taking advantage of the many new features in Blackboard 9.1.

David Soliday Instructional Technologist E-mail: dcsolida@owu.edu Phone: (740) 368-3130

Ohio Wesleyan University Information Services Web: infoserv.owu.edu Facebook: OWU Help Desk

Video Chat

As winter approaches, it may be the right time to check out the video chat feature of BishopApps.  This works as long as the following conditions exist:  You have a microphone and webcam, and you are logging into bishopapps through a web browser (not using Outlook or Thunderbird).  Of course, the person you wish to conference with must also meet these requirements for full functionality.

We have added webcams to our new standard computer models at OWU, so as systems are replaced, this capability will be more widely available.  Please see the IS Self Help page for more information on connecting to users via video chat, and as always, contact the Help Desk if you have questions.

http://helpdesk.owu.edu/BishopMail#videochat

Blackboard Upgrade

After consulting with the Campus Technology Council and TLCCP, we have decided to upgrade OWU's Blackboard Course Management software to the latest version (9.1) prior to the start of the Spring 2011 semester. We are currently running version 7.3, which was released in 2006.  Numerous faculty members and students have requested features that are available in the latest version, and there is no additional cost to the University for this upgrade.

Our new Instructional Technologist, David Soliday, will be conducting training sessions throughout November and December to help faculty prepare for the new functionality and interface changes.  Course content will automatically be converted to the new system.

We will communicate the training schedule and new feature information next week.  Please let me know if you have any questions or concerns.

Help Desk Manager position posted

We recently posted the Help Desk Manager and Technology Trainer position.  Below are the job requirements, please see http://jobs.owu.edu for more information.  Applicants should submit a resume by November 1st for full consideration.

Qualifications: 

• Education: Bachelor’s degree.
• Three years of professional experience in front-line computing user support. Additional experience and training in application support and desktop/laptop systems troubleshooting preferred, particularly in an academic environment.
• Professional experience in technology training for college-aged and adult learners, focusing on application usage such as the Microsoft Office suite.
• Extensive experience with multiple operating systems—including current and recent versions of Microsoft Windows and Macintosh OS—as well as personal productivity applications (e-mail, word processing, spreadsheets, presentation tools, databases, etc.) and other desktop applications plus peripheral devices.
• Proficiency with support call tracking and inventory management tools.
• Basic proficiency with enterprise networking directory services like Microsoft Active Directory preferred.

Instructional Technologist position filled

I am happy to announce that the Instructional Technologist position has been filled.  David Soliday has accepted the position and we are developing a transition plan that will allow him to start his new responsibilities in the very near term.  The first items David will be working on include an analysis of the current classroom technologies at OWU as well as a review of our Learning Management Systems (Blackboard and ERes).  David will be working with the appropriate constituents across campus to deliver new services to the OWU faculty.  A search committee will be established to fill the Help Desk Manager and Technology Trainer position that David previously occupied.

I would like to thank the search committee who joined me in this process of selecting OWU’s first Instructional Technologist; committee members were Chris Wolverton, Chair; Melinda Rhodes; Dale Swartzentruber; and Nancy Comorau, as well as those who attended the open forums for the candidates.  Please join me in congratulating David, and do not hesitate to contact me if you have questions or projects where David could be of assistance.

NEC Phone Displays

We have a large number of NEC phones on campus that have defective displays.  In coordination with our vendor, we have been able to receive replacement displays in bulk and will soon start visiting offices to see who would like a replacement.  Switching out the display is a very quick procedure, and we hope to start this week.  If you have a phone that must be replaced ASAP, please call the Help Desk and we will make sure to stop by as soon as we can.

Windows MyDocuments Backup

Information Services has developed a backup script that runs on Windows XP devices.  This script will copy the contents of your "mydocuments" directory to a network share, providing a backup that can be used to recover documents in the event of a failed hard drive.  Please contact the Help Desk if you are interested in more details:

Phone: (740) 368-3120
Fax: (740) 368-3272
Hours: 8:30 a.m. - 5 p.m., Mon-Fri
E-mail: helpdesk@owu.edu

OWU Printing, "Print Green"

Information Services is currently evaluating a number of options for network printing, copying, scanning, and faxing at OWU.  We have started discussions with a few departments to determine their interest level, printing requirements, and areas of concern.  This information will be used to develop the specific details of the initiative.  It should be noted that this is an optional program and will not be a fit for all types of printing.

A recent inventory of printing, copying, faxing, and scanning devices on the OWU campus totaled 431 devices.  Based on energy consumption guides for each model, we calculated the monthly energy consumption to be 13,973,613 watts.  That is the equivalent of powering 93 refrigerators each month!  If we were to replace all of these devices with 61 multi-function printers, our monthly usage would be reduced to 641,600 watts.  Certainly we do not anticipate full participation, as the program will not meet needs in all cases, but one can see how this program would be beneficial from a sustainability standpoint.


The goals of this initiative are as follows:

• Reduce energy consumption by installing more efficient devices that can be shared by many.
• Provide new features that may not currently be available, such as duplexing, scan to email and fileshare, and network faxing.
• Create awareness of ways to share documents without printing.
• Reduce the cost of toner and other consumables that departments are currently paying for out of operating budgets.

As we continue to gather data in the upcoming weeks, we will be submitting the details of our plan to the Campus Technology Council, the Sustainability Task Force, and other groups as appropriate for review and consideration.  We hope that each area will provide feedback so that we can put together a program that works for as many as possible.  We understand the importance of being able to print quickly, confidentially, and in a convenient manner to support the various academic and administrative needs at OWU.

Please do not hesitate to contact me if you have any questions.

Thank You,
Brian A. Rellinger
Executive Director of Information Services
Ohio Wesleyan University
740-368-3131
barellin@owu.edu