Missouri S&T now has a campus licensing agreement for Respondus. Respondus is a software application that allows instructors to create tests, quizzes and other assessments for use in their courses. Respondus is compatible with Blackboard and other learning management systems.

Instructors who have already purchased a license for Respondus will not need to renew their license. They will need to contact IT to have the campus-licensed version installed instead.

Instructors who do not have Respondus and would like to have Respondus installed should submit an online Help Request or contact the IT Help Desk at 341-HELP for assistance.

Posted by Linda Fulps at 09:13 AM | Permalink

Blackboard will be upgraded to version 8.0 over the summer. This includes vast improvements in functionality and features. Some of the new features that will be available are highlighted after the jump.

Continue reading "Blackboard upgrades set for this summer" »

Posted by Lance Feyh at 01:28 PM | Permalink

The Information Technology/Computing Committee invites the campus community to attend a open forum from 3:30-5 p.m. Friday, April 25, in the Ozark Room of the Havener Center. Discussions will include email, security and CLC issues.

Posted by Mindy Limback at 05:05 PM | Permalink

Educational Technology will host the first ever Missouri S&T Teaching and Learning Technology Conference in the Havener Center from 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. on Friday, April 25. All campus faculty and staff are welcome to attend.

The conference will showcase the many ways in which faculty and staff use technology to enhance the learning experience for students.

If you are interested in attending this conference, please visit the EdTech website for the registration information. Registered attendees will be eligible to win a number of door prizes such as Dell all-in-one printers, $100 gift card to Amazon.com and 2GB USB flash drives. Registered attendees will also be able to join us for breakfast and lunch courtesy of TurningTechnologies, Blackboard, Wimba, and Sprint.

Continue reading "Teaching and learning technology conference set for April 25" »

Posted by Mindy Limback at 08:37 AM | Permalink

On Jan. 30, Missouri S&T successfully tested its new emergency alert system by sending test voice, text or email messages to the entire campus community. The results are as follows:

• The message reached a total of 7,549 people in the form of an email, voice or text message.
• Prerecorded voice messages sent to cell phones had a success rate of 68 percent.
• Text messages sent to cell phone had a success rate of 78 percent.

These percentages were affected by factors outside of university control, such as hang-ups, users who did not have voicemail set up, busy phone lines and incorrectly entered contact information. The security team is now analyzing the database to determine how to improve the system and delivery rates, but overall the test was considered a success.

Continue reading "Emergency alert system works, prize winner announced" »

Posted by Lance Feyh at 10:07 AM | Permalink

Starting Jan. 28 and continuing through Feb. 6, customers who start or reboot their Windows desktop machines will experience a delay of up to 60 seconds longer than usual before the login screen appears. Once the login screen appears, customers should be able to log in as normal with their university user ID and password.

This is a preventative measure to keep machines from auto-rebooting and causing customers to loose unsaved work during IT's Feb. 5 computer object migration related to the campus name change.

If you have any questions or experience delays longer than 60 seconds, call the IT Help Desk at 573-341-HELP.

Posted by Lance Feyh at 10:20 AM | Permalink

IT has opened four new Documentum training sessions. The dates are as follows:

Feb. 12 -- 8:30 a.m. to noon, Library 103

Feb. 26 -- 1-4 p.m., Library 103

Mar. 11 -- 8:30 a.m. to noon, Library 103

Apr. 1 -- 1-4 p.m., Library 103

To register, visit http://ittraining.mst.edu and click Register for a Short Course.

Posted by Lance Feyh at 10:19 AM | Permalink

IT will be conducting a Documentum training class from 8:30 a.m. to noon on Wednesday, Jan. 30. To register, visit http://ittraining.mst.edu and click Register for a Short Course. As of Jan. 24., there are still six seats open in the class. The registration deadline is Monday, Jan. 28.

For more information, please call the IT Help Desk at 573-341-HELP.

Posted by Lance Feyh at 12:53 PM | Permalink

Starting Jan. 24, student display names in Outlook will no longer use UMR. All instances of “UMR” in students’ address book entries for will be changed to “S&T.”

Customers searching for a student name in the global address book (accessed by clicking the “To…” field in a new email) need to be aware that Missouri S&T students will now be listed as last name, first name middle name (S&T-Student).

Example: On Jan. 24, Miner, Joe (UMR-Student) will become Miner, Joe (S&T-Student).

If you have questions regarding this issue, please call the IT Help Desk at 573-341-HELP.

Posted by Mindy Limback at 04:22 PM | Permalink

As the date approaches to migrate to mst.edu, there will be sweeping changes affecting all IT-managed systems on campus and several systems not managed by IT. To see the latest updates, visit the Name Change Efforts section of IT Press. Information posted to that section will include updates on the most recent changes, and instructions to help customers make the transition to mst.edu as seamlessly as possible and with the fewest number of service disruptions.

If you have IT-related questions about how the name change will affect you, please call the IT Help Desk at 341-HELP (4357).

Posted by Lance Feyh at 08:23 AM | Permalink

As you may know, the current name change efforts require changes to our technology landscape as well as the physical changes on campus (e.g. signage, etc.). This time of change has given IT the opportunity to reevaluate how Macintosh systems interact with the campus network and with their PC counterparts around campus. As an outgrowth of this reevaluation and subsequent redesign of our standard Mac build, we are now able to offer several enhancements and additional functionality to our Mac customers, including automatic updates, remote desktop tools and a new SFTP client (Cyberduck).

A rebuild is necessary because all Mac and Windows computers need to be reconfigured to properly operate within the new "mst.edu" domain. If you're a Mac user, you will be contacted by a member of the IT Desktop Support team in the next few weeks to schedule a time to reconfigure your computer. Mac users who aren't contacted by IT for a reconfigure need to call the Help Desk: 341-HELP.

Posted by Lance Feyh at 08:56 AM | Permalink

UMR IT will be distributing critical security updates via the SUS servers on all IT-supported Macintosh OS X and Linux-based machines with a campus-standard install on Tuesday, Nov. 20. These updates will improve the security of the Apple Macintosh OS X and Linux operating systems.

Customers who use IT-installed computers (faculty, staff, CLC computers, etc.) may be prompted to reboot their computers shortly after 3:15 p.m. on Tuesday, Nov. 20. The affected computers will automatically reboot themselves if no one is logged in.

This is virtually identical to the process IT uses to install Windows XP and Vista updates.

For more information, contact the UMR IT Help Desk at 341-HELP or submit an online Help Request.

Posted by Lance Feyh at 12:42 PM | Permalink

UMR IT will be distributing security updates to all campus-managed Windows-based systems on Monday, Nov. 19. Campus-managed Windows systems will automatically reboot after the updates are installed at 3 p.m. on Tuesday, Nov. 20. All campus customers are strongly recommended to save their work before 3 p.m. on Tuesday to keep from losing any important data.

Posted by Lance Feyh at 08:54 AM | Permalink

UMR IT will be conducting three Documentum training sessions, starting on Wednesday, November 14. Sign up for a session online. Click on the sessions you would like to attend (Nov. 14, Nov. 29, or Dec 7) and click Register.

Training sessions will be held in the Room 103 of the Library (the Library’s training room). UMR IT will schedule additional training sessions throughout December and January, so keep checking back if you are unable to attend one of the first three sessions.

Posted by Lance Feyh at 01:00 PM | Permalink

Angie Hammons, educational technology specialist for UMR Information Technology and for the campus, will be hosting a series of training seminars for faculty interested in learning more about effective teaching strategies with Blackboard. The first seminar will be from 4–5 p.m. on Monday, Oct. 29, in Room 103 of the UMR Library. This session will demonstrate the use of the Assignment Tool in Blackboard instead of the Digital Drop Box for managing student assignments.

Interested faculty members may sign up for this short course by visiting the IT Training web site and clicking "Register Here" underneath “Blackboard Training Series." For more information, contact the IT Help Desk at 573-341-HELP or submit an online Help Request at http://help.mst.edu.

Posted by Lance Feyh at 07:35 AM | Permalink

Starting on Friday, Oct. 26, Angie Hammons of UMR IT will be hosting Teach Tech Fridays, an opportunity for instructors to get help with educational technology on campus. This includes Blackboard, clickers, Smartboards, and other technology used on campus to enhance the learning experience for students.

Teach Tech Fridays will begin on Oct. 26 in the UMR Library classroom (Room 103) from 1:30 to 4 p.m. All instructors (teaching faculty, teaching assistants, visiting lecturers, etc.) are invited to attend. For more information, contact the IT Help Desk at 573-341-HELP or submit an online Help Request at https://help.mst.edu.

Posted by Lance Feyh at 07:29 AM | Permalink

UMR IT will be distributing security updates to all campus-managed Windows-based systems on Monday, Oct. 15. Campus-managed Windows systems will automatically reboot after the updates are installed at 3 p.m. on Tuesday, Oct. 16. All campus customers are strongly recommended to save their work before 3 p.m. on Tuesday to keep from losing any important data.

UMR IT will be distributing security updates to all campus-managed Mac OS X and Linux-based systems on Tuesday, Oct. 16 Campus-managed Mac OS X and Linux-based systems will automatically reboot after the updates are installed at 3 p.m. on Tuesday, Oct. 16. All campus customers are strongly recommended to save their work before 3 p.m. on Tuesday to keep from losing any important data.

UMR IT will update Windows and Linux servers at 10 p.m. on Thursday, Oct. 18. During this maintenance window, customers may have difficulty accessing campus computing services such as e-mail, web applications, and license-managed applications or any other service hosted on the campus Windows-based or Linux-based servers. All customers are strongly recommended to save their work before the servers are updated to keep from losing data.

Visit IT Press or contact the IT Help Desk at 341-HELP for more information.

Posted by Lance Feyh at 08:24 AM | Permalink

UMR IT will be distributing critical security updates via the SUS servers on all IT-supported Windows XP machines with a campus-standard install on Monday, Sept. 17. These updates will improve the security of the Windows XP operating system and Microsoft Office 2002 and 2003.

Customers who use IT-installed computers (faculty, staff, CLC computers, etc.) may be prompted to reboot their computers starting 3 p.m. on Tuesday, Sept. 18. Customers with administrative privileges may be prompted before 3 p.m. The affected computers will automatically reboot themselves if no one is logged in.

UMR IT recommends that all IT customers save their work before the servers are updated to keep from losing any data. Internet Explorer 7 (IE 7) will NOT be installed as a part of this update. IE 7 is not yet compatible with a number of Web applications commonly used on the UMR campus, including PeopleSoft and Documentum Web Publisher. IE 7 will not be installed on campus-standard machines until after UMR IT determines that IE 7 is compatible with current campus Web applications.

For more information, contact the UMR IT Help Desk at 341-HELP or submit an online Help Request.

Posted by Lance Feyh at 09:13 AM | Permalink

UMR IT will be performing critical security updates on all campus Windows and Linux servers on Thursday, Sept. 20, from 10 p.m. to 2 a.m. Friday. This process is similar to the standard Windows desktop security updates but affects many of the campus computing services available. During the maintenance window, customers may have difficulty accessing a number of services, including e-mail, web applications (for example, https://help.mst.edu), applications that need to access the licensing servers, and any other service hosted on the campus Windows-based or Linux-based servers.

Interruptions in service will last from 5-30 minutes, depending on which service is updated. UMR IT recommends that all IT customers save their work before the servers are updated to keep from losing any data. For more information,contact the UMR IT Help Desk at 341-HELP or submit an online Help Request.

Posted by Lance Feyh at 09:10 AM | Permalink

The CIO Search Committee has narrowed down the applicants to the top three candidates. Starting next Tuesday, Sept. 11, the first candidate will be on campus for a tour, interviews and an open forum. During each visit, the campus community will be invited to an open forum. This will be your opportunity to meet the candidates.

At this time, the names of the candidates are not being released. But the names will be released along with a short biography on the day the candidates are here. The schedule is as follows:

Tuesday, Sept. 11 -- Candidate No. 1, noon to 1 p.m., St. Pat's C, Havener Center

Thursday, Sept. 13 -- Candidate No. 2, noon to 1 p.m., St. Pat's C, Havener Center

Thursday, Sept. 20 -- Candidate No. 3, noon to 1 p.m., St. Pat's A, Havener Center

Posted by Lance Feyh at 03:39 PM | Permalink

MOREnet will be upgrading UMR’s primary Internet connection at 7:15 a.m. on Thursday, Sept. 6. This will take approximately 30 minutes to complete, during which time customers on campus may experience brief interruptions (1-2 minutes at a time) of Internet services.

MOREnet links Missouri to a world of knowledge through a statewide research and education network. Schools, public libraries, academic institutions and state agencies linked to the network have access to a secure broadband Internet connection, staff training, technical support and electronic resources, making equitable access possible across Missouri.

For more information, contact the UMR IT Help Desk at341-HELP or submit an online Help Request.

Posted by Lance Feyh at 04:03 PM | Permalink

UMR IT will be distributing critical security updates via the SUS servers on all IT-supported Macintosh OS X machines with a campus-standard install on Tuesday, Aug. 21. These updates will improve the security of the Apple Macintosh OS X operating system.

Customers who use IT-installed computers (faculty, staff, CLC computers, etc.) may be prompted to reboot their computers shortly after 3:15 p.m. on Tuesday. The affected computers will automatically reboot themselves if no one is logged in. This is virtually identical to the process IT uses to install Windows XP and Vista updates.

For more information, contact the UMR IT Help Desk at 341-HELP or submit an online Help Request at https://help.mst.edu.

Posted by Lance Feyh at 08:31 PM | Permalink

UMR IT will be distributing critical security updates via the SUS servers on all IT-supported Windows XP machines with a campus-standard install on Monday, August 20. These updates will improve the security of the Windows XP operating system and Microsoft Office 2002 and 2003.

Customers who use IT-installed computers (faculty, staff, CLC computers, etc.) may be prompted to reboot their computers starting 3 p.m. on Tuesday, Aug 21. Customers with administrative privileges may be prompted before 3 p.m. The affected computers will automatically reboot themselves if no one is logged in.

Internet Explorer 7 (IE 7) will NOT be installed as a part of this update. IE 7 is not yet compatible with a number of Web applications commonly used on the UMR campus, including PeopleSoft and Documentum Web Publisher. IE 7 will not be installed on campus-standard machines until after UMR IT determines that IE 7 is compatible with current campus Web applications.

For more information, contact the UMR IT Help Desk at 341-HELP or submit an online Help Request .

Posted by Lance Feyh at 08:27 PM | Permalink