May 2008 Archives

This is a reminder that beginning this summer the University will begin changing our email system from Lotus Notes to Microsoft Exchange. It is expected that the change will be completed by the end of the fall semester.

Microsoft Exchange requires a different authentication system. As part of the changeover to Microsoft Exchange, the University will begin using Microsoft Active Directory for network authentication. So the way you log in to the network will be slightly different when you switch to Microsoft Exchange. In addition, the way you print using network printers and the way you access your shared network drives will also be slightly different.

The University is approaching another major milestone in the Banner Project. At the end of June the old Plus administrative system will be decommissioned. The Plus system served the University well for over twenty years, but has been superseded by the new Banner ERP system.

To prepare the Plus system for decommissioning, UITS announced today that the Plus system will be set to "read only" effective June 1st, effectively "freezing" the data. In June UITS will move the Plus data into Oracle tables. Future projects for UITS include building views to this data that will enable users to more easily view and report the legacy Plus data.

Today, University IT Services took another major step in upgrading the University's IT infrastructure by decommissioning the Novell "Z" drives.

Your Novell "Z" drive provided a limited amount of network storage that was accessible only on campus. To replace the Novell "Z" drives, Faculty, staff, and administrators now have 2 Gigabytes of network file storage in the Blackboard Content System, and this network file storage can be increased (in 1GB increments) up to 5 GB at users' request. In addition to providing up to twenty times the storage of the old Novell "Z" drive, you can access the Blackboard Content System from the Internet, anywhere, any time, by logging into Blackboard (myweb.shu.edu). You can share documents or folders in the Blackboard Content System with others, even if they don't have a Blackboard account. You can learn all the new features of the Blackboard Content System on the Web at: http://technology.shu.edu/page/Blackboard+Content+System!OpenDocument.

The Teaching, Learning, and Technology (TLT) Center today announced their faculty development Summer Series.

The TLT Center Summer Series is a yearly event that consists of weekly faculty development workshops throughout the Summer. This year we are offering ten full day sessions each week from May to August. Each session will run from 9:00 am to 2:00 pm. Breakfast and lunch will be served during each day.

Go to technology.shu.edu/webs/tech/training.nsf/(CTC+WebView+Date)
or continue this blog post below to see the entire Summer Series calendar.

Dr. Martin Sandler, Assistant Director for Assessment in the Teaching, Learning, and Technology (TLT) Center, today released the preliminary findings from the University's Spring 2008 Mobile Computing Assessment Survey.

The Mobile Computing Assessment Project began in 1998 in order to assess the effect of the University's Mobile Computing Project on teaching and learning. For the past ten years the assessment project has consistently shown high faculty and student satisfaction with the program and that the University's technology program has had a positive impact on student learning.

This year was no exception. The Spring 2008 Mobile Computing Assessment survey was administered to a random sample of 1152 students, with 509 responses, for an overall response rate of 44%. Three quarters of the respondents agreed that the use of technology has improved their learning.

A summary of the preliminary results from the assessment survey can be found at:
Spring 2008 Teaching and Learning with Technology Survey - Preliminary Findings.doc

Contact Martin Sandler at sandlema@shu.edu for more information regarding the Mobile Computing Assessment Project and the results of the Spring 2008 survey. Click here to view the 2007 summary of the Mobile Computing Assessment Program.

This summer's maintenance for IT systems will begin on Saturday, August 9th, at 12:01 AM, and end Sunday, August 17th, at 11:59 PM.

During this maintenance most IT systems will be available most of the time. However, some interruptions to IT services will occur during this period while work is being performed on campus networks and servers. University IT Services will send out more detailed information on this maintenance as we get closer to August, and University IT Services will alert the University community whenever a particular system will be out of service for an extended amount of time during this period.

Remember that Seton Hall University is replacing its email system beginning this summer. The new campus email system is based on Microsoft's Exchange email system. The new system will be available to faculty, staff, and administrators beginning this summer, and everyone will be moved to the new system by the start of the Spring 2009 semester.

To answer your questions about the new email system, University IT Services has prepared two draft "Frequently Asked Questions" (FAQ) documents. These drafts should address any questions you have regarding the coming move to MS Exchange email. These FAQ's can be found at:

EMPLOYEE MIGRATION FAQ.doc

and

STUDENT MIGRATION FAQ.doc

Please let University IT Services know if you have any suggestions, questions or concerns regarding the coming move to MS Exchange email. You can make your questions or concerns know by calling or writing the Technology Help Desk (Tel.: 973-275-2222, Email: helpdesk@shu.edu).