Mike Parker's What's Next?: A Problem for Academic Technology

Secure Your Workstation!

People Directory: One Element of the Super Directory

New IT Website

What's New in IT Online Services?

Bonjour! from Telephone Services

Tips:
	Junk Mail!
	TitanCard
	Office XP

IT Service Recognition Award

New Employees

Publication Credits

IT FAQ Index

November 2002

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Mike Parker's What's Next?:
A Problem for Academic Technology

"Academic technology" is a very general term for a variety of potential teaching and learning enablers using personal computers, the Internet, and devices like overhead projection equipment and wireless "appliances" like palm pilots and laptops. The primary drivers prompting faculty acceptance of these technologies are various kinds of perceived efficiencies for learning and simplicity for teaching and not the sophistication of the technology—"cool looking technology" is not sufficient. Moreover, for many reasons administrative issues of efficiency, scalability, low-cost and so forth will have little impact upon faculty acceptance if they do not make their work easier and improve learning.

Faculty have many and diverse demands upon them that prompt them to try to prepare for courses and for each session in particular in very efficient ways. Thus they tend to update previously used materials each semester rather than generally rework all instructional materials. In addition, the received wisdom of their respective disciplines indirectly selects most of the material that they teach. This is most true at the lower division level where courses tend to rely on textbooks and related teaching aids. Although faculty are free to teach what and as they see fit, external pressures to prepare students for more advanced courses almost guarantee that 4/5 of the content will match the text and topics most favored by the discipline and its professional organizations.

In the classroom instructors vary activities to adjust the material and delivery style to the needs of the students and the difficulties they experience. So, although actual class activities are created and used only once during a live session and have to be re-created in dialogue and lecture during the next semester, the content (notes, homework, handouts, PowerPoint slides, etc.) is likely to be modified only gradually from year to year to keep up with new knowledge.

Students, loaded with other courses, work schedules, and the adventures of youth, seek to master just the content needed to achieve the grade they desire—in the most efficient way possible. Students devote most study to test preparation and very rarely study material outside of the required reading or exercises. Moreover, they tend to do less than the recommended effort, but rarely anything different from or supplemental to the material (except as it is applied to a particular research paper).

The primary computer innovation adopted for instruction has been PowerPoint (when it is used to replace overhead projectors), but only where classrooms enable its use. Although the Web has created new opportunities with its "global computer", it has far less impact upon teaching and learning than advertising and conference hype might suggest. Faculty who take advantage of the Web do so in order to try to make the material more engaging and easier to master, but only on the margin. So assumptions about the revolutionary effects of Web technology hold true primarily for reaching new audiences for higher education (working adults and rural communities) while the regular classroom professor is likely to consider most such efforts as unnecessary. After all, what teaching options are as easy to use as texts and study guides.

In universities where excitement has been generated about the Web (and where there is both peer pressure and available training), course websites and course management software such as Blackboard, online simulations, step-by-step homework help, FAQs, practice assessments, student performance tracking, and direct links to course materials are all possible. To the extent that this material addresses the needs of students with varying work schedules and varying learning styles, these academic technologies are used by trailblazing faculty but are still too complicated and time consuming to motivate most faculty. So for the last decade where there has been excitement about "reducing seat time" while increasing the quality of instruction using the new academic technologies for trailblazers and administrators, this has not been compelling to most instructors.

Moreover, the costs of these technologies and the time-consuming training needed to overcome their complexity suggest to some faculty that there is little cost benefit—and they are skeptical. Others take on faith that there is value in adopting these technologies, but postpone their use to some unspecified later date because the task is daunting.

For those who are interested, new help is on the way:

A next-generation Internet is being planned on two levels. First, Internet2 is a country-wide university effort to create a much more powerful and easy to use system based on what we learned from the original public Internet. It will allow the over 200 member universities (such as the UC and CSU) to conduct virtual conferences and lectures, and fieldwork exercises anywhere in the world. It will also make it possible to manipulate and link instruments such as telescopes and gauges anywhere. I2 has even demonstrated that users can have a simulated feeling and touch of objects thousands of miles away.

Secondly, the next World-wide Web is likely to be a "semantic web" one built not for machines, but for people. The net will understand language (e.g., special tags in the HTML documents will provide enough context for machines to "understand" data, draw relationships between words, and make accurate focused searches seem natural even though there are many billions of web pages). This "Resource Description Framework" will make using the net intuitive within a few years.

Learning objects, very small and easily assembled instructional demonstrations (e.g., animations of graphs that change when data tables are modified and on-line art works that break into their compositional or color or anatomical components), will make it easy for students to practice and get a feel for data relationships or how art works are created, for example. Directories of many thousands of these will be available to instructors on-line for most disciplines. So although building whole courses or even creating learning modules is a tough job, plugging selected learning objects into a class PowerPoint presentation or into a homework assignment will be very easy.

Inexpensive wireless devices will be everywhere: cell phones that can also let students play games over the Internet and do email are becoming available while the price of "PocketPCs" is dropping dramatically. The computer game industry may generate over twice the revenue of Hollywood entertainment this year. This will cause the next generation of students to expect high quality, 3-D animation and fast paced simulations, and expect university services anywhere, anytime.

A growing CSU system-wide effort will publicize and make the best of Academic Technology available on all campuses over the coming years.

In conclusion, although faculty have many reasons to take their time in adopting academic technology, in the future both the expectations of students and the awesome power of emerging technologies will make new ways to teach irresistible.

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Secure Your Workstation: How to Avoid Opening the "Network Door"

What is the "network door"?

Every computer that is connected to the Internet can be accessed in more than one way. Most obviously, a user can physically sit in front of their computer in order to access it. A computer may also be accessed remotely, over the computer network- either from another computer here on the campus or from any other computer over the Internet. A computer that can be accessed over the network may unintentionally open the "network door" and give a computer hacker access to damage either your computer, or, to use your computer to damage others. As a user, you can take steps to lock the "network door", giving only invited users access to your machine, while still preventing unwanted users (hackers) from accessing your computer. This is not a perfect science; rather, there are steps to securing the network door just as there are steps to securing your home with door and window locks.

With technology advancing as rapidly as it is, everyone is at risk of having their identity and/or their computer compromised by a computer hacker (see http://www.privacy.ca.gov/identitytheft.htm). When you are at work, you have control over how interesting your computer is to a hacker. Please take a moment with the survey below to evaluate your risk level.

Survey

Instructions: For every "yes" you answer for the following questions, give yourself the number of points indicated. Add up your total number of points to determine your personal risk level.)

Results

Your "door" is locked, but sledgehammers still work!
If your score is below 30, your computer is not used for very much. But please note, it is a common misconception that a computer is not vulnerable because it does not contain valuable or sensitive information. Please see the additional advisories at the end of this article.

Your "door" is closed, but may be unlocked!
Typically hackers are not looking for sensitive or confidential information. They look for a challenge-a way to damage one or many computers, just because they can! Knowing the mentality of a hacker tells us that every computer is vulnerable—even yours. If your score is between 35 and 100, you probably use your computer for all sorts of things that the average person would. We have had several cases at the university where a computer containing nothing interesting has been used in a network attack against the campus and the Internet!

Please especially cautious about how you do file-sharing. The Help Desk has recommendations on how to share disk files with other users. For information on how to protect yourself and your computer if you are using file-sharing programs, such as Kazaa, Morpheus, Gnutella, etc., click here. Please note that the university does not encourage the use of peer-to-peer client programs. If you must, be sure to re-evaluate if confidential data might be at risk on your computer. Note that as an employee, it is your personal responsibility to maintain the privacy of confidential data. Several users at the campus have mistakenly published the entire contents of their computer by clicking the wrong option in a configuration screen they do not understand. Instead of loading software that you do know how to properly configure, please take the extra time to ask for help to consider alternatives. Also consider how "work related" the activity really is before taking such a risk. Please see the additional advisories at the end of this article.

Your "door" is ajar!
If your score ranges from 105 to 180, you are taking more of a risk with the data on your computer. It is highly recommended that you ask the department computer technician and Information Technology for help in planning for total loss of data on your computer. You are at a greater risk of an attack and total data loss the more open and accessible your computer is and the more vital the data you have stored. Please think about how to protect your system and how to back up your important information. Please see the additional advisories at the end of this article.

Your "door" is wide open!
If your score is over 180 you are at a very high risk factor. You should consider storing any confidential data on a department server that is well-protected. It is not advisable for any user to hold a great amount of confidential data on their computer. There are many resources available to you, such as your department technician or the Help Desk—each of which are more than happy to help you understand the associated risks with certain settings on your computer. Instead of loading software that you do know how to properly configure, please take the extra time to ask for help to consider alternatives. Also consider how "work related" the activity really is before taking such a risk. Please see additional advisories at the end of this article.

Be aware that the more flexible a computing system is, the more it tends to be vulnerable to attack. Many times, software packages are installed that unintentionally open the "network door" and give access to a user's computer and/or reveal their identity. As a result, a hacker may damage your computer or use your computer as a vehicle to damage other computers on the network. This can be prevented by consulting your department computer technician or the Help Desk for assistance!

Other preventative steps to avoid opening the "network door":

• Consider disabling web browser "cookies" by turning them off completely and turning on "cookies" for sites you know and trust.
• Be careful. Do not download items from the Internet indiscriminately.
• When you leave your workstation, LOCK it by pressing (<CTRL-ALT-DELETE> and then <ENTER>)
• Do not use your computer username and password for other services. If you are signed up with AOL, Yahoo.com, home banking, etc., use a different username and password.
• Back up your files regularly. Each desktop computer has both a Zip drive and a CD writer. Zip disks can hold up to 100 MB of data and CDs can hold up to 700 MB. Take your backup disks off campus. Any event that might occur and make your computer inaccessible such as a fire, earthquake, contamination, theft, etc. might also destroy any backup media left close to it. You will then have NO way to retrieve your files.
• Please especially cautious about how you do file-sharing. The Help Desk has recommendations on how to share disk files with other users. For information on how to protect yourself and your computer if you are using file-sharing programs, such as Kazaa, Morpheus, Gnutella, etc., click here.
• When in doubt, ask for help. The Help Desk is available (x7777) to help should you have any questions or concerns.
  
  
  

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People Directory: One Element of the Super Directory

People Directory

During the fall 2002 semester IT rolled out the People Directory, a subset of what will soon be the Super Directory. The current People Directory is a central database that identifies each individual on or associated with the campus. It identifies their current "type(s)" of association with the campus, meaning whether they are a student, faculty, staff, etc. In addition, the People Directory is populated with each individual's basic information, such as their contact information, office number, email address, classification, etc. Though it is just under 90% complete, campus systems such as the Faculty Portal, the Student Portal, and the student email systems are already pulling information from the People Directory.

The People Directory has already proven to make business processes on campus more efficient. But, in order to make a directory of this magnitude most effective and use it to its fullest potential, there is more to be done. Although there is now a way to broadly categorize people by defining their "type" through the People Directory, there is still not a simple way to track what roles they play—who has access to what information, who does what job, who belongs to what group, etc.

Super Directory

As stated above, the People Directory is just one dimension of the Super Directory. The People Directory defines the "who"—it provides the first puzzle piece in the massive and multi-dimensional Super Directory. The rest of the puzzle will come together as each individual's roles on campus are further defined, until there is a complete picture of not only who they are, but how they fit into the campus. Defining an individual's roles will identify the many hats they wear in their day-to-day functions.

As a central database, the Super Directory will have current and accurate information on each individual. Various campus systems, departments, and groups on campus can immediately know:

• who each individual is,
• each role they play that is a part of their job function,
• what level of access their role gives them and to what systems,
• what decisions they are authorized to make,
• etc.

Knowing a person's role will allow the campus to communicate with all people in a particular role, much like a large distribution list that is always up-to-date. It will also allow for delegation of roles and responsibilities to appropriate individuals. The Super Directory will also keep track of the individuals that access campus systems so that if they separate from the campus, their system access will immediately end along with any other privileges they receive

As new business processes and systems are instigated, the Super Directory will make the implementation more efficient and more cost-effective for the campus. Each time a new process is started, information will not have to be gathered through a lengthy process, updated, verified and then populated; instead, existing information can be immediately pulled and populated from the Super Directory.

Next Steps

By summer of 2003, the People Directory will be 100% complete. IT will start creating a prototype of the role-based Super Directory. For further information on the Super Directory, contact Amir Dabirian, Director of Internet Technologies at 278-5000.

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New IT Website

The IT website was redesigned based on input and suggestions from our users to make information more accessible. We hope we’ve provided a format that is user-friendly and will ultimately provide easy access to information on our site. Visit our new site at http://www.fullerton.edu/it!

The site's new features include:

• IT FAQ Index - Many users come to the IT site in search of information, often without knowing exactly where to look. The IT FAQ Index is a new feature that was designed to help users find what they are looking for and access information in a single click.

• Illustrated Technical Glossary - In order to better serve users, we have provided a new illustrated glossary that displays labeled photographs of CSUF-specific hardware.

• IT News - We now feature a general IT news section, where we’ll update our users with any developments about IT on campus.

• DITC and Campus Techs Page - Department Technology Coordinators and Campus Techs now have their own site, accessible from a single click off of the IT Home page. There are two distinct sections for the DITCs and the techs, each of which provide relevant tools and resources for its particular group.

In addition to the features listed above, the IT site offers clickable links to more in-depth information on each of IT's internal divisions. All IT policies, publications, and presentations can be easily accessed on one single page, from electronic versions of the IT Annual Reports to PowerPoint Presentations from the most recent IT Update Meetings.

We’d love to hear from you! Please send feedback regarding It's redesigned website to Sarah Dvorak at sdvorak@fullerton.edu.

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What's New in IT Online Services?

IT continues to increase the amount of online services offered to the Cal State Fullerton community as technological needs continue to grow. At the beginning of the fall 2002 semester, several new and exciting services were introduced, including the Faculty Portal, the new version of TITAN Online, TitanCard online transactions, and phase II of the Student Portal.

Faculty Portal

IT launched the Faculty Portal in August of 2002. Since that time, over 1,100 faculty have logged into their portal, and over 800 have used the portal more than once. By logging into their portal, faculty are able to gain secure access to several popular features, such as customizable tabs, a single password for authentication, and My CSUF which is the portal "home page" (allowing faculty to view personalized information and add their own notes, reminders, web links, etc.).

Some of the features offered in phase 1 of the faculty portal include: Classes, providing access to class lists (updated every 24 hours), student distribution list, links to TITAN Online and the bookstore, a message-posting feature targeting selected students, and an information-posting feature for the Class Schedule that displays notes and/or a syllabus for a particular class; Email, providing access to Microsoft Outlook email and calendar; Library, providing access to personal circulation records, interlibrary loan form; Services, providing access to Help Desk information and ticket/work order status, IT Request Form, and links to other services such as parking; TitanCard, providing access to the new, online TitanTender services, with record of recent (up to 4 months) transactions and credit card purchases of TitanTender; and Profile, which controls many things, including which tabs are displayed, passwords for on- and off-campus accounts, and the order in which the tabs appear at the top of the Faculty Portal window. To see a complete list of features available, login to the portal at http://www.fullerton.edu and click the purple "Login" button. Additional features will be added in the coming months. Faculty and staff are required to use their NT (email) username and password.

For help and instructional information on using the Faculty Portal, please click on the "Help" button after logging in. For additional assistance, users may contact the Help Desk at 278-7777.

Staff Portal
The Staff Portal is under construction this fall as broad-based planning and development of a continues.

TITAN Online

Thanks to the collaborative efforts of Admissions and Records, Business and Financial Affairs, Financial Aid and Information Technology, a new and improved TITAN Online went into production in June 2002. This new version of the web-based student information system was expanded to include new functionality, including: Admission Status, offering applicants the ability check the status of their application; Financial Statement, giving students the ability to select any term they have attended to obtain a printable financial statement showing charges, payments, financial aid, etc.; Web Payment, allowing students to pay by electronic check or credit card (Visa, MasterCard, AmEx) directly from TITAN Online; Deferred Payment Plan, providing students online application, enrollment, and immediate payment with their payment plan enrollment reflected in what they owe; and Degree Audit Report, offering students the ability to obtain a degree audit report showing them what they still need to take to meet graduation requirements (this is a "progress report" and not a Grad Check).

With the new TITAN Online in place for fall 2002 registration, a notable 59% of students opted to register via the Web while 41% used telephone registration. It is expected that these numbers will continue to diverge, with web registration dominating students increasingly rely on the Internet for their needs.

TitanCard Online Transactions

It's TitanCard team began providing online transaction services in August 2002. Since the inception of TitanCard web payment, web deposits have totaled over $12,000.00.

The new TitanCard site uses Cashnet, Cal State Fullerton's cashiering system, to offer TitanCard holders the ability to add value to TitanTender accounts (stored-value function of a TitanCard) by credit card. Additional features allow users to perform a balance inquiry, view transaction history (up to 4 months), request an account closure, and report a lost or stolen TitanCard. TitanCard staff members anticipate that students and parents will find the ability to add value on the Web a great convenience and popular alternative to the several options already available. To visit the new site, go to http://www.fullerton.edu/titancarddeposit.
Faculty can access this new feature by opening the TitanCard tab on the new Faculty Page; students can do likewise on their portal page.

Student Portal

The student portal is continuing to grow in popularity—since the launch in February 2002, an average of 2,700 students log into the portal daily. Just under 20,000 students have logged in at least one time, and 15,000 students have logged in more than once.

Phase II of the student portal went live in August of 2002. Following a successful introduction of phase I to the campus community in February 2002, phase II expanded the capabilities of the student portal by offering students access to many additional features, such as: News and Information, providing personalized messages and news to students at an individual, class, department, college, or university-wide level; A Day at CSUF, featuring a new article every day with information on campus life at Cal State Fullerton; TITAN Online, offering direct access to admission status, fee payment, financial statements, degree audit reports, and more; Finance, providing access to online web payment and transaction history; and TitanCard, providing access to TitanCard information, including credit card purchase and recent transaction history. Additional features will be added in the coming months.

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Bonjour! from Telephone Services

Bonjour! The greeting from the El Toro campus voicemail system was definitely very French. And although the prompt language has since been changed, the tone is now decidedly British. What's going on?

Telephone Services and InteCom (the CSUF telecommunications vendor) are currently involved with a product trial and evaluation of the Point Span 6501 (EADS) telecommunications system, telephone sets and other associated equipment at the El Toro Campus. It is the first ever installation within the United States, but there are over 100,000 similar systems presently installed in over eighty countries around the world.

The telephone set designs are innovative and truly unique, including one set option which utilizes a touch-pad to access features and answer calls. There has been a brief learning curve since the system offers the majority of the standard telephone features that we're all familiar with—just some under different designations.

An additional benefit is the cost effective convenience of the four digit dialing capability between both campuses. For example the El Toro main number is (949) 936-1600. To reach that extension from CSUF simply dial 1600. All El Toro campus extensions can be dialed this way. To find the direct extension for the faculty and staff at El Toro just check the Microsoft Outlook address book.

Within the near future we anticipate the opportunity to try out the associated Unified Messaging system and VoIP applications at the El Toro campus as well. We will keep you posted as we continue to evaluate these exciting telecommunications offerings.

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Tips

How can I get rid of junk mail?!

Receiving unsolicited commercial email, commonly called SPAM, in your Inbox is disruptive and time consuming. SPAM is annoying and the content often offensive. According to CAUCE (The Coalition Against Unsolicited Commercial Email), "UCE is the leading complaint of Internet users. But junk e-mail is more than just annoying, it costs Internet users and Internet-based businesses millions, even billions, per year. Junk e-mail is "postage due" marketing; it's like a telemarketer calling you collect. The economics of junk e-mail encourages massive abuse and because junk e-mailers can get into the business very cheaply, the volume of junk e-mail is increasing every day."

Unfortunately, as with the junk mail that you receive at home in your mailbox, there is no 100% effective way to prevent SPAM from reaching your Inbox.

The most effective way for you to deal with SPAM is to create filters that automatically sort your email when it is received. Filters sort your incoming email based on criteria that you specify, such as the sender or one or more keywords. For example, you could create a filter that moves any email sent by spammer@spammer.com to a "Junk Mail" folder, or even directly to the Deleted Items folder.

It is recommended that you do NOT respond to spam (or junk) e-mail by replying or even following an "unsubscribe" link in unsolicited e-mail. Responding to unsolicited mail only confirms that you have a live address and could lead to further solicitation and scams that can clog your e-mail Inbox.

Here are instructions on how create "Junk Mail" filters:

For PC users:
http://www.fullerton.edu/it/HelpDesk/pdf/SPAM_E-MAIL_PC.pdf

For Macintosh users:
http://www.fullerton.edu/it/HelpDesk/pdf/SPAM_E-MAIL_MAC.pdf

For other email frequently asked questions & answers:
http://www.fullerton.edu/it/helpdesk/faculty_staff_faq.htm

If you are interested in more information on SPAM, here are several links to get you started.

The Coalition Against Unsolicited Commercial Email
http://www.cauce.org/

Collection of information about SPAM
http://spam.abuse.net/

Consumer website maintained by the Direct Marketing Association
http://www.dmaconsumers.org/

Website that collects information about SPAM legislation
http://www.spamlaws.com/

ABC News - article on SPAM bill proposed by Senator Conrad Burns, Montana
http://abcnews.go.com/sections/scitech/TechTV/techtv_spambill020520.html

 

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TitanCard Offers Specialty Cards

Have you ever wanted to purchase custom badges for your department? TitanCard offers a wide variety of card solutions from department and/or conference badges to special event meal plan cards. Visit www.fullerton.edu/it/titancard for more information.

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Campus Software Update: Office XP

Installation Schedule
The software rollout to update the campus to Office XP has begun. A number of faculty and staff have been asking for the installation for some time and it is now ready. We will be using the same methodology we presented at the IT Update meeting to campus IT Coordinators in September. A schedule is posted to http://www.fullerton.edu/it/helpdesk/officeXPtech.htm.

Remote installation of Office XP has been tested successfully on all Information Technology and Library systems workstations. Over the remainder of the Fall 2002 semester, the Office XP suite installation process will begin through division and department units for the remaining campus workstations. Office XP installation is a two step process. For information on this please go to the link http://www.fullerton.edu/it/helpdesk/OfficeXP.htm.

Office 2000 vs. Office XP
Recent user feedback has indicated a smooth transition between Microsoft Office 2000 to Microsoft Office XP version. To visit the Microsoft website for a version comparison between Office 2000 and Office XP, click this link http://www.microsoft.com/office/evaluation/indepth/compare.asp.

The significant changes between the two products are:

• The new office clipboard (all applications)
• The new clip art browser-manager and design gallery live (all applications)
• Task panes (all applications)
• Document markup, tracking and version changes (Word and Excel)
• Slide Transition and Build effects in PowerPoint
• Word mail merge changes (including using Outlook contacts)
• New diagramming tools (all applications)
• New chart types in Excel

Training
After reviewing the training calendar at http://www.fullerton.edu/it/helpdesk/training_cal.htm and determining which class you wish to take, please call x4179. The recorded message will outline the information you need to leave at the tone. You will not receive a confirmation of the class. However, if the class is full, we will contact you to schedule another class time.

Please contact the Help Desk at x7777 if you have any questions.

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IT Service Recognition Award Winners

The Service Recognition Award was created to show staff members outside of IT our appreciation for their contributions and outstanding technical input and/or support to It's computing services.

October 2002 Sally Yassine (BFA) was presented with the service award for her efforts in purchase order processing during difficult budget times, and for work on the Blackberry software consolidation program for the campus.

Recent Service Recognition Award Winners:

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New Employees

No Photo Available: Stephen Cardoos Help Desk Gary Gardner Enterprise Computing Mae Sakamoto Enterprise Computing
	Laleh Graylee Enterprise Computing

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Publication Credits

Editor: Sarah Dvorak

The editorial staff would like to thank the following people for their contributions to this edition of IT Download: Sean Atkinson, Jeni Cansler, Amir Dabirian, Susan Lasswell, Chris Manriquez, Mike Marcinkevicz, and Mike Parker.

The Department of Information Technology
California State University, Fullerton

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