Winter 2010

 

Welcome
Shawn Beattie, ITS, editor

Welcome to Augie Techknowledge from ITS, an e-newsletter to share "what's new" in ITS and provide useful tips and articles on Information Technology at Augustana.  We hope you like it and find it useful.  The newsletter will be archived on the ITS web site at http://www.augustana.edu/itsfiles/techknowledge.  Enjoy! 


In this issue:
Netbooks in the Computing Spectrum
Emails to delete & ignore
Students: Google Apps Training Coming Soon
Switching to Seven
Cell phones in the classroom?
Best wishes to Dennis Hurd
Tip: How to Drag Content in Word
 

Netbooks in the Computing Spectrum
Shawn Beattie, ITS

In the past two years or so, a new category of small laptops has formed.  Called netbooks, they are now a prominent fixture in libraries, Starbucks, and commuter trains all over the country.  Most users adopt these as a second or third PC.  So, what is a netbook and why would you want one?  A netbook is defined by some as merely a miniature laptop; others define it by both size and price.  Typically costing less than $400, netbooks offer a smaller screen, smaller keyboard, and a slower processor.  However, netbooks are plenty fast for simple e-mail and web-browsing.  Hence, netbook users are willing to sacrifice screen real estate and speed for less weight, lower cost, and longer battery life -- usually 5 to 6 hours. Weighing in at a tiny 2 pounds or about 1 kilogram, one notable item that is also missing from these computers is an optical drive.  In the era of cheap flash drives, most people do not miss the optical drive until they try to install software from CDs.  For those of you who do purchase a netbook and need to install software from CD, ITS has two USB CD-ROM drives available for checkout.

It is unclear whether Apple's recently announced iPad falls in the netbook category or is more of an e-book, like the Amazon Kindle DX.  Personal computing has become more of a spectrum of devices from smartphones to desktop PCs. Many devices like the iPad will eschew categorization and merely take their place in the spectrum.   So, whether you browse on a Blackberry, compute on a Kindle, message on a Macbook, or note-take on a netbook -- happy computing!

Emails to delete & ignore
Scott Dean, ITS

Several people have reported receiving an email from "Augustana College" stating that maintenance and upgrades are being done on our website and asking for your user name and  password. 

These emails do not come from ITS.  While they can be annoying, if you do receive messages like these simply delete and ignore them.  If you happen to reply with your user name and password you’ll need to change your password immediately.  You can easily change your password from an on-campus Windows computer by pressing Ctrl-Alt-Delete and clicking the Change Password button.  To change your password from off-campus or from a Mac, use http://moodle.augustana.edu and select the "change your password" link on the left side of the web page.  Students can change their e-mail password by logging in and clicking on Settings, then Accounts, and clicking on the "change password" link.

For future reference, we will never ask you for your user name and password via e-mail.  You can also spot these scams as they are never from an individual, they are usually from some generic name like ‘Augustana College’ or ‘Augustana Web Team’.  For the most part, when we send email out to our users, they’ll come from an individual, not some generic account - and even then, we will not request private information.

Useful tips to avoid becoming a victim of a phishing scam:

As always, if you have any questions or concerns please let me know at scottdean@augustana.edu.

Students: Google Apps Training Coming Soon
Shawn Beattie and Beth Whitty, ITS

Students - have you been utilizing your @augustana.edu Google Apps account for just e-mail?  There's much more that you can do!  Organizing your life with Google's calendar, sharing documents with other students, storing files safely, and creating simple but attractive web pages are all features available just a few clicks away.  This spring, ITS will be offering four short sessions showing you exactly how to take advantage of some of these features.  You might want to put these dates & times in your....Google Calendar!

3/17 Wed 4:00-­5:00pm
Using Google Apps to share & edit documents with other students
3/22 Mon 4:00-­5:00pm
Using Google Sites to create your own web page
3/24 Wed 4:00-­5:00pm

Using Google Apps to share & edit documents with other students
3/29 Mon 4:00-­5:00pm
Using Google Sites to create your own web page

All workshops will be held in Olin 110
 


 

Switching to Seven
Chris Vaughan, ITS

At the end of the Spring term, ITS will begin the process of upgrading campus Windows XP computers to Microsoft’s newest operating system, Windows 7.  Augustana campus PC’s have been running XP for about 8 years-- a long life in the world of technology. Despite Microsoft’s release of Vista, the predecessor of Windows 7,  ITS did not migrate the campus due to industry wide concerns regarding the reliability of Vista, incompatibility with existing hardware as well as the absence of major software vendors willing to redesign their software to conform to Vista. Additionally many students remained on XP, many even ordering new machines with the older operating system.

Professional reviews of Windows 7 however are much more positive and indicate 7 is a much more stable environment than Windows XP or Vista.  Printers, scanners, external drives and other hardware accessories attach seamlessly, securing any necessary drivers automatically from the web. Major software vendors such as Adobe, SPSS, and Datatel have released versions compatible with Windows 7.  Most students are arriving on campus with Windows 7 installed on their PC’s.

Don’t worry, there will be many opportunities for learning about the new features. On the screen, Windows 7 is not much different from XP, certainly nowhere near the changes Microsoft incorporated into Office 2007 products. Accessing programs by double clicking on icons placed on the desktop continues, as well as the venerable “Start” button.

One of the more interesting features of Windows 7 is a new task bar. The Quick Launch toolbar is gone. A user can now ‘pin’ applications to the toolbar (Internet Explorer and Windows Explorer are here by default). Applications are now launched and managed from the toolbar. All open windows of a given application will be grouped together under a single icon. A user can simply hover over this icon to get a thumbnail sized live look-in to each window, a feature known as “Aero Peek”.  While this may take some getting used to, we really like that it organizes windows better and allows a user to change applications more quickly and easily.

The migration to Windows 7 will begin in the student computer labs. Unfortunately, updating PCs with the new operating system requires backing up files and settings, erasing the hard drive and installing Windows 7, followed by restoring software, files, and settings. This type of upgrade is time consuming and upgrading the labs will likely take most of the summer months. ITS will be working with faculty, staff and administrative offices to find a convenient time to upgrade office PCs as a group throughout the 2010-11 academic year. The goal is to have all of the campus windows machines upgraded to Windows 7 by summer 2011.

Stay tuned for more information about the upgrade to Windows 7 and don't hesitate to contact me at ChrisVaughan@augustana.edu with questions.


Cell phones in the classroom?
Shawn Beattie, ITS

Do cell phones have a place in the classroom?  No doubt, cell phones are already used in the classroom - for under-the-table texting - but what about sanctioned and academically constructive use?  After all, the microprocessors in today's smartphones are more powerful than turn-of-the-millennium laptops.  Some potential uses for cell phones include polling or voting, texting to spur discussion, and as portable audio capture devices. 

ITS and the Tredway library will spend an upcoming LunchBytes session exploring whether the time has come for faculty to encourage participation, both in and out of class, using this ubiquitous technology. 

LunchBytes - "Cell phones for academic use" -  will be Tuesday, March 23 at 11:30 @ Tredway Library 2nd floor.  Pizza will be provided. Bring your own beverage....and your cell phone! LunchBytes is a joint program of Tredway Library and ITS exploring teaching resources and issues in higher education.
 

Best Wishes to Dennis Hurd
ITS Staff

Over the past 13 years, Dennis Hurd, Microcomputer Support Manager, has been a venerable part of the ITS staff, seeing us through many upgrades and initiatives.  We wish him all the best as he retires from the college and moves to a new phase in life -- more time with grandkids and more time in the wood shop, among other things.  If you have any support issues that you would normally have sent to Dennis, please direct these to Chris Vaughan for the time being.

Best wishes, Denny! 

Tip: How to Drag content in Word
Beth Whitty, ITS

 



 

When you need to copy information from one Word 2007 document to another, you could use the Copy button to copy the selected information from one document, open the destination document, click where you want to insert it, and then click the Paste button. Or, you could just right-click and drag the information from one document to another. Word 2007’s View Side By Side feature makes it easy to do just that.

Let’s say you want to copy a picture in Document A to Document B. Follow these steps:

1. Open Document A.
2. Open Document B and scroll to where you want to insert the picture.
3. Click the View tab.
4. Click the View Side By Side command in the Window group.
5. Click in Document B and then click Window under the View tab.
6. Click Synchronous Scrolling to turn it off.
7. Select the picture in Document A.
8. Right-click and drag the selected picture to where you want to insert the picture in Document B.
9. Release the mouse button and select Copy Here.
10. After copying your selections, you can turn off the View Side By Side feature by clicking Window under the View tab of the active window and then clicking the View Side By Side command.

Click to see information about upcoming ITS workshops

Have a great Spring Break!
-ITS