Past and Future: Working Together to Leverage IT to Meet Miami's Goals

Given Reid's love of analogies, it seems fitting to come up with one for use in this note to send our best wishes as he leaves for his new position as Vice Chancellor with the University System of Georgia. So I would like to imagine that IT is building a bridge. Continuing from the groundwork Reid has laid over the past four years, this bridge will leverage information technology to improve teaching, learning, research and administration, aligning with Miami's focused goals drafted by Dr. Hodge. This interim period will not be a period of "care-taking." We don't want to lose momentum. In Good to Great terms, we plan to keep the flywheel spinning. 

Miami’s Wireless Network: Getting “Smarter” To Serve You Better

What is found in every building on campus, is used by over 4,000 faculty, staff and students every day, and is ready for an upgrade? If you answered "Miami’s wireless network", you are right. Miami was on the leading edge when the wireless network was installed in 2004, but as with many new, evolving technologies, wireless technology improvements are constant and demand is growing.

HP Desktops, Laptops, Tablets Soon to be Seen on Miami Campuses

The BIGbuy process, in its second year, challenges computer vendors to deliver the best value on computers to Miami via a competitive bid process that details the computer specifications needed and requests that vendors return their best pricing.  This year the world’s largest PC maker, HP, made the strongest bid during this highly competitive process.

Class Rosters with Photos Now Available From myMiami

Instructors now have a new roster option available from within myMiami. In addition to the "Banner Class Roster" and "Banner Midterm Roster" that have always been available in the "My Courses" module of myMiami, there is a new "Photo Roster" choice.

Test Scoring System Results Now Easily Uploaded into Blackboard

A recent enhancement to the IT Services Print Center test scoring system simplifies the process of loading grade information into Blackboard.  Now, when an instructor requests that grade information from the test scoring system be delivered to their Universal Disk Space (UDS), a comma-separated (CSV) file is also delivered.  With a few easy steps, the grade information in the CSV file can be uploaded into Blackboard.

Pilot IT/Faculty Liaison Program Seeks to Deepen Link Between Faculty and IT Services

Discussions within the IT Strategic Advisory Council identified a communications gap between IT Services and individual faculty members. Faculty members often do not have knowledge of the services available or how to obtain them. IT Services often does not have broadly based knowledge of faculty initiatives and needs to aid in long-range planning. In an attempt to enhance communication with faculty, IT Services is piloting a new IT/Faculty Liaison Program pairing faculty members with IT Services staff members to enhance communication and ensure that IT is integrated with the university's academic mission.

School of Education Completes Pilot of Miami on iTunes U

The Miami on iTunes U project was launched by IT Services in June, 2007 in response to faculty requests for the iTunes U service. Miami on iTunes U provides access to academic digital media content via Apple’s iTunes Store - the popular online music, video, and podcasting service. In August, the School of Education and Allied Professions joined the project as a pilot academic area assisting in evaluation of the service in preparation for the spring university-wide launch.

IT Services Sponsors “DNS Best Practices Overview” by author Cricket Liu on 11/28/07

On Wednesday, November 28, 2007, IT Services will be offering a “Domain Name System (DNS) Best Practices Overview” by Cricket Liu. The presentation will be held from 2:00 -3:00 pm in the Shriver Multi-Purpose Rooms B & C.

Running Windows on a Mac:  A Quick Overview of the Options

You’ve seen the Apple commercials touting that you can run Windows on a Mac, but how do you actually do that? Now that Apple’s new version of Mac OS X (Leopard) has been released, there are several good options. The one that’s best for you depends on your needs and preferences.

Introducing the 2007-2008 Student Technology Advisory Committee

Miami’s Student Technology Advisory Committee (STAC) provides advice and guidance to the Vice President for Information Technology on issues related to student information technology. This year STAC's initiatives will include a pilot of Microsoft SharePoint collaboration software and investigation into student use of smart phone technology like Window Mobile, iPhone and Blackberry.

Charge for Virus Removal to Begin in January

IT Services will begin charging for virus/spyware removal from personally-owned student, faculty and staff computers effective January, 2008.

Miami makes site-licensed anti-virus and anti-spyware software available to all students, faculty and staff via the software download web page: www.muohio.edu/software. Use of this software and maintenance of Windows updates protects computers from most virus/spyware infection.

New Vendor for University Stationery and Business Cards Streamlines Ordering Process and Reduces Turnaround Time

A new vendor has been selected to produce official Miami University letterhead, envelopes, and business cards. Business Stationery Inc. provides a convenient, online ordering system, enabling departments to place orders as needed. This online system eliminates the need to process individual purchase orders, thus cutting out a large volume of invoices and checks. The new system provides direct posting of interdepartmental charges as well as an improvement of product delivery to 10 business days after receipt of the online order. Additionally, by using newer, more sophisticated print technology, this process will offer a more consistent, professional product.

muConnect Tips and Tricks
Outlook/Entourage/Outlook Web Access - Where are the pictures?

If you are using Microsoft Outlook, Entourage, or Outlook Web Access as your e-mail client, you may have noticed that pictures don’t automatically display in some of your e-mails. Instead of pictures, an information bar at the top of the message is displayed stating that pictures have been blocked; additionally, there are “X”s throughout the message where the pictures should be. If you want the pictures to display, you simply click the information bar and they will download.

Outcome of the IT Services Support Desk Summer "Office 2007 15-minute Guarantee"

Miami made Office 2007 available for installation on university computers near the end of the Spring 2007 term. Knowing that Microsoft Office is used for many purposes in the classroom, for e-mail in the muConnect Exchange environment, and for everyday work in offices across campus, the IT Services Support Desk took strong measures to ensure that the staff was trained and ready to assist students, faculty, and staff as they made the transition to the new Windows version of Office.

Student Tech Fee Dollars at Work: 2007-2008 Discipline-Specific Software Purchases Enrich the Curriculum

As part of Miami’s commitment to ensuring students have access to and become fluent with the most current information technologies in their fields of study, Miami allocates a portion of the student technology fee for acquisition of discipline-specific software. This software is identified by schools and departments as being important to course curricula and is acquired for use in the classroom or delivery to students on their personally-owned computers, for the term of their enrollment in the class in which the software is used.

IT Services Increases Support for Mobile Devices

Smartphones are becoming more common on campus, and the technology that they bring creates new opportunities for getting more work done. Smartphones, however, are no different than any other device in that they require specialized support.

Is Your Password Strong?
Miami’s Password Utility Now Lets You Know

The next time you change your MUnet password, Miami’s password reset utility will let you know how strong your new password really is. And if isn’t rated at least “strong” on a scale of “very weak” to “very strong”, the value won’t be accepted.