http://its.psu.edu/news/ TechNews, a summary of news about information technology at Penn State, is provided periodically as a service of Information Technology Services (ITS). en-us ©2009 The Pennsylvania State UniversityMon, 23 Nov 2009 19:37:58 -0500 http://its.psu.edu/news/story-1154 To optimize the performance of Penn State's Course Management System, ANGEL, during fall finals week, the Import Wizard and Export Wizard tools will be turned off from 4:00 a.m. Saturday, December 12 until 6:00 a.m. Saturday, December 19. These tools include the Copy Course, import Content Package, import Master Course, and export ANGEL Archive functions. Note: During finals week, instructors can continue to create course content and create master courses and learning object repositories. Students can continue to upload/download files and access lesson content. The tools for importing and exporting individual lesson content items between courses and groups will be turned off as well. These are only temporary changes to improve ANGEL performance during the period of intense usage associated with finals week. The Copy Course tool allows instructors to copy one of their existing ANGEL courses into another course section. A master course is a special course set up as a template that multiple instructors can import into another course section. The ANGEL Archive tool is used to download a backup of a course as a ZIP file; this file can then be imported into another section using the import Content Package tool. Instructors who need to use these tools to set up a course for the spring semester are encouraged to plan ahead and perform necessary course imports or exports prior to finals week. For any questions, contact ANGEL support at angelsupport@psu.edu. Mon, 23 Nov 2009 19:29:10 EST http://its.psu.edu/news/story-1152 Enter to Win a PC Netbook! Register to win an Eee PC Netbook by participating in Penn State's Take Control Computer Security contest. Meet the "ITS Squirrel," learn nine steps to keep you and your computer safe, and enter the contest at: http://its.psu.edu/takecontrol/. Take Control is a University-wide campaign, sponsored by Information Technology Services, to increase awareness of computer security dangers and to help students, faculty, and staff protect themselves, their data, and their computers. Go to http://its.psu.edu/takecontrol/ and enter the contest today! Thu, 12 Nov 2009 10:07:10 EST http://its.psu.edu/news/story-1149 Students in any major at University Park may apply to become a Technology Learning Assistant (TLA) for the spring 2010 semester. The TLA program is a one-credit course through which students provide participating faculty members with five to ten tutoring sessions on technology-related teaching, learning, and class management topics. These topics can include basic computer skills, e-mail and file organization, PowerPoint, Excel, creating Web pages, and other applications. TLAs also demonstrate how to use Penn State services such as ANGEL, podcasting and iTunes U, Adobe Connect, ITS Streaming Services, and the Blogs at Penn State. Students in the TLA program gain one-on-one consulting experience, practice communication and organizational skills, and earn one credit with the possibility of earning wages in subsequent semesters. To apply to become a TLA for the spring 2010 semester or for more information about the program, visit http://tlt.its.psu.edu/tla/students/ . Wed, 11 Nov 2009 23:44:13 EST http://its.psu.edu/news/story-1150 Faculty members at University Park can apply to have a technology-savvy student provide one-on-one assistance on a range of technology-related teaching, learning, and class management topics. Through the Technology Learning Assistant (TLA) program, students work with faculty in their offices on PowerPoint, Excel, file management, e-mail, Web page development, electronic gradebook software, and other applications and tools. TLAs can also demonstrate how to use Penn State services such as ANGEL, podcasting and iTunes U, Adobe Connect desktop videoconferencing, ITS Streaming Services, and the Blogs at Penn State. Requests are now being accepted for TLA placement during the spring 2010 semester. To request a TLA or to learn more about the TLA program, visit http://tlt.its.psu.edu/tla/ . Wed, 11 Nov 2009 23:35:26 EST http://its.psu.edu/news/story-1153 Penn State faculty and staff are invited to submit a proposal for presentation at the thirteenth annual Penn State Web 2010 Conference, scheduled for Monday and Tuesday, June 7 and 8, 2010, 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., at the Penn Stater Conference Center Hotel at University Park. Proposal criteria and the submission forms are available at http://webconference.psu.edu/call/. Multiple submissions are welcome; however, each proposal must be submitted separately. Though this conference is designed for the Penn State community, the Web Conference committee entertains nominations for presenters from outside of the Penn State system. Proposals must be submitted by 5:00 p.m. on Friday, December 4, 2009. Suggested topic areas are inclusive of but not limited to: * Innovative uses of the Web * Collaboration and Communication * Applications for Web development * Works in progress * Security issues * Usability * Accessibility * Design * Content management * Web communication technologies (RSS, blogs, wikis, podcasting, Twitter, chat, and other collaborative technologies) Web 2010 presentations will be placed within tracks. The tentative tracks for the conference include: Penn State Services, Marketing and Communications, Management, Social Networking and Building Communities, TechMasters, Usability, Accessibility and Standards, and Progressive Strategies. As part of the proposal form, you will be asked to self-select in which tracks you feel that your proposal might fit. The Web Conference Programming Committee reserves the option to consider your proposal for openings in alternate tracks when appropriate. Presenter guidelines for the conference are available at: http://webconference.psu.edu/presenterguide/. The conference is open to University employees, especially those who support an official Penn State Web site as a server administrator, writer, content manager, designer, programmer or manager. Last year's conference offered twenty-four sessions and attracted more than 400attendees from several campus locations. More information about the conference is available at http://webconference.psu.edu/. Please share this information with colleagues who may be interested in presenting at this year's conference. Inquiries regarding the proposal process can be directed to the conference planners at webproposals@psu.edu. Wed, 11 Nov 2009 23:25:50 EST http://its.psu.edu/news/story-1151 Voters may have already rocked the vote on November 3, but students, faculty and staff can continue the democratic process by voting for their favorite “December Deals” products at Penn State’s Computer Store this month. From printers to accessories, Penn State community members can vote for great products with remarkably reduced prices. Visit http://computerstore.psu.edu/vote/ between November 9 and 17 to cast your vote and register to win a prize. Winning products and prize winners will be announced on November 18, so be on the lookout for more information. Once the votes are tallied, products will be on sale at the Computer Store December 1-18 — just in time for the gift giving season. Visit the Computer Store 365Ă—24x7 for great deals and store hours by going to http://computerstore.psu.edu/, or visit one of the Computer Store Showrooms in the HUB-Robeson Center and in Willard Building at University Park. Wed, 11 Nov 2009 23:20:02 EST