Category Archives: Tech News

Forward GroupWise to Gmail

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There are two sets of directions for forwarding GroupWise included in this post: desktop client and web access.

DESKTOP CLIENT INSTRUCTIONS

Open GroupWise from the desktop client if you haven’t already done so

Select Tools then Rule from the menu

Select the New button

Give your rule a name.  Example: Forward to gmail

Check the Received box for determining when the event is a new item.  Then check the Mail box under item types.

Select the Add Action button

Then choose  Forward

Delete your name in the From: box
Type in your CFCC Gmail address in the To: box (make sure it ends in @mail.cfcc.edu)
Click OK


Congratulations! You are now forwarding your GroupWise to Gmail!  You should see the rule displayed below. Click the Close button.

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WEB ACCESS CLIENT INSTRUCTIONS

Open GroupWise from the Web Access client if you haven’t already done so

Select Options from the upper right hand corner.

Select the Rules tab

Select Forward for Type
Then select the Create button


Type in a Rule name
Type in your CFCC Gmail address in the To: box (make sure it ends in @mail.cfcc.edu)
Click Save

You may or may not see a warning box in reference to defining a condition.  Click OK. Congratulations! You are now forwarding your GroupWise to Gmail.

Take A Princeton Course – For Free

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Would you like to take Cryptography, Introduction to Sustainability, Modern and Contemporary American Poetry, or Algorithms Part I?  These are just a few of the currently available MOOC’s.

MOOC stands for Massive Open Online Course; meaning, free and open enrollment to anyone, anywhere.  The traditional MOOC typically touts student enrollment from hundreds to thousands of students for one class.  Yes–thousands.

Courses are developed and delivered by faculty at prominent institutions like Duke, MIT, Harvard, Princeton, etc.  These institutions are partnering together with organizations like Coursera, edx and Udacity to create a unified course delivery system for the MOOCs.

While MOOC courses don’t offer the same level of credit that traditional university courses offer, some provide certificates upon successful completion of the course.  There are rumors of MOOC certificates earning street cred, particularly for hiring purposes in large technology corporations around the globe.  If you have certificates in Computer Architecture and Computing for Data Analysis then you will be a more desirable hire than the guy with none.

I am currently enrolled in my second MOOC, Gamification, taught by Kevin Warbach from the University of Pennsylvania.  The course is designed with a series of video lectures, quizzes, and discussion forums.  I enjoy the open format. People from all other the world are enrolled and right away you get a sense of community with the other participants.  It’s easy to enroll in a course and if you don’t have time to finish it, you didn’t waste your money! New courses are starting all the time, there are no traditional semesters.

Check out available MOOC’s at:

  • Coursera – a company who has partnered with 16 of the world’s top universities to offer a wide range of free courses across disciplines. (Stanford, Princeton, Michigan…)
  •  edX – originally developed by MIT.  They have recently partnered with Harvard and Berkeley.  Most of their courses are technical.
  • Udacity – courses from a range of universities.  Most of their courses focus on the technical.

 More on MOOC’s

Good MOOC’s, Bad MOOC’s @ Chronicle of Higher Edcuation

Instruction for Masses Knocks Down Campus Walls @ NYTimes

What It’s Like to Teach a MOOC (and What The Heck’s a MOOC?) @ The Atlantic

Did you know…we have a website?

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Yes, it’s true. CFCC has its own Instructional Technology website. This website provides faculty and staff with tons of resources for technology based-applications.

Including:

  • Workshop schedule (they are all free!)
  • Registration page for workshops
  • Do-It-Yourself Resources page that provides handouts, material, or tutorials for all Instructional Technology workshops offered here at CFCC.  If you can’t make a particular workshop and would love to learn more about it, this is the perfect place to go.
  • Web tools and applications for learning.  These tools range from online note-taking applications to creating accessible multimedia for your courses.
  • Equipment available for checkout to faculty and staff.

This is all for YOU! The Instructional Technology Unit was created to provide support and resources for the faculty/staff. We want to effectively and creatively use technology both in  instruction and the workplace at CFCC.

If you don’t know where or how to get started, have questions, need suggestions… please contact me! That is what I’m here for!

Bethanne Winzeler
phone extension: 7038
bwinzeler@cfcc.edu

Google Security & Privacy Concerns

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In Fall 2011, CFCC acquired and implemented Google Apps for Education.  The primary  application utilized is the email accounts that serve as the school email for students.  However, all faculty, staff, and students not only have access to its email service but other Google Applications such as Google Docs (the productivity suite), Calendar, and Sites.

A reoccurring theme seems to pop up whenever discussions begin in regards to the benefits of storing files and information in the “cloud”.   Security and Privacy.  With some legitimate concern, Google has long been plagued with the Big Brother syndrome.  They are watching our every move and selling our information to advertisers.

This is not the case when we refer to Google Apps for Education.  Google’s Security Privacy Policy clearly states in reference to its users:

  • It’s your content, not ours. Your Apps content belongs to your school, or individual users at your school. Not Google.
  • We don’t look at your content. Google employees will only access content that you store on Apps when an administrator from your domain grants Google employees explicit permission to do so for troubleshooting.
  • We don’t share your content. Google does not share personal information with advertisers or other 3rd parties without your consent.
  • We sometimes scan content. And for very good reasons, like spam filtering, anti-virus protection, or malware detection. Our systems scan content to make Apps work better for users, enabling unique functionality like powerful search in Gmail and Google Docs. This is completely automated and involves no humans.

As far as security goes, Google goes to great lengths to protect our information.  Law firms, Fortune 500 companies, and other higher ed institutions use Google Apps to store their files and information.

Google Apps Security Whitepaper

Another thing to consider- to access your Google Apps associated with CFCC, you have to be logged into the MyCFCC portal. Think about it…

Still not convinced?  Take a virtual tour of one of Google’s Data Centers

Or, for the more “interactive” approach, visit the Story of Send where Google takes through the entire process of sending an email.

Give Google a chance, it might just change your life–for the better.

 

It’s OK to disconnect

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I am somewhat of an anomaly as an instructional technologist.

Meaning, technology and I– we have a love/hate relationship. You know, it’s complicated. It’s not you technology, it’s me.

It is my job to stay on top of “current and emerging” technologies. Try new things, test new things, create new things. Have the research and case studies handy to back up its effectiveness in education.  And ultimately coax and encourage  adoption of these “things” by the faculty and staff.  What goes on in the digital world is nothing short of a 1000 miracles.  I should know, I spend 8 hours a day living in it. I freakin’ love it.

It’s FASCINATING,  the speed of digital evolution. The effect it has on our lives [and if you're really feeling philosophical, human evolution].

BUT – when I leave work, I pull the plug. I disconnect from the digital world.  There is no smart phone in my possession, I do not touch a computer outside of work. And guess what??? I am still alive and [gasp] have a healthy social life.  There have been times (no joke) when I go all weekend without  using a phone.  What do I do? I hang out with human beings, garden, swim, bike, run, read books. It’s GLORIOUS.

The Trend

A single mother and her three teenagers took digital technology rebellion to a higher level and went 6 months without electronic media .  She lived to tell the tale in The Winter of Our Disconnect. Read it.

Ivan Cash started a project Snail Mail my Email on July 15th in which you type a message to a friend, lover, family member via email and volunteers hand-write it then send it via snail mail free of charge.  True, its not yourhandwriting, but the recipient will be overjoyed to find a good ole’ fashioned letter in their mailbox. Update: There has been such an overwhelming response they have pulled the site to restructure and  meet the needs of the project.

Other projects have popped up globally like the recent National Day of Unplugging by Sabbath Manifesto or the free application, Freedom, that forces your computer to go offline for up to 8 hours at a time. There are even apps to prevent you from texting while driving.

It’s natural that a world becoming so increasingly ”connected” would eventually see a trend to disconnect.  No need to go to extremes, it just takes a little practice in the lost art of self discipline.

Take it from a girl who unplugs regularly.  It’s refreshing.

thanks John M. for the picture pose