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Technology Update - August 22, 2012

Table of Contents

Best Wireless Performance for Windows Laptops Requires a 5 GHz Wi-Fi Card
Sophos Endpoint Anti-Virus Protection is Here!
Mobile Learn
Switch to AnyConnect VPN Client
Blackboard Learn: Drexel's New Learning Management System
StudyMate Author Upgrade Available
New Features in iWebfolio Version 4.8
Adding NBC Learn Content
New Turnitin Feature: Voice Commenting
Sign Up for OLT Workshops

Best Wireless Performance for Windows Laptops Requires a 5 GHz Wi-Fi Card

When purchasing a Windows laptop, check that your system configuration includes a Wi-Fi card that will operate in both the 2.4 and 5 GHz radio frequency. Laptop computer manufacturers often obscure the Wi-Fi radio specifications or offer a less capable card limited to operating in the 2.4 GHz radio frequency only. Don't fall prey to manufacturers that boast high performance because their Wi-Fi radio supports the "n" standard.

When configuring your laptop, confirm that the manufacturer explicitly states the Wi-Fi radio has dual-band support in both 2.4 and 5 GHz radio frequencies or the specifications specifically include Wi-Fi a/b/g/n  or 802.11 a/b/g/n. The presence of the letter "a" indicates the radio operates in the 5 GHz frequency; this is the performance differentiator.

If you are thinking that the discussion of dual-band radio frequencies is hurting your head, we understand. But here is the lowdown of why it's important to spend a little extra time and money to configure your Windows laptop for optimal Wi-Fi performance.

On Drexel's urban campus, the Wi-Fi air space is littered with foreign networks operating in the 2.4 GHz frequency. If your laptop only supports this single frequency, it must compete among the three available radio channels with hundreds of Apple iPhones, Comcast Xfinity Wireless, Wireless Philadelphia, and many other foreign networks that operate exclusively in the 2.4 GHz frequency. If you want to avoid this radio frequency competition, you need a dual-frequency Wi-Fi radio.

NOTE: Apple laptops are sold exclusively with dual-band Wi-Fi radios, so there are no Wi-Fi configurations to check at purchase time. Regardless of what model laptop you select, once on campus, remember to run the DragonFly3 Installation Wizard to ensure you achieve the best Wi-Fi performance on campus.

If you are not sure if the Windows laptop you are considering is single-band or dual-band, look under the laptop’s wireless device/Wi-Fi card specifications on the box, label, or product Web page.

If you are having trouble finding this information, contact the laptop manufacturer (Dell, HP, Lenovo, etc.) or contact the IRT Help Desk at consult@drexel.edu or 215-895-2020.

Sophos Endpoint Anti-Virus Protection is Here!

Drexel is now offering Sophos Endpoint Protection anti-virus/malware/intrusion detection across the campus community. In addition to providing reliable protection, Sophos allows IRT Security to better identify computers that have been compromised by malware or viruses with minimal interruption to both the end user and the network at large.

Sophos EndPoint Protection replaced Symantec EndPoint Protection as of July 31. If you installed Symantec from the software site, it will no longer receive updates for virus definitions!

If you log into the Drexel domain, Sophos will be installed and Symantec will be removed from your computer automatically.

However, if you do NOT see a Sophos icon (a white shield with a blue "S") in your taskbar or menu bar, that means Sophos is NOT installed. You will need to install Sophos manually by downloading and running the installer from the software site.

If you have any trouble with the manual install, contact the IRT Help Desk (215-895-2020 or consult@drexel.edu) for assistance.

For more installation instructions, please see under "Software" on IRT's FAQ page. See also IRT's Best Practices page for information on updating and changing settings in Sophos. For questions or concerns, please contact security@drexel.edu, or IRT’s Help Desk at 215-895-2020 or consult@drexel.edu.

Mobile Learn

Blackboard Mobile Learn is now available to Drexel users as a free mobile application that brings interactive teaching and learning to mobile devices. Students and instructors have full access to their course information directly from their devices with an intuitive application designed specifically for each mobile platform. Users can check grades and assignments, view documents, create threaded discussion posts and comment on blogs and journals, view course rosters, and more.

Mobile Learn is available for iOS, Android, BlackBerry, and HP webOS. Check it out in your devices' app store or visit Blackboard Mobile to learn more.

Switch to AnyConnect VPN Client

The Cisco VPN client will soon be retired. If you use this client, you should switch to the Cisco AnyConnect client as soon as possible.

To begin the automated installation process, log in at http://vpn.drexel.edu and click "Start AnyConnect." The client will guide you through the rest of the installation process.

For more information about AnyConnect and WebVPN, visit the VPN FAQ on our Web site or contact the IRT Help Desk at 215-895-2020 or consult@drexel.edu.

News and Notes from the Online Learning Team

Blackboard Learn: Drexel's New Learning Management System

Drexel's Learning Management System (LMS) was recently upgraded from Bb Vista/Bb Classic to Blackboard Learn (http://learn.drexel.edu). Learn provides a centralized location for online courses and face-to-face courses with online content. All online courses will now be presented in Learn.

The Online Learning Team (OLT) is currently offering workshops on Learn.  To view the full workshop listing, visit the OLT's Workshops page; to reserve a seat, email olt@drexel.edu. For self-paced training materials, including a wide array of instructional videos and documentation, visit the OLT's Learn Tutorials page.

If you have any questions or concerns about Learn, please contact the Online Learning Team at olt@drexel.edu or 215-895-1224.

StudyMate Author Upgrade Available

Respondus, Inc. has released an updated version of StudyMate Author that includes several enhancements:

  • DOCX imports are now supported.
  • Multiple item types can be imported from the same file if you are using the DOCX format.
  • An "Expanded View" function has been added to the "Item List" to provide greater visibility to items while editing.
  • The "Item List" has been updated with a context menu and new functionality.
  • Authentication has been improved for both Blackboard Learn and CourseSites (Blackboard-hosted trial courses).

To view the complete list of enhancements, visit Respondus' page regarding the StudyMate patch.

Users can obtain the StudyMate Author update by following these steps:

  1. Start StudyMate Author.
  2. Select "Help" from the menu bar.
  3. Click "Check For Update,” then "Get Update."
  4. StudyMate Author will exit and the update will automatically be applied.

If you would like to learn more about StudyMate Author, please contact the Online Learning Team at olt@drexel.edu or 215-895-1224.

New Features in iWebfolio Version 4.8

On July 6, Nuventive updated iWebfolio. Here are some highlights:

  • iWebfolio is now 100% secure (each page is HTTPS).
  • Students can now renew their accounts in DrexelOne.
  • Users can upload and attach a file in a single step.
  • A new feature has been added for importing Microsoft Word documents.
  • An icon has been added to the FCK editor for embedding YouTube and Vimeo videos.

For more information, please see the iWebfolio 4.8 Release Notes on Nuventive's Web site.

Adding NBC Learn Content

Do you want to add online content to your course that will appeal to the always-on generation? Some parts of the NBC video archive are available for free and can be easily linked in a Blackboard course. A much larger portion of the archive is available by subscription.

You can access NBC Learn content at www.nbclearn.com. There, you can watch the video introduction by Brian Williams and browse the entire collection of videos and historic documents, which are organized by subjects ranging from African American Studies and Agriscience to Sociology and Women's Studies. As a guest, you can view 15 seconds of video in the main collection, but you can view the entirety of any movie in "Free Resources." Each video is accompanied by a transcript as well as optional closed captioning.

The free collection currently includes clips on:

  • Science of the Summer Olympics
  • Science Behind the News
  • Science of NHL Hockey
  • Science of NFL Football
  • Chemistry Now
  • Changing Planet
  • Science of the Olympic Winter Games
  • Finishing the Dream
  • Sinking of the Titanic

You can add a link to any of these resources in a Learn course either by creating a Web Link or by creating a hyperlink within the description or instructions field of an Item or Assignment.

To create a Web Link:

  1. Right-click on the video thumbnail and choose "Copy Link Location," "Copy link address," or "Copy Shortcut," depending on your browser.
  2. In Learn, with Edit Mode on, navigate to a content area.
  3. Hover over "Build Content" and click "Web Link."
  4. Give the link a meaningful name and paste the location information into the URL field.
  5. Click "Submit."

To create a hyperlink within a description or instructions field (i.e., in an Item or Assignment):

  1. Right-click on the thumbnail and choose "Copy Link Location," "Copy link address," or "Copy shortcut," depending on your browser.
  2. In Learn, with Edit Mode on, hover over "Build Content" and click "Item" to create an Item. To create an Assignment, hover over "Assessments" and click "Assignment."
  3. Enter a title in the Name field and appropriate descriptive text in the textbox.
  4. Select one or several keywords to hyperlink in the textbox.
  5. Click the Hyperlink icon (looks like a globe) and insert the location information in the URL field.
  6. Click "Submit."

At the time of this writing, Drexel University does not subscribe to the full NBC Learn collection. A 30-day free trial is available to individuals through the NBC Learn site. The OLT is gathering feedback on NBC Learn, so please let us know what you think at olt@drexel.edu.

New Turnitin Feature: Voice Commenting

In addition to its plagiarism detection and PeerMark (peer review) feature, Turnitin's GradeMark online grading and markup feature has proven very popular. With GradeMark, instructors can make QuickMark text comments on a formatted version of the student's paper, or insert saved comments from Turnitin's QuickMark library.

The instructor can also make general comments on the paper by entering text, and/or by using the new audio recording tool to record comments of up to three minutes in length. To access GradeMark and make text or voice comments on a student paper:

  1. Navigate to the Turnitin Assignment Inbox:
    1. Under Control Panel, select Course Tools > Turnitin Assignments.
    2. Click on the name of the Turnitin assignment.
  2. Next to the student's paper, click the Grade icon (looks like a blue pencil). The paper will open in GradeMark with the QuickMark pane active on the right.
  3. If a blue "Getting Started" screen appears, click "Close."
  4. Access the General Comments pane by clicking on the speech bubble icon at the bottom of the right-hand pane. (Hovering over the icon will show the tool tip, "View/edit a general comment for this entire paper.")
  5. The Voice Comment tool appears at the top of the pane, and the Text Comment tool appears below it. To record a voice comment (three minutes maximum), click on the microphone icon. If you make a mistake, click on the trash can icon to delete the voice comment.

Since audio and text comments can be made, the text can be a transcript of the audio.

Sign Up for OLT Workshops

The Online Learning Team conducts training sessions on Learn, Camtasia, DragonDrop, Web basics, Mac OS X, Respondus, SharePoint, and more. In addition, several brown bag lunches and workshops on technology products of interest are held each month. These training sessions are open to members of Drexel’s community as well as the general public.

To reserve a spot at any of these workshops, email us at olt@drexel.edu with your name, institution (if other than Drexel), contact information, and the name of the workshop(s) you would like to attend.

Below is a sampling of workshops taking place in August and September:

Learn Full Day Workshops
Friday, September 7, 9:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m.

OS X Mountain Lion
Thursday, August 23, 11:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m., Korman 105-D

University Events Calendar Training
Thursday, August 30, 2:00 p.m. – 3:00 p.m.

Introduction to Sitecore
Thursday, August 23, 2:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m.
Wednesday, September 19, 2:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m.

Visit our Web site for our complete training schedule and workshop descriptions. Unless otherwise noted, all training sessions will be held in room 116 of the Korman Center (off the Quad on Drexel's University City Campus, 33rd Street between Market and Chestnut Streets).