Technology Update - December 6, 2012

Table of Contents

Phishing Protection and Prevention
Spam and Blacklist Prevention Measures
Be Wary of Smartphone Malware
Add Drexel as a Safe Sender in Outlook
Windows RT and AnyConnect VPN
Gmail Prompt for Browser Update
ListServ Tip: Good Subscription Practices
Call for Proposals: 11th Annual e-Learning 3.0 Conference
Minimum Attendee Requirement for Apple Workshops
Drexel Learn Update
Wimba Troubleshooting Tip
Blackboard Learn Grade Center Step-by-Step
Camtasia Relay Upgrade and New Features
Sign Up for OLT Workshops

Phishing Protection and Prevention

Malicious individuals are constantly developing new viruses and phishing scams. Computer users need to remain vigilant and follow basic safety precautions to prevent theft of personal information and keep their computers free from infection (though IRT does filter incoming and outgoing mail for suspected phishing scams and potential viruses).

Realize that if you fall for a phishing scam, you are not the only one affected—the community at large can be affected, too. External domains (such as Comcast) can blacklist the Drexel domain when one compromised @drexel.edu account is turned into a spambot that attacks users of the external domain. In this case, blacklisting means that any email sent to a blacklisting domain from any Drexel account, compromised or not, will be blocked.

Please follow these tips to prevent yourself (and your computer) from falling victim to a phishing scam or virus:

1. NEVER EVER give your passwords to anyone—not friends, not relatives, not even IRT staff. Legitimate organizations will never ask for your login credentials.
2. Make your security questions difficult to guess.
3. Scammers can spoof legitimate addresses to make messages appear to come from someone you know (including @drexel.edu addresses). If you weren't expecting the message, or if it's from someone you don't know, DELETE IT.
   
4. Don't post personal details or activities on social networking sites. Make your personal information, social status, and contacts private or friends-only, or refrain altogether from posting information such as location, home address, email address, phone number, etc.
5. NEVER open an unsolicited email attachment from an unknown source. Even if you know the sender, be wary of any attachments you were not expecting to receive.
6. Don’t blindly click on hyperlinks. Always check URLs by hovering over the link to see if the underlying URL matches the one displayed in the body of the email. If they don't match, or if it looks like the link points to a questionable site, DELETE THE EMAIL.
7. Keep your anti-virus software and definitions up-to-date. Drexel users can install Sophos Endpoint Protection at no cost for their PC or Mac at https://software.drexel.edu.
8. Scan your computer at least once a week for viruses and malware.
9. If a Web site doesn't appear trustworthy or is poorly maintained, don't click on any links or download content from it. Also, avoid downloading content from peer-to-peer (P2P) programs such as LimeWire, Soulseek, BitTorrent, and others, as illegally-downloaded songs, software, and videos often come packaged with trojans and malware.
10. Delete spam immediately. If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. Don't respond to it, and NEVER give out personal information. Even if it’s from "Drexel University Technical Support" or "Drexel University Web Support" and says "this is not spam"—it almost certainly IS spam!
11. Finally, treat every email you receive with a healthy dose of caution and skepticism.

If you are ever unsure whether or not a message is legitimate or a scam, please contact the IRT Help Desk first over the phone at 215-895-2020, or email consult@drexel.edu.

You can also view examples of scam emails on IRT's Web site.

Spam and Blacklist Prevention Measures

A rash of phishing scams is affecting the Drexel community. Recent examples are the "infected mail account" scam and the "Mystery Shopper" scam detailed on IRT's Web site and (for the latter) the Federal Trade Commission's Web site.

In order to help prevent service disruption for our users, Drexel will be enforcing on @drexel.edu accounts a temporary send limit for emailing external addresses. The send limit is based on an hourly cycle, and is intended to catch compromised accounts that are sending large amounts of spam. Most users on the Drexel domain will not notice any change, and will be able to send email as normal.

Note: Exchange accounts, ListServ lists, Drexel-to-Drexel communication, and communication from external sources to Drexel accounts will NOT be affected by this limitation.

If you have any questions or concerns, contact the IRT Help Desk at consult@drexel.edu or 215-895-2020.

Be Wary of Smartphone Malware

Did you know that your smartphone, just like your laptop or desktop computer, can be infected with malware and viruses? Currently, Android phones are particularly susceptible to security vulnerabilities. Hackers can, for instance, steal information from your Contacts list, monitor your device, or take control of it completely.

Here are some general tips to avoid falling prey to smartphone malware, spyware, or infection:

• On an Android device, review the permissions an app is requesting before installing it. For instance, a wallpaper app really shouldn’t have access to your geo-location, but an app with location-specific services probably should. Be wary. For example: a malicious individual who is privy to your location knows when you're not at home.
  
  
• Obtain malware protection for your device. Newer versions of the Android operating system should be able to scan the device for possible security risks, and other apps, such as Lookout, can accomplish the same task.
  
  
• Do not jailbreak or root your phone. Jailbreaking or rooting a phone can remove system restrictions, thus allowing a hacker greater access to the device.
  
  
• Do not connect your smartphone to unknown wireless networks, which could actually be rogue access points that steal data transferred through them.
  
  
• Treat your smartphone the same way you would treat your laptop or desktop: keep the firmware up-to-date, don't click on suspicious links or unknown attachments, and pay attention to what and where you download.

More information about this and other e-scams can be found on the FBI's Web site.

Add Drexel as a Safe Sender in Outlook

Has email from your Drexel professors, classmates, or colleagues ended up in your Junk E-mail folder in Outlook? Are images from a friend’s email being blocked automatically? If so, try adding @drexel.edu and @lists.drexel.edu to your Safe Senders List:

You might also consider checking the boxes for trusting email from contacts, and automatically adding your recipients to the Safe Senders List, if your client provides these options.

To access your Safe Senders List, follow the instructions for your version of Outlook:

Outlook 2011:

1. Under "Tools," select "Junk E-mail Protection."
2. Select the "Safe Domains" tab, and add @drexel.edu and @lists.drexel.edu as safe domains.

Outlook 2010:

1. Under the "Home" tab, in the "Delete" group, click "Junk."
2. Select "Junk E-Mail Options," then go to the "Safe Senders" tab.
3. Click "Add" to add either a specific email address (e.g., abc123@drexel.edu) or a domain (e.g., @drexel.edu).

Outlook 2007:

1. Under "Tools," select "Options."
2. Under the "Preferences" tab, in the "E-mail" section, select "Junk E-mail."
3. Select the "Safe Senders" or "Safe Recipients" tab, then select "Add" to add an address or domain to the list.

Instructions for email clients other than Outlook can be found on inTouch Broadcast's Web site. If you have any questions or concerns, please contact the IRT Help Desk at consult@drexel.edu or 215-895-2020.

Windows RT and AnyConnect VPN

If you use VPN to log into Drexel services from off-campus, note that devices with Windows RT (a version of the new Windows 8 operating system) will not connect to the VPN at this time. Please keep this in mind if you are planning to purchase a new Microsoft tablet or mobile device with Windows RT installed.

Gmail Prompt for Browser Update

If you use Gmail, you might see a notification page or banner when you log into your Gmail account that says your browser is out-of-date and is no longer being supported. This notification is part of Gmail and not necessarily the browser you are using.

IRT recommends that you do not upgrade your browser as long as you are using a Web service that is incompatible with newer versions of your browser.

ListServ Tip: Good Subscription Practices

List owners: most likely, you've had to subscribe or unsubscribe email addresses from your list at one time or another. Unsubscription from a list is a particularly important service in order to comply with the CAN-SPAM Act and to extend common courtesy to individuals who probably receive plenty of email already.

However, unsubscription can sometimes be difficult for a number of reasons. At Drexel, students, faculty, and staff can have up to three forms of their official "@drexel.edu" account:

• Long form (first.middle.last@drexel.edu)
• Short form (fml234@drexel.edu)
• Personal alias (personalalias@drexel.edu)

All three email addresses point to the same inbox, but ListServ cannot distinguish between them, and thus treats each as a separate address (ordinarily, it would weed out duplicate subscriptions to prevent subscribers from getting more than one copy of a mailing). So, if someone requests unsubscription and his/her short form address is subscribed, you will need to unsubscribe that exact address (i.e., the short form).

Therefore, it is important to keep the email address format of your Drexel subscribers consistent so that you can find the correct address to unsubscribe.

Tip: Include members' first and last names when you subscribe them to the list, or, for open lists, request that members include their first and last names. That way, you can search for the subscription using a subscriber's name regardless of the subscribed address format.

If you are not able to locate a subscription with the address the individual provided for unsubscription, IRT can, if necessary, look up any one of these three address formats to find the other two. If you need assistance with locating someone's subscription on your list, please contact the IRT Mass Mailing team at mailreq@drexel.edu.

Call for Proposals: 11th Annual e-Learning 3.0 Conference

The 11th annual e-Learning 3.0 Conference, hosted by IRT in conjunction with the Online Learning Council and the Drexel Center for Academic Excellence, will take place on Thursday, March 28, 2013, in the Papadakis Integrated Sciences Building. Join colleagues from across the region to share best practices and creative approaches for learning enrichment and student engagement in an e-learning 3.0 environment—across a wide array of timely and emerging topics.

Presentation proposals are currently being accepted. To submit a proposal, please visit the conference Web site. Presentations should be approximately 45 minutes in length, and the deadline for proposal submission is Friday, January 25, 2013.  Past conferences have included presentations on leveraging existing and emerging technologies to augment face-to-face classes, teach hybrid Web-enhanced classes, and facilitate completely online, Web-delivered classes.

Last year's conference was a huge success, with more than 170 participants from 40 colleges, universities, and organizations all around the region! This is a tremendous opportunity for presenters to share their knowledge and expertise with an academic technology-focused regional community. It promises to be a fantastic learning and networking event as well. A small registration fee will cover welcome materials, access to the presentations and keynote speaker session, a continental breakfast, lunch, afternoon refreshments, and a door prize drawing at the conclusion of the event.

Any questions or concerns about the conference can be directed to the Online Learning Team at olt@drexel.edu. We look forward to your participation in this year's event!

Minimum Attendee Requirement for Apple Workshops

Based on input we have received from the Drexel community, IRT has partnered with Apple to schedule a series of Mac workshops. Apple has graciously agreed to send their senior software engineer to lead these workshops, but to make this a valuable interaction, we need a minimum of 12 attendees per session.

If you are interested in attending a Mac workshop, please register well in advance of the session and encourage any of your interested colleagues to also register. The next workshop will be on iBooks Author on Wednesday, December 12^th from 10 am – noon in Korman 116; to reserve a spot, please email olt@drexel.edu.

Drexel Learn Update

This past summer, Drexel transitioned from Bb Vista to Drexel Learn. Drexel Learn is now the sole learning management system (LMS) at Drexel. All courses have a presence in the new system.

To access Drexel Learn, log in at http://learn.drexel.edu/ with your Drexel username and password. You can also access your Learn courses from the DrexelOne portal.

As in Bb Vista, courses will close automatically at the end of each quarter. Students cannot access closed courses; however, instructors will continue to have access to their courses for five terms. Instructors can open their courses early or keep them open after the end of term for their students. If you are an instructor and would like step-by-step instructions for changing course start or end dates, please visit the Instructions page on the Drexel Learn website and expand the section entitled "Change Course Start or End Dates."

If you still have course material in Bb Vista, please fill out our migration request form to have course content migrated to the new Drexel Learn system. Alternatively, you might wish to build your course from scratch in Drexel Learn with new course materials. To request a sandbox course for this purpose, send an email request to olt@drexel.edu with your Drexel username and the name(s) of the sandbox course(s) you would like created. You can request as many sandbox courses as you need. Also, make sure that you save any files that are stored in your My Files area, as none of that content can be migrated from Vista to Learn. If you have course material in Blackboard Classic, please contact your Blackboard Classic administrator for details on how to migrate your content to the Learn LMS.

If you have any questions about Drexel Learn, please contact the Online Learning Team at olt@drexel.edu or the Blackboard support center for your specific college. To view a catalog of short training videos and documentation about Drexel Learn, visit our Tutorials page.

Wimba Troubleshooting Tip

Have you ever had trouble accessing a Wimba Classroom (or another Wimba tool)? Since Wimba is an external tool launched from within Learn's secure area, you might need to temporarily allow insecure content to load Wimba tools.

Important Note: In any other cases besides Wimba, the choice to allow insecure content must be considered very carefully, as doing so is a security risk. This is, however, a known issue in Wimba, and allowing insecure content for Wimba is safe.

To allow Wimba tools to load, follow the instructions below for the browser(s) you are using:

Internet Explorer 9
IE 9 prompts you with a yellow box at the bottom of the window:

You will need to click "Show all content," which might send you back to the course entry page. If so, you should be able to access the Wimba Classroom when you navigate back to it.

Internet Explorer 8
IE 8 will ask if you want to view only the secure content:

Click "No"; you will then be able to proceed.

Google Chrome
Chrome displays an unassuming gray shield icon at the right side of the address bar:

Click the shield and then click the "Load anyway" link. This will allow you to click on the "Enter Room" button to enter the Wimba Classroom.

Other Browsers
Recent versions of Mozilla Firefox and Safari do not generate a prompt for insecure content.

If you have any problems accessing Wimba (Classroom or another Wimba tool), contact the Online Learning Team at olt@drexel.edu.

Blackboard Learn Grade Center Step-by-Step

Setting Up the Grade Center for Your Course

In the Blackboard Learn Grade Center, each student name appears in a separate row and each graded item in the course, such as an assignment or quiz, appears in a separate column. Anything beyond this basic structure, including Average or Weighted columns, will require some manual setup on your part. This article will walk you through the process.

For example, let's imagine a course with six quizzes, five reaction papers, four graded discussions, one project, and a final exam. We have specified in the syllabus how much of the final grade depends on each type of assignment:

• Quizzes (best 5 of 6) – 20%
• Reaction Papers – 20%
• Discussion – 20%
• Project – 25%
• Final Exam – 15%

By following the steps below, you can set up the Grade Center to generate a final grade for each student, all without a single keystroke in Excel:

1. Create any necessary grade columns. If all graded activities take place in Learn, the columns for each exam and paper are automatically created as the objects are created. However, if quizzes and exams, for instance, are administered and scored on paper, use the "Create Column" button to create a column for each test.
   
   Tip: If your column name is long, use a shortened version for the Grade Center Name. For example, you might use "RPaper 2" as the Grade Center Name for "Reaction Paper 2", so that the "2" in the column header isn't cut off.
   
   
2. Create any necessary Average Columns. Select "Create Calculated Column" > "Average Column" to create an average for each type of assignment grade. For instance, for Quizzes, Reaction Papers, and Discussion, add three new columns: Quiz Average, Reaction Paper Average, and Discussion Average.
   
   Tip: Although you can select each column to average when creating a calculated column (by clicking "Selected Columns and Categories" under "3. Select Columns"), it is possible to generate an average for every column of a certain type or "category." All Learn tests are assigned to the "Test" category. By selecting the category instead of the individual columns, you also have the option of dropping the lowest score.
   
   Tip 2: If the Final Exam also belongs in the "Test" category but should not be averaged with the quizzes, you can create a new category of "Quiz" and apply it only to the quizzes. To do so, click the "Manage" button and select "Categories." Create a new category called "Quiz" and click "Submit." Then, apply the "Quiz" category to each Quiz column by choosing "Edit Column Information" from the context menu at the top of each Quiz column and selecting the desired category from the drop-down menu. (Or, if you have a large number of quizzes, select "Manage" > "Column Organization," check the boxes next to the quizzes, select "Change Category to…" > "Quiz," and then click "Submit.")
   
   
3. Use a Weighted Column to calculate final grades.  To apply weighting to grade columns, you can create a Weighted Column or edit an existing one. To do this, select "Create Calculated Column" > "Weighted Column," or choose "Edit Column Information" from the context menu next to the existing "Weighted Total" column. Next to "Secondary Display," you can select "Letter" if you want to see both the percentage and letter scores in the Grade Center (students see only the Primary Display). Then, select the columns to be weighted for each of the components of your final grade and specify the appropriate weight percentages (these should add up to 100%).
   
   Tip: Create your own letter grade schema through "Manage" > "Grading Schemas."

Hiding Columns from Students

"Hide Column" means hide the column from you! Instead, to hide a column from students, select "Show/Hide to Users" from the column's context menu. If you cannot locate a column, select "Manage" > "Column Organization" to see all of your columns at once and to unhide any missing columns (you first need to unhide any hidden columns here in order to have them appear in your Grade Center view, where you can then hide them from students).

"Show/Hide to Users" works for every column except the Total column, which is set as the "External Grade" column by default. Although we do not use the External Grade column as such, the only way to hide this column from students is to select "Edit Column Information" from the column's context menu and set "Show this Column to Students" to "No."

For more information and video tutorials on the Grade Center and other assessment topics, visit the Assessment page of the Blackboard On Demand Learning Center.

Camtasia Relay Upgrade and New Features

You have probably heard of Camtasia, but how about Camtasia Relay? Relay can be considered "Camtasia Lite"; it allows you to use a microphone to record your computer screen audio and a webcam to record video footage. Additionally, you can quickly trim unwanted material from the beginning or end of your recording, and automatically publish it to IRT's DragonDrop media publishing system. These features make Relay ideal for ad hoc lecture or presentation capture whenever you need a quick turnaround time.

On October 15th, IRT upgraded the Camtasia Relay server to version 4.1.2. This new version adds many new and improved features, including:

• Compatibility with Mac OS X 10.8 (Mountain Lion);
• The ability to include webcam footage with a desktop recording; and
• The TechSmith Fuse mobile app, which lets you record audio and video with your iOS or Android device and upload it to DragonDrop for automatic processing and publishing.

For more information, please email the Online Learning Team at olt@drexel.edu. If you would like to be enrolled in our "Online Desktop and Presentation Recording" course in Drexel Learn, please include your Drexel username.

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 December:

Learn Full Day Workshop
Tuesday, December 11, 9:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m.

iBooks Author Workshop
Wednesday, December 12, 10:00 a.m. – noon (minimum of 12 attendees required)

Basic Image Editing
Tuesday, December 18, 2:00 p.m. – 3:00 p.m.

SharePoint: Introduction to My Sites
Thursday, December 13, 11:00 a.m. – noon

Visit our Web site for our complete training schedule and workshop descriptions. If you need a separate workshop for your department or faculty group on a specific topic, you can email the Online Learning Team to coordinate a session.

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, 33^rd Street between Market and Chestnut Streets).