Recently in Computer Training Classes Category

Separating your personal profile from your public profile on Facebook was one of the topics during this week's CTC series entitled Creating Your Social Network Presence. Below is the presentation from this workshop:

If you have any questions about the topics in this presentation, please contact Melissa McDowell at melissa.mcdowell@shu.edu .

On November 17th and 19th, the Computer Training Center will be holding sessions on Movable Type: How your blog sets your online presence apart from the rest.

Below is a session description, and links to the presentation and resource material.


Movable Type is a blogging tool available to faculty and staff at SHU. During this session we will discuss how to request a Movable Type account, how to add and edit entries, and how to add media such as images, videos, and audio.



MovableType Presentation

Movable Type v4.3 Guide

A lot of users are beginning to receive messages about their Outlook e-mail file approaching its quota of 500mb. If you are one of these people, you need to take action immediately or you may find yourself locked out of your e-mail. Go through a few commands in Outlook and you can determine where the bulk of your space is being eaten up so that you can take the appropriate action.

From the menu, click Tools, then Mailbox Cleanup. You will be presented with a Mailbox Cleanup dialog box. Click the View Mailbox Size button and a box like the one below will appear.

Click on the Server Data tab and look for the amount of kilobytes being used (inside the red box above). If you are not familiar with kilobytes, megabytes or gigabytes, just take the number of kilobytes displayed and divide it by 1,000. That gives you the approximate size of your file in megabytes. So, in the example above, the size of the file is approximately 10.8 megabytes.

As you scan down through the list, check out the Total Size numbers for each of your folders. You might see a very large number by one of the folders and you should begin to clear that folder out by deleting unneeded documents, saving attachments from those e-mails to your hard drive or by archiving older documents. Also, remember to empty your Deleted Items folder if it has documents in it. They are taking up space!

You are responsible for keeping your e-mail file under 500mb. You need to take appropriate actions based on your individual needs to accomplish this. Deleting documents, saving attached documents to your hard drive and setting up archiving are all ways to keep your mail file under control.

Please contact me at x2161 or otskeybi@shu.edu if you need assistance with any of these options.

Get ready for the upcoming CTC workshop series entitled Creating Your Professional Social Network Presence November 16th - 19th. This series is in response to the numerous questions and suggestions we have been receiving about creating social professional networks. The series is divided into 4 sessions:

Wednesday, November 18th 1:00 pm - 2:30 pm ITV Classroom REGISTER NOW

Twitter: What do so many people have to say?
This workshop will focus on the ins and outs of using Twitter. During this session we will cover how to use the popular social networking tool and why one would even want to use it. Learn how to follow topics that are of interest to you and how to develop a following of your own.
Monday, November 16th 1:00 pm - 2:30 pm CTC Classroom REGISTER NOW
Wednesday, November 18th 10:00 am - 11:30 pm CTC Classroom REGISTER NOW

Moveable Type: How your blog sets your online presence apart from the rest
Moveable Type is a blogging tool available to faculty and staff at SHU. During this session we will discuss how to request a moveable Type account, how to add and edit entries, and how to add media such as images, video and audio.
Tuesday, November 17th 10:00 am - 11:30 am CTC Classroom REGISTER NOW
Thursday, November 19th 10:00 am - 11:30 am ITV Classroom REGISTER NOW

Mash It Up! Make Facebook, Twitter and Moveable Type work together for you
With so many social networks how do you make time to use them all? Well, you don't have to! Attend this session to find out how to tie Facebook, Twitter and Moveable Type together and make it easier to manage them all at once. During this session we will share applications that mash your online presence together.
Tuesday, November 17th 1:00 pm - 2:30 pm CTC Classroom REGISTER NOW
Thursday, November 19th 1:00 pm - 2:30 pm ITV Classroom REGISTER NOW

We look forward to seeing you there. Questions? Contact Melissa McDowell at Ext. 6173 or melissa.mcdowell@shu.edu

Take advantage of the training opportunities available though the TLT Center to learn how to use the new features of Blackboard 9. Please visit our current workshop schedule for available training dates and times. To accommodate your schedule both instructor led and on-line sessions are available.

It's time to gear up for the highly anticipated release of Blackboard 9 this July! Take advantage of these newly created courses that will highlight the major changes taking place in Blackboard 9. This summer the Teaching, Learning and Technology Center will be offering courses to soothe the transition to the newly updated interface by holding a series of courses centered on technology in teaching and learning through the use of Blackboard. The series of classes will be offered on Mondays and Thursdays throughout the month of June. To register today go to http://tltc.shu.edu/projects/bbtraining!
We hope to see you there.

Summer and Fall 2009 courses are now available in Blackboard. Fee free to explore your course shell by making it more unique to your course and you. Change themes, colors, toolbar options, and etc. Upload your syllabus and any other assignments for all those anxious students who are just dying to know what's in store for them in the upcomming semester. If you are in need of some instructional training, courses will be held on April 30th (reading day) in the ITV room on the 1st floor of the Walsh Library. See below for a list of available courses. Hope to see you all there!

9:30-10:30am: The Grade Center-
Explore the ability to enter student scores much more efficiently, select dual display of Grade Center data, access audit/grade history changes, provide Gradebook comments, and so much more. The new and improved, easy to use Grade Center increases efficiency and enables new customization, powerful analysis and flexibility capabilities. Join us for this class in learning the basics of the Grade Center, from creating, modifying, and grading assignments, to giving your student's feedback, to creating categories, weighting grades, and really using the Grade Center to your advantage. To register, simply click here!

10:45-11:45am: Spring Cleaning for your Course-
Are you teaching the same course again next semester? Do you want to reuse content, assignments, and other manipulations including Grade Center, Discussion Board, and Group pages? Explore the functions of Archive, Export, and Course Copy in this class designed to give you all the tools you need to clean up your current course shell in preparation for the end of the semester. Whether you choose to recycle your course again or not, all will find this class particularly helpful in organizing content and safe guarding student work by creating a permanent record of your Spring 2009 course. To register, simply click here!

3:00-4:00pm: Open Lab
Are you unsure which course to take, if any? Do you have specific quesions relating to your Blackboard course and want answers? In this non-instructional course, you bring questions you have with you and our team of techs will solve any issue you might encounter! To register, simply click here!

With the Outlook 2007 migration project in full swing here on campus and at the Law School, I thought I'd go over some features that most users will find extremely useful.

The topics I'll cover in this article are:
1. Moving email documents to calendars, contacts, folders
2. Recalling sent messages
3. Processing junk mail

Moving Email
When you receive an email, you have the ability to move it to a number of places within your mail file. On the Outlook ribbon, click the Move to Folder button and a list of your folders, along with other options will appear.

Along with the list of your folders, notice that there are options for Calendar and Contacts. Click on the Calendar option and an Appointment pane will appear with the contents of the note already inside of it. You can then set the appropriate appointment date/time and save it.

Click the Contacts option and a New Contact pane will appear with the senders email address already filled in for you. You'll have to adjust the name field because Outlook places the senders email address in that field. The contents of the note will be copied into the Notes area of the Contact form. Enter any other information you want about the sender, save the document and you've got a new contact created.

Remember, when you use either option, you are "moving" the document, so it will leave your Inbox.

Recall a Message
We've all probably sent out a message at one time or another to the wrong person or forgetting to actually attach the document we said we were attaching. With Outlook 2007, you now have the ability to "recall" that message and even replace it with a new one.

There are quite a few scenarios for using this feature, but in general, you can only recall a message sent to another Outlook user and only if they have not opened the note yet.

From your Sent folder, open up the message you wish to recall. On the ribbon, click the Other Actions icon.

Then select Recall This Message. The note disappears from the receivers Inbox and you will receive a confirmation email in your Inbox stating when it was recalled. If the receiver has already opened the note, you will receive a recall failure notice.

You then have the option of just recalling the note or recalling it and replacing it with another one. As shown in the following screen shot:

Check the appropriate radio button. If you have not included an attachment in a note, use the second choice, attach the document and send it again. The original note is recalled and replace by the new note with the attachment.

If you've sent a note out to a distribution list and need to recall it, you have an option (the check box) to receive a notice of confirmation or failure for each person on the list. Remember, you will only be able to recall the note from users who have not opened it yet.

Processing Junk Mail
You will all still receive the IronNotify notices you got when you were in Lotus Notes. In addition, Outlook will trap any notes it thinks is junk mail and place them in the Junk Mail folder. You do need to check these documents to verify if they are indeed junk mail or not.

When you open a document from the Junk Mail folder, you can either delete it or, if it is legitimate, click the Not Junk icon. This will place the sender on a "safe" list and allow subsequent mail from him/her to flow directly to your Inbox.

If you receive a note in your Inbox that you consider to be junk, you can block that mail from hitting your Inbox again by clicking the Block Sender icon on the ribbon. Subsequently emails from that sender will flow directly to the Junk Mail folder.

As you see, Outlook is a powerful product with lots of features that can make handling email a lot simpler for you. Make use of these features and find out about many others by checking back to this EPirate blog for more tips and watch for Outlook classes offered by the Computer Training Center.

Are you new to Blackboard and unfamiliar with the various tools at your disposable? Learning to use the available tools on Blackboard will surely enhance your teaching and your students' learning experiences. This training session covers all of the tools in Blackboard to help you get started in any course. This includes all of the file management capabilities, communications tools, assignments and discussion board, and organization tools. Learn to manage your courses by disabling and enabling course tools. You can manage files by creating folders to organize content items; backup files; use the Content System to Add Items, Links, Bookmarks, Files, Folders, and Search; and learn how to download and install the Webdrive program. In addition, we will be covering topics related to issuing and collecting assignments and interacting with the Discussion Board.

This course is being offered as a face-to-face session on Monday, February 23rd from 4:00-5:00pm in the CTC Lab of the Walsh Library. Please click HERE to register.

This course is also being offered as a WebEx Session on February 24th from 10-11am. Click HERE to register.

Are you worried that your students aren't producing their own work? Or maybe they have never been taught how to cite properly? SafeAssign allows you to protect the originality of work and ensure a fair playing ground for all of your students. SafeAssign is integrated with the Blackboard Learning System products, enabling you to prevent plagiarism by detecting unoriginal content in student papers right within your existing teaching and learning environment. SafeAssign can also further deter plagiarism by helping to create opportunities to educate students on proper attribution and citations and help them to effectively take advantage of the wealth of information out there.

This course is being offered as a face-to-face instruction on Monday, February 9th from 4:00-5:00pm. To register for this course at the CTC Lab in the lower level of the Walsh Library, please click HERE.

To register for the WebEx Session on February 10th from 10-11am, please click HERE.

On February 25th the TLT Center will be offering a half-day session entitled "Wiki Day". During this workshop, attendees will learn what a wiki is, explore examples of wikis in higher education, learn how to request a Media Wiki through the TLT Center for a course, hear from faculty members who have successfully integrated wikis, and participate in hands-on excercises. If you are interested in attending this workshop, it will take place in the CTC Computer Lab (ground floor of Walsh) on Wednesday, February 25th from 9:00 am - 12:00 pm. Breakfast will be served. Click HERE to register today!

Learn SPSS!

Enrollment is now open for a new series of courses being offered through the TLT Center's Computer Training Services. Ms. Wendiann Sethi, Director of Developmental Math at Seton Hall University, will be hosting three levels of SPSS courses. Space is limited so be sure to reserve your seat today.

Level 1 SPSS: Descriptive Statistics and Coding
This course will cover the first stages of using SPSS which includes creating a data set and then describing the data. We will be discussing data and best practices of creating a database within SPSS. Then we will cover the ways that we would describe the data through numerical and graphical representations. Level 1 SPSS is offered on the following dates:
February 13th 1-3 pm

Level 2 SPSS: Data Analysis
This course will cover data analysis, the second stage of using SPSS. We will review descriptive statistics and then move onto other methods of data exploration using Crosstabulations, Inferences on the mean, Regression and ANOVA. Participants are encouraged to bring data that they are analyzing in class or projects to discuss what methods would be best to use. Level 2 SPSS is offered on the following dates:
February 20th 1-3pm

Level 3 SPSS: Advanced Techniques
This session will cover some of the more advanced techniques used for survey research such as factor analysis, validity analysis, and multiple factorial designs. Prerequisite: SPSS 2 or prior know of using SPSS
February 27th 1-3pm

Intended for faculty, students and administrators.

To register please click on the following link: http://tltc.shu.edu/register

Notice anything new about the Grade Book? Well for starters, it is now called the Grade Center! If you are eager to learn all there is to know about the big change in the newest edition of Blackboard 8.0, then come one come all to the training session held on Thursday, January 29th from 12:00-1:00pm in the new CTC Classroom Iocated in the Walsh Library. Accessible through the control panel, the Grade Center takes its name from the previous Grade Book available to instructors on Blackboard. However, the name isn't the only new thing; in fact the entire Grade Center has been revamped to make it not only easier to navigate, but also more manageable and comprehensive. During this course, you will be able to manipulate your own courses in Blackboard, learning how to enter grades for assignments and tests, manage/ weight grades, e-mail students, generate reports, create smart views, return assignments with feedback, create grading schemes, and etc. Registration is simple! Just click on the link below:

Some useful handouts are attached below. Hope to see you there!
Outline_for_Blackboard_Mastering_the_Grade_Center_Session.doc

Are you fairly savvy with Blackboard but would like some more advanced instructional training? Participants having some previous knowledge of Blackboard would greatly benefit from attending the Blackboard Advanced Training Session on January 27th from 10:30-11:30am in the CTC Classroom of the Walsh Library. Some topics that will be covered include managing your courses; creating, deploying and reviewing tests and surveys; creating accountability and monitoring performance; sharing and collaboration content, and etc.

This instructor-led workshop provides intensive, hands-on instruction covering the teaching and learning functions in Blackboard for both web-enhanced and distance education environments. Registration is simple! Just click the link below:

Some useful handouts are attached below. Hope to see you there!

Outline_for_Blackboard_Advanced_Training_Session.doc

A new and exciting course entitled Blackboard Essentials Training is being offered on Thursday, January 22nd from 9:30-10:30am in the CTC Training Room on the first floor of the Walsh Library. Get a taste of the abundant plethora of options available to enhance and manage any course on Blackboard. Some areas that will be covered include file management capabilities, communications tools, announcements, assignments and discussion board, organization tools, and an overview of the Grade Center. Bring your syllabus and learn how to upload documents, create forums for discussion, add assignments, save content, add announcements, and etc. If you have a basic idea of how to use Blackboard, want to review some skills, or are just starting from scratch, then this is the course for you.

If you are unable to attend this class, it is also being offered on Tuesday, January 27th from 4:30-5:30pm. Registration is simple! Just click the link below:

Some useful handouts are attached below. Hope to see you there!

Outline_for_Blackboard_Essentials_Training_Session.doc

The Teaching, Learning and Technology Center is once again holding its Winter Workshops in January 2009. This year we will be offering Web 2.0 Tools, Digital Storytelling, and Blackboard. Follow the links below to register for a workshop:

Web 2.0 Tools for 21st Century Teaching & Learning
Tuesday, January 6th 12:00 pm - 3:00 pm
Location: CTC (Ground floor of Walsh)
Click HERE to register for this workshop

Digital Storytelling
Wednesday, January 7th 9:00 am - 3:30 pm
Location: ITV Room (Ground floor of Walsh)
Click HERE to register for this workshop

Preparing your Blackboard Course for the Spring Semester
Thursday, January 8th 9:00 am - 10:30 am
Location: CTC (Ground floor of Walsh)
Click HERE to register for this workshop

Blackboard Grade Center
Thursday, January 8th 10:30 am - 12:00 pm
Location: CTC (Ground floor of Walsh)
Click HERE to register for this workshop

Blackboard Open Lab
Thursday, January 8th 12:00 pm - 2:00 pm
Location: ITV Room (Ground floor of Walsh)
Click HERE to register for this workshop
**Please bring your laptop to this session**

The Teaching, Learning, and Technology Center held its 2nd Annual Boot Camp in September to kick off Faculty Development for the Fall 2008 semester. This year we provided 12 different technology workshops over the course of two weeks. A total of 80 unique faculty members attended Boot Camp, with 46 of them attending at least 1 workshop, 20 attending 2 workshops and 14 attending 3 or more workshops. Prizes were given to the top attendees, who won a Flip Video recorder. The winners were Nancy Cherilus, Shigeru Osuka, and Rev. Forrest M. Pritchett. Here is how they plan on incorporating the video recorder in their course:

Nancy Cherilus, Mentor
Freshman Studies
University Life: CORE 1001 AB, AG, BL, and CA

"My students are currently working on their portfolios. One of the items that they will include is a page titled My Thoughts. This page is a reflection of their first semester experience. I would use the camcorder to capture either video or still photos of each individual class to be shared and posted on the page. Each student will then write a brief reflection of their own experiences in my class.

Shigeru Osuka, Associate Professor
Asian Studies
Japanese Language & Japanese Graduate History and Culture

"For Japanese language courses, I would like to record my teaching and student's Japanese presentations. Each summer, moreover, I am taking SHU students to Japan where I would like to use the camcorder for recording Japanese society, custom, food, and cultural events for both of my courses. I will post the videos/photos into my private personal homepage."

Rev. Forrest M. Pritchett
University Life, African Religions, African Cultural Philosphy, The Black Church, Peoples and Cultures of America

"I will use the camcorder for photo journalism"

Back by popular demand....

Create Files That Do Flips With Adobe Acrobat 8!
This workshop will introduce you to some of the features of Adobe Acrobat 8, a software product that allows you to create and edit pdf documents. Learn how to convert webpages, Word, PowerPoint, and Excel files to pdf format with the click of a button. This session will also illustrate how to add comments and other editing notations to pdf documents. These edits can be saved with the pdf file so that students can easily view faculty comments and feedback. We will then demonstrate how to add pdf documents to a Blackboard course and provide ideas for using pdf documents for assignments and class activities.

Monday, October 27th 12:00 - 1:30 PM Click HERE to register for this session

Wednesday, October 29th 3:00 - 4:30 PM Click HERE to register for this session

Facebook: Meet Your Students Where They Are (Beginner)
Join us as we discover Facebook, a social networking site, and it's implication in higher education. While student profiles are ubiquitous on Facebook, more and more faculty are joining the popular site. During this hands-on workshop we will create a Facebook account, explore ways to push content and announcements to your students, discuss how to create a Fan page for your course, and review the new Sync feature in Blackboard that synchronizes Facebook with your Blackboard course and allows you to send announcements to students.

Tuesday, October 28th 12:00 - 1:30 PM Click HERE to register for this session

Create a Facebook Page For Your Course (Intermediate)Come and learn how to create a Facebook page (that is separate from your Facebook profile) for a course or department, We will discuss the implications of using Facebook in your course, view examples of Facebook pages, and discuss how other universities are using Facebook.

Thursday, October 30th 3:00 - 4:30 PM Click HERE to register for this session

All those who attended Blackboard Tools Training on Wednesday, September 17th got a taste of the abundant plethora of options available to them to enhance and manage any course on Blackboard. Some areas that were discussed included file management capabilities, communications tools, announcements, assignments and discussion board, organization tools, and an overview of the Grade Center. Some participants went as far as uploading their syllabi, creating forums for discussion, adding assignments, saving content, adding announcements, and etc. If you have a basic idea of how to use Blackboard, want to review some skills, or are just starting from scratch, then this is the course for you.

Another course on Blackboard Tools will be offered on Thursday, September 25th from 9:00am - 10:30am in the new CTC Classroom in the Walsh Library. Feel free to read the course outline posted below to see if this is the right place for you! Hope to see everyone again soon!
Outline for Blackboard Tools Training.doc

On Tuesday, September 16th faculty members got their first taste of the new and improved Grade Center during the the first fall TLTC Faculty Bootcamp sesson. Held in the new CTC classroom in the Walsh Library, participants were eager to learn all there is to know about the big change in the newest edition of Blackboard 8.0: The Grade Center. Accessible through the control panel, the Grade Center takes its name from the previous Grade Book available to instructors on Blackboard. However, the name isn't the only new thing; infact the entire Grade Center has been revamped to make it not only easier to navigate, but also more managable and comprehensive. Participants were able to manipulate their own courses in Blackboard, with some even creating assignments, managing/ weighting grades, and e-mailing students. If you missed this class, another will be offered on the Grade Center on Wednesday, September 24th from 3:00 - 4:30pm in the CTC Classroom. Some useful handouts are attached below. Hope to see you there!
Getting Started With the Grade Center.pdf
Grade Center Manual.pdf

We have successfully upgraded from version 7.3 to Blackboard 8.

Blackboard 8 brings two major feature enhancements: The Grade Center (formerly known as the gradebook) and student Self/Peer Assessments. For more information and resources to make the transition as smooth as possible, click here.

On Sunday, August 10, the Department of Information Technology will upgrade MyWeb.shu.edu (Blackboard) to the version 8, latest release,). The upgrade will require Blackboard to be unavailable for use on Sunday, August 10, 2008 during the normal maintenance window of 12:01 AM through 8:00 AM. There will be access to webmail but not Banner during this upgrade period.

Blackboard 8 brings two major feature enhancements: The Grade Center (formerly known as the gradebook) and student Self/Peer Assessments. For more information and resources to make the transition as smooth as possible, click here.

Web Publishing is becoming a hot topic around Seton Hall University these days in the form of Microsoft's Expressions Web and the creation of blogs. Faculty, students and administrators were recently notified about their personal websites moving to a new Pirate server. This means that you will be editing these sites with Microsoft's Expressions Web, the replacement software for FrontPage. Expressions Web is a powerful software similar to FrontPage but with some significant differences, such as using frames instead of tables and publishing the site via File Transfer Protocol (FTP) rather than "publishing" it as you did in FrontPage.

Creating a blog is an easy way to gain a web presence for your department or organization and to keep the general public informed about new programs you may be instituting, event schedules, or just putting out general information. If you are reading this article, you are on TLTC's e-Pirate blog right now and you can see how it offers users another resource for information. Blogs offer a new and effective method of dispensing pertinent information to your user community viewable at their leisure.

The CTC is offering classes on both Expressions Web and creating public blogs this month, so click here to see the list of classes you can register for.

With the upgrade from Windows XP to Windows Vista, improvements have been made to increase the organization and efficiency of the operating system.

The Start Menu is likely the first place that you will see differences (improved program list and search feature to name two new features).

Microsoft has developed a Windows Vista Help website to assist users during the transition from XP to Vista.

Additionally, the Computer Training Center has classes available on Windows Vista and Office 2007.