Monthly Archives: August 2021

Campus Digital Signage Upgrade

The Visix/AxisTV Digital Signage solution provides our campus with an easy way to broadcast information to engage students, faculty, staff and visitors throughout various strategic campus locations. During this academic year, IT will be upgrading our Digital Signage players, which will require a software update. We are currently reviewing the upgrade requirements, as well as creating training sessions and materials in order to upgrade this service with minimal disruption. The various departments that maintain Digital Signage content will be contacted to schedule this upgrade.

E911 Location Information

As of February 16, 2020 University Police must automatically be notified if someone dials 911 from a University phone according to Kari’s Law.  Further, The Ray Baum Act has adopted rules to ensure that any “dispatchable location”  is conveyed with 911 calls to emergency dispatch centers.

We ask that you please notify us if you independently move your office so we can maintain proper location data and remain in compliance with these laws.  To update your information,email techsupport@scranton.edu and include:

  • Your name
  • Office telephone number
  • Building and room of where you moved to

We will update our data to ensure you remain safe in case of emergency.

Meet our newest team members!

Jim Hurst, Academic System Administrator

  • Ideal escape from technology: Being outside specifically golfing
  • First game system ever owned: Pong from Sears
  • Best App I have on my phone: GolfPad GPS
  • Technology I could not live without: Bushnell Golf Range Finder

Richard Smith, Information Security Analyst

  • Your ideal escape from technology: Fishing, kayaking, or watching sports.
  • Print books or E-books?  E-Books, less bulky and easier to carry.
  • Best App I have on my phone: Google Maps, my go to navigation app.

Dave Zwanch, Network Administrator

  • Print books or E-books? E-books. Paper feels better, but you can’t beat the convenience of an E-book.
  • Ideal escape from technology: My daily after-work walk with my dog, Scout.
  • Favorite computer game: Doom. A classmate, Lisa, gave me the shareware in 3rd grade.  Fast forward a few decades and now I work in IT and she and I are married.
  • Worst computer game of all times: Has to be ET for the Atari, what other game can say it almost destroyed an entire industry.
  • Best App I have on my phone: Currently “Trailforks” for finding new mountain bike trails.

 

Chad McCall, Technology Support Center Analyst

  • Do you prefer Print books or E-books? Print books…definitely.
  • What is your ideal escape from technology? Going home…then reading a paper book.
  • What is the first game system you ever owned? Nintendo Entertainment System.

 

Student Attendance and Early Alert Application Announcement

After a successful pilot in the spring 2021 semester, the Student Success Attendance and Early Alert system will be implemented during the Fall 2021 semester as a means to support student success.  While the system will be primarily used by course instructors teaching first year courses with General Education attributes FYS, FYW, FYOC, and FYDT, the system can be accessed by any instructor on campus teaching in the regular and/or special terms.  The system will replace all notice of academic difficulty forms.

The easy-to-use system allows an instructor to submit an early alert related to academic performance, attendance, tardiness, and/or minor engagement issues as early as week two of the semester when the system opens.  Early alerts are sent to the student’s advisor on record for processing and early intervention.  The system will remain open until the midpoint of the semester.

The “Student Attendance and Early Alert Application” is intended to have the following student outcomes:

  • Increase student class attendance and participation.
  • Improve student engagement with professors and academic advisors.
  • Prompt students to share responsibility for their academic success by maximizing use of campus resources.

Documents – including instructions and guidance – for course instructors and advisors can be found here on the website of the Office of Student Retention and Completion.  There is also a system demonstration video on that website.  Any questions about the system can be directed to Nicholas Truncale, Director of Student Retention and Completion, at nicholas.truncale@scranton.edu.

Global Chip Shortage May Not End Anytime Soon

The 2020–21 global chip shortage is an ongoing crisis in which the demand for integrated circuits is greater than the supply. The chips are often called semiconductors or microchips and function as the brains of our electronics. This shortage is impacting more than 169 industries and has led to major shortages for most electrical devices. There are chips in nearly everything electric you own, from your phone to your computer to your car. There are even chips in items you wouldn’t expect, such as your washing machine, electric toothbrush and refrigerator.

This worldwide chip shortage and supply chain issues are affecting delivery of IT equipment purchased by the University including new and replacement computers and peripherals, network infrastructure gear and classroom technology.

Information Technology staff have been in constant contact with the University’s technology partners to monitor the situation and have been notified of extended lead times across the board. Before this shortage, computers would ship within several weeks. As of the end of August, lead times are at 18-20 weeks depending upon the specific configuration. We expect the lead times to increase even more throughout the Fall as other universities are trying to equip their campuses for the Fall semester as well.

If you have any questions regarding delays on purchases of University-owned devices or equipment, please contact the Technology Support Center.

Phishing and Spam Reminder

With the start of the new school year, we have seen an increase  malicious actors have been busy, leading to a rise in phishing and spamming attempts.  The University email system directs (by default) emails identified as spam to the junk mail folder. As such, we ask that you remain cautious when opening emails in this folder.

Here are two examples of recent phishing attempts that have occurred at the University:

Example 1:

This example starts out asking for a cell phone number, then quickly progresses to the ‘get me some gift cards’ scam.  If you are unsure, verify the request before providing any information.

Example 2:

The following phish is crafted to look legitimate, with the exception that the Technology Support Center would never send out a notice threatening deactivation of any account without additional context. This phish is an attempt to steal user login credentials. If the user hit ‘Click Here’ they would be redirected to a page to enter login credentials, which would then be used by the malicious actor to attempt to gain access to University systems.  Again, if in doubt, please verify a request before providing any information.