CNAC Upgrade on the way

25 01 2011

IR posted a note to Royal News about an upgrade to CNAC (emphasis ours):

Cisco Network Access Control (CNAC) will be upgraded to the latest version on Tuesday, Jan. 25, between 10 – 11 p.m. Downtime should be approximately five (5) minutes. The next time you authenticate your computer in CNAC you will be prompted to install a new Cisco NAC Agent. If you have any questions or problems, please contact the Technology Support Center at 941-HELP or techsupport@scranton.edu.

 

What’s CNAC? Click here for more than you ever wanted to know – Jeremy’s explanation.


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Categories : Announcements, Network and Infrastructure, Outages, Security, Upgrades

User IDs will be changing!

25 01 2011

TAG just got news yesterday of a major change to University authentication systems – starting in either March or April this year, our user IDs will be changing to R numbers.

This means that to log in to any University tool (like my.scranton), you’ll be typing in your R number rather than your existing ID, but your email address will remain the same.  So for example, my email address will still be yarmeyk2@scranton.edu, but instead of using yarmeyk2 and my password to log in to my.scranton, I’ll be typing in my 8 digit R number and password to authenticate.

IR explained that the reason this is happening is so that everyone’s user ID is a unique identifier for them that’s no longer tied to a last name, since last names can change over someone’s career at the University.

Many of the other big changes happening on campus, like the transition to Microsoft Live @ Edu email, will take place *after* this transition to new user IDs has occurred.


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Technology Training – Smartphones, Facebook, and EReaders

14 01 2011

If anyone’s interested in technology training, be sure to take a look at the Technology On Your Own Terms series schedule for this spring – brought to you by the Library and the CTLE. Let me know if you have any questions for suggestions for future training topics!

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Each semester, the Weinberg Memorial Library and the Center for Teaching & Learning Excellence (CTLE) offer a faculty and staff advancement series called Technology on Your Own Terms. The series introduces University faculty and staff to emerging technologies in order to encourage innovation in the workplace and in the classroom. We’re continuing the series in Spring 2011 with three new workshops, all of which will be held in the Library.

The Insider’s Guide to Smartphones
Wednesday, February 16 from 12pm-1pm in WML305

In this session, librarian Kristen Yarmey and technology services analyst Diane Jachimowicz will discuss some of the technology behind smartphones like iPhones, Androids, and Blackberries.  We’ll talk about what terms like 3G, 4G, tethering, and jailbreaking mean in plain English, what sensors like accelerometers and compasses mean for average users, how operating systems like iOS and Android differ, and what phone features to look out for in 2011 and beyond.  A light lunch will be provided during the discussion. (Taught by Kristen Yarmey, Weinberg Memorial Library, and Diane Jachimowicz, IT Services)

The Changing Face of Facebook
Wednesday, March 9 from 1pm-2pm in WML305

If you are a Facebook user, you have probably asked yourself at least once, “Why does Facebook make so many changes to its site?” In this session, librarian Donna Mazziotti will present an overview of the latest wave of changes made to the Facebook user interface. She will also offer a rationale for why Facebook is an ever-evolving tool, as well as reasons why users should embrace Facebook’s mission to always improve its product. After this session, attendees will grow from passive to proactive Facebook users, able to educate themselves about changes made to Facebook as the changes occur. A light lunch will be provided during the discussion. (Taught by Donna Mazziotti, Weinberg Memorial Library)

E-Readers: The Hype and the Facts
Wednesday, April 6 from 11am-3pm in the WML 5th floor Heritage Room

Nook, Sony, Kindle, iPad, etc.  There are so many e-readers and tablet computers available that it’s getting harder to know which product to choose to fill a certain need.  Want some answers?  Drop in any time during a four hour showcase of e-readers and tablet computers in the beautiful Heritage Room of the Weinberg Memorial Library. Best Buy will have many products on display and provide knowledgeable staff to answer your questions.  You will learn about the Weinberg Memorial Library e-books available for download as well as how to borrow e-books from the Lackawanna County public libraries.  Light refreshments will be served. (With representatives from Best Buy, the Weinberg Memorial Library, the Albright Memorial Library, and the CTLE)

All faculty and staff members are welcome, but seats are limited, so please register for sessions you plan to attend at www.scranton.edu/ctleregistration (under Technology On Your Own Terms).


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Planned Network Outage Jan 19

11 01 2011

From today’s Royal News:

Planned Network Outage Jan. 19
A brief Internet and Internet2 outage will occur as related to completion of our extensive data center project at Alumni Memorial Hall. Downtime is expected to be less than five minutes. This will occur on Wednesday, Jan. 19, between 10 and 10:30 p.m. The brief outage will impact access to on-campus resources from off campus and off-campus resources from on campus.


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CNAC Reauthentication

6 01 2011

On January 12th, and regularly on the second Wednesday of every month, IT Services is going to require all faculty and staff to enter their username and password (as you would if you were to log on to my.scranton) in order to get internet access. This allows IT to ensure that your computer has the most up to date security software and protection.

On January 6th, faculty and staff received the following e-mail from IT Services:

As part of Information Resources’ continuing effort to enhance our services and increase our information security posture, the Cisco Network Access Control (CNAC) will require individuals to re-authenticate to gain network access on a monthly basis.

On Wednesday, January 12th all end-users should expect to enter their University username and password into the CNAC agent before gaining access to any network resources. This process will allow us to continually assess the validity and health of our computing environment. The CNAC re-authentication process will routinely occur on the second Wednesday of each month.

Thank you for your patience and understanding as we implement these changes. If you have any questions or concerns, please contact the Technology Support Center at 570-941-HELP or at techsupport@scranton.edu

Click here for more information on CNAC authentication.

Click here for a detailed discussion of the new CNAC security procedures.


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Talking with IR Staff: Feedback on Faculty Communication

4 01 2011

As devoted TAG followers know, we ran a survey last fall to get feedback from faculty members on their communication with IR.  As a counterpart to the survey, Jeremy and I had a chance to sit down with some of the IR front line (Technology Support Center) and second line support staff to get their feedback on their work relationship with faculty.

The attendees of the discussion were promised confidentiality, but they agreed that TAG could share a summary of our discussion with others on campus.  Please take a look and let us know if you have any thoughts on this issue after seeing it from both sides.


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Royal Drive downtime

20 12 2010

A note from IR, posted to my.scranton:

The Royal Drive Servers will be unavailable on Wednesday December 22nd 7:30 – 8:30am. The Royal Drive servers will be moved to the new Cisco UCS Blade environment. This will provide better performance and business continuity for this services.

Thanks to IR for scheduling this downtime during winter break!


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ANGEL Downtime 12/21

17 12 2010

Hopefully you all got this note from Jason Wimmer:

Dear Faculty,

ANGEL will be unavailable on December 21, from 8:30AM – 11:00AM to install Service Pack 8 for Version 7.4.  Thank you for you cooperation

Thanks to Jason and IR for scheduling this upgrade at a time of low usage!  And happy holidays to all from TAG.


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Categories : Angel and Desire2Learn, Announcements, Upgrades

Guidelines for Faculty Input on Technology Decisions

9 12 2010

Once upon a time, there was a policy that became a Memorandum of Understanding that then became a set of guidelines.  Hopefully, the name of this document won’t change any more, since we think it’s finally done.  Well, for now.

After everyone we talked to universally agreed that an informal approach would be best, we decided to rename TAG’s first drafted policy as the “Guidelines for Faculty Input on Technology Decisions.” They’re posted here on the TAG website, and their purpose is to codify the shared expectations between the faculty and any administrative bodies that are responsible for technology resources on campus.  They’ve been reviewed by representatives from the Faculty Senate, Information Resources, Academic Affairs, and the Faculty Affairs Council.

Since the Guidelines aren’t an official policy, they can’t exactly be enforced – but we hope that they will serve as a useful model both for faculty members interested in providing feedback on technology decisions as well as administrative bodies interested in getting faculty feedback.

Here’s hoping that this language will help improve communication about technology decisions across campus.  Thanks to everyone who gave us feedback, and as usual, let us know if you have any questions.


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Foursquare and QR Codes, Coming Soon to Campus

8 12 2010

Two quick updates on campus technology:

  1. PR is thinking about a Spring 2011 campus implementation of Foursquare (the location-based game where you “check in” to different locations, become mayor of frequented spots, and win badges for different check ins).  Foursquare isn’t huge on campus, but there are students already playing.  The Library’s been a Foursquare location since February, and we’ve had 69 people check in a total of 498 times, without marketing that we were on Foursquare or offering a special.  This doesn’t have any direct impact on faculty, other than that we can use it to do some fun things if we’d like (e.g., students who complete the Earth Week downtown walking tour could win a badge for checking in at each location).  If anyone has questions about or ideas for Foursquare on campus, let me know and I’ll pass them along to Lori in PR!
  2. QR codes (2D barcodes that can be scanned by smartphones) are starting to show up on campus.  USPB has been using them on flyers; we here at the Library are experimenting with putting them around our building as well.  PR will soon be putting them on the back of brochures.  George Gomez and I have been thinking about putting QR codes throughout the new science building.  Again, no direct impact on faculty for the moment, but let me know if you’re interested or have questions.

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