Ad Astra has been selected as the new University-wide classroom scheduling software system. A contract was signed in late September 2012 and implementation began in early October. It will support classroom scheduling with improved efficiency and functionality and be used across all University campuses.
See the slides prepared for today's IT@UMN event!
Everyone who works in IT or is interested in IT at the University of Minnesota is welcome to join hangouts as part of today's IT@UMN event! You will first need to join the IT@UMN Community.
Application Development Hangout
If you have problems joining a hangout, please email Susan McKinnell at skmck@umn.edu.
Duluth IT and IT-interested staff, you can participate in today's IT@UMN event at 1:00 p.m. via the Duluth Google hangout. Please join in!
"Why IT Matters in Higher Education" is the tagline for EDUCAUSE Review Online (ERO). This concept perfectly frames the article written by members of the UMN Educational Technology Services team--Lauren Marsh, Kimerly Wilcox, and D. Christopher Brooks-- Engaging Faculty as Catalysts For Change: A Roadmap for Transforming Higher Education, published in the current ERO issue.
The article describes UMN's Faculty Fellowship program and showcases the report collaboratively created by the 2010-11 cohort of faculty fellows. The report presents a roadmap for a "holistic vision of a university culture that supports excellence in teaching and learning with technology." The ERO article also features videos of Associate CIO Brad Cohen and University faculty members John Bryson and Aaron Boyson. Read the article.
Time is running out for IT@UMN Outstanding Service Award nominations! Nominations must be submitted on or before March 8, 2013. Anyone can nominate University of Minnesota employees from any unit or college whose work supports Information Technology at the University. We hope that you'll take advantage of this chance to speak up on behalf of someone who does awesome work to support IT. Nominate someone today by filling out this short nomination form.
The IT@UMN Outstanding Service Award is designed to recognize special contributions that are above and beyond the normal scope of job responsibilities. A recipient of this award is someone who makes outstanding contributions to the objectives of IT@UMN, and achieves high performance in going above and beyond the responsibilities of their position. Learn more.
As was first communicated on August 29, 2012 the University of Minnesota (UMN) Web Stats service powered by Urchin will be retired. Urchin is no longer being supported by its vendor, Google. To track your web statistics going forward, Google Analytics is available.
Please be advised of the following important dates:
To set up tracking web stats with Google Analytics, you must have access to the source code for your website. If you do not have access, contact your unit's web developer or administrator.
To begin, visit the Google Analytics web page. The first time you enter Google Analytics, you will need to create an account by clicking the button at the top right. Instructions for setting up your website(s) and customizing the kind of data you'll collect are provided.
Please email the UMN Web Stats support team with any questions or concerns.
The University of Minnesota announced yesterday that it will offer five Massive Open Online Courses (MOOC) through Coursera. Read the Star Tribune story, "University of Minnesota signs on to offer free online classes".
Learn more about the MOOCs offered by the U of M through Coursera--and if you're interested--sign up!
Updated AnyConnect Virtual Private Network (VPN)
clients for Linux-based machines are now available. AnyConnect clients support 32-bit and 64-bit processors. Download AnyConnect VPN clients.
Cisco IPsec VPN clients are reaching their end of life and will no longer be supported by Cisco after July 30, 2014.
Beginning March 8, 2013, University Network Services will no longer provide Cisco IPsec VPN clients for download. Although IPsec clients will continue to run on the University's VPN platform, users are encouraged to migrate to the new Cisco AnyConnect Secure Mobility Clients for better quality and reliability of service. Download AnyConnect VPN clients.
The VPN service makes it appear as though you are inside the University network when you cannot be; it enables a more secure connection to the University network when you are:
VPN is offered at no charge to University affiliates. Learn more about the University's VPN service on the Network Services website.
A postmortem of the recent Storage Service Active Directory Access Disruption is available at http://z.umn.edu/storagesvcspostmortem.
A new audio and web conferencing service is now available to the University of Minnesota. The service, provided by InterCall, replaces Gopher Conferencing, which no longer will be available after February 28.
Reservationless-Plus gives you the power to host conference calls whenever you want. Just pick up any phone, dial the dedicated phone number, and initiate a call using your conference ID and Leader PIN (provided via email after you request an account). The cost for Reservationless-Plus is .02/min multiplied by the number of participants, multiplied by the length of conference call. For instance, a meeting with 10 participants that lasts 60 minutes will cost $12 (.02 x 10 x 60 = $12).
The Operator Assisted service provides expert operators to manage all the details so you can concentrate on delivering your message. The cost for Operator Assisted calls is .17/min multiplied by the number of participants, multiplied by the length of conference call. For instance, a meeting with 10 participants that lasts 60 minutes will cost $102 (.17 x 10 x 60 = $102).
InterCall Unified Meeting enables you to:
The cost for Unified Meeting (Web) conferencing is .02/min, multiplied by the number of participants, multiplied by the length of conference call. For instance, a meeting with 10 participants that lasts 60 minutes will cost $12 (.02 x 10 x 60 = $12).
Before you request an account, you may want to confer with your unit's finance group to determine how best to handle setting up a new account, as credit card number is required.
To request an account, go to InterCall's University of Minnesota website" and click Sign Up Now. You will need to enter the University's InterCall username UnivMinnUser1 and password UnivMinnUser_1. Once the request has been submitted, you'll receive a confirmation email within 48 hours from InterCall with your account information and then you will be ready to make conference calls. Full sign-up instructions are available.
If you plan on using the Unified Meeting service, you are strongly encouraged to sign up for one of the free instructor-led or self-paced classes available. Sign up for training on the InterCall website.
InterCall provides support for this service. If you have questions about the service in general, feel free to call the University of Minnesota technology help service desk at (612) 301-4357 (or 1-HELP on campus). For technical and billing questions, please contact InterCall directly.
For contact information and to learn more about the service, tools, or available training, etc., visit InterCall's University of Minnesota website.
The sign in page for PeopleSoft Campus Solutions/Human Resources (CS/HR) and financial systems will be changed on February 24, 2013 to match the University of Minnesota's new M Key sign in page. The change will be made during the PeopleSoft weekly maintenance window (Sunday, from 6 a.m. to noon), during which the systems are regularly unavailable, so users should not experience additional service disruptions.
To view a before and after example, see PeopleSoft Sign In Page Changes February 2013. IT Service Management (ServiceNow) users can refer to CHG0033310 for more information about the change. Additional questions or issues should be directed to technology help staff.
The University's Technology Training team recently released the Moodle 2 Learning Map providing great resources for learning more about Moodle, the University's enterprise course management system, as well as other information about course design. This new site was a collaborative effort. Kathy Olson, service owner for Technology Training, brought back the idea after attending the Elliot Masie Learning conference last year. Technology trainers, Margaret Miller and Pat Haggerty, facilitated content development with help from groups of experts on the topics. Tanya Genrich created the design concept, Jordan Slominski did the web programming to present the content per Tanya's design, and usability consultant, Nick Rosencrans, helped with the usability testing.
Designed as a tool to help beginning and intermediate users discover self-help resources, the Moodle 2 Learning Map exposes them to the whole course-creation process in a very approachable way. Users can locate resources to help them with specific tasks as well as discover additional features and tools that they didn't know they needed to learn. The Moodle 2 Learning Map is a great resource for faculty and staff to learn more about Moodle. A learning map on Web Design is also available, and one on the topic of video is coming soon. Check the Technology Training website for new learning maps, and other self-help and face-to-face learning opportunities.
The information technology Service Desk now provides support by telephone 24/7.
Give a cheer for the following University of Minnesota staff received who an IT Spot Award in January in recognition of their special contributions:
To learn more about University of Minnesota IT Staff Recognition Awards, visit the IT@UMN staff recognition page.Alyssa Peterson 
Ellen Puffe Igor Gorivodsky Jane Gehan Jen Bentrim Josh Ruegg Keith Okan Margaret Miller Matt Senger Mike Galvin Mike Langhus Nancy Fulton Susan McKinnell
