Smartphones and tablets are important tool for students and faculty. A number of applications for these devices help keep one organized, support efficiency, conserve resources and assist with production of materials.
Category: Technology Survival Guide
Digital Storytelling Resources
As we conclude the 2010-2011 academic year we wanted to assemble a collection of our resources related to digital storytelling and student video projects in anticipation of instructors who may want to use these next year. As always if this is something you are interested in exploring further we encourage you to contact the Instructional…
Staying in Synch
For anyone who works from more than one computer, synchronizing files is an important issue. If you can’t access the latest version of your grant proposal or the revised version of that syllabus; frustration is bound to ensue. Carrying files around on USB drives and emailing attachments to yourself are possible solutions, but there are…
New Additions to Google Docs
Google Docs has recently released two major additions that continue to make it one of the most powerful collaboration tools on the web. If you haven’t tried Google Docs yet, do yourself a favor and spend an hour exploring it. If you already use it, take a moment to check out these two new big…
Staying Safe Online: Securing Your Facebook Account
As Facebook continues to grow in popularity the potential for your personal data to be compromised is ever-increasing. What many Facebook users may not realize is that when you access Facebook through a network connection that other people share (such as in a coffee shop or at an airport) there is the potential that nefarious…
iMovie Tutorials
Here are some links to recently created tutorials on using iMovie to create short video projects. We created these to help students with video projects they are creating for different course projects. These are designed to act as a supplement to our iMovie: Digital Video Editing Basics Guide. iMovie ’09 Tutorials, in 12 Parts: Part…
Connecting to SPARK using WebDAV on Windows 7
PROBLEM: WebDAV on Windows 7 does not connect with SPARK. WORKAROUND: If you are on Windows 7, use www.anyclient.com as a third-party client to connect with SPARK. We have instructions below.
October is Cyber Security Awareness Month!
In support of this national initiative, OIT is sponsoring a number of activities designed to help the UMass Amherst community stay safe online. Each week in October will have its own cyber security theme.
Start of Semester Tip: Photo Rosters in SPIRE
The addition of photo rosters to SPIRE has been a personal boon to me in terms of learning my students’ names as quickly a s possible. Don’t have access to photo rosters for your own courses yet? Take the FERPA quiz and earn your security certificate to activate this feature in SPIRE: http://www.oit.umass.edu/spire/for_instructors/class_information/photo_roster.html
Start of Semester Tip: When can students access SPARK?
Your students will have access to your Fall 2010 SPARK on Monday September 6th(12:01 AM to be exact.) If you have requested and received a SPARK course, but not yet opened it up and begun building it, your students will see that course listed as when the log into SPARK, but receive a “Course not yet available message”…
Start of Semester Tip: Getting TAs into SPARK
As the beginning of the semester approaches and faculty continue to prepare for teaching, Teaching Assistants are also being assigned. Academic Computing would like to remind you of the necessary steps for giving TAs access to your SPARK course: For Graduate TAs: If your TA cannot access your SPARK course, confirm with the Academic Scheduling Representative in your department…
Start of Semester Tip: Request SPARK courses through SPIRE
In SPIRE, find the SPARK Course Request Form in the left Menu, under Faculty Home > SPARK Course Request. If you have already requested your SPARK course for Fall 2010, you may check the status of your request in SPIRE. For more information about requesting a SPARK course in SPIRE please see: http://www.oit.umass.edu/spire/for_instructors/class_information/sparkcourse_request.html Courses are…