The new Kindle Fire tablets have been announced... Amazon has the Kindle Fire HD 8.9" 16GB Android Touchscreen Tablet on pre-order for $299 with free shipping. The 32GB model is $369 shipped. The Fire HD sports a 1920x1200 screen, quad-core TI OMAP 4470 CPU and dual-band 802.11n Wi-Fi. It's rumored to have Android 4.0.3, but those details have not been revealed. Scheduled for release on November 20th.

See here to take a look at the new line of Kindle's. 

Oh, and it has 9 point multi-touch which should make for a far superior user experience when combined with the speed of the quad core processor as compared to the previous generation of tablets.

September Professional Development Opportunities for Faculty & Staff

For those who are new to Claremont Graduate University, the Office of Information Technology and Academic Computing are responsible for providing technology professional development opportunities for faculty and staff. There are several ways these will be distributed:

1. Bi-monthly announcements via CGU email
2. The Academic Support webpage link "Professional Development Opportunities"
3. OIT's Tech Buzz blog 

Additionally, reminders will be 'tweeted' via the OIT Twitter "handle" @CGUoit.

The September-October Professional Development Opportunities include:

• Introduction to Qualtrics (web-based survey tool)
• Introduction to Sakai
• October Excel Month

For details on each of these offerings, please review the linked copy of the announcement above. To register, please email CGU.Learning@cgu.edu. 

Carleen

New exciting technology coming for fall

A couple of things to look forward to: 

• The release of Windows 8
• iPhone 5 (Sept/Oct)
• New WiiU

When getting ready for new technology you may want to get rid of old equipment. This is a good time to remind all users to dispose of old technology properly.  Best Buy will take recyclable technology, requiring neither a fee nor an appointment. When you wish to dispose of technology you must first remove all the data (sensitive or otherwise) that is on it. There are a lot of software programs to securely overwrite data. Some tools you could use are: DBAN Hard Drive Secure Wipe, Windows Secure Eraser and the Secure Empty Trash option on Mac OS X

Back to School at CGU

As we look forward to the start of the 2012-2013 Academic Year at CGU, many of the tasks for preparation may seem overwhelming and slip down the list of priorities. One item that should top your list is reviewing your security settings for your online accounts. As more and more of our online lives transition to 'the cloud', we must be judicious in periodically addressing security issues to insure sensitive and important files are not compromised.

You may have missed the recent ProfHacker Chronicle article "Back to School: Secure Your Online Life". It included a list of questions that will assist you in this critical Back to School Task. Additionally, OIT can address many of your questions and needs. Please contact Carlos Miranda at carlos.miranda@cgu.edu for further information.

In the meantime, Welcome Back and I hope you enjoy a wonderful new academic year at Claremont Graduate University!

Carleen

Sync Files Between Macs and iCloud

Have you used DropBox, Box.net, SkyDrive or Sugarsync yet? Do you like them? Have you tried iCloud and hated it because it does not provide a discrete folder for you to access your files directly? Worry no more, it does now. Here is how:

http://osxdaily.com/2011/11/03/sync-files-between-macs-with-icloud/

Now you can use iCloud just like any of the other services. This should make all the Mac users extremely more iCloud friendly.

CGU Email Spam filter

CGU uses the Barracuda Firewall to block spam messages. It's a great way to cut down on spam messages in your CGU inbox.

If you are using MS Outlook 2010 software you can also use the built-in junk email filters.
Open the Microsoft Outlook 2010 application and select the home tab from the window. Now choose the Junk option from the home tab. Then select the junk e-mail options. Now the user should select one tab from the three options; safe senders, safe recipients and blocked senders. Enter the e-mail address of the domain in the space provided. Click ok and repeat the steps if more e-mail addresses are there. After entering the addresses, click on ‘Export to file option’ and press ok by giving a particular name for the folder. Repeat the steps for the other two tabs also. In the future right-click on a message and select junk from the shortcut menu options and Outlook will start to block future spam.

Instructions for settings for the CGU Barracuda Spam filter
http://www.cgu.edu/PDFFiles/oit/helpdesk/CGU_SPAM_Control_User_Documentation.pdf

Blended Learning

One strategy for infusing technology into the classroom is to use webconferencing such as Blackboard Collaborate (aka Elluminate). Replacing 'seat time' with a webinar for students not only utilizes technology but reduces the time and expense of driving to campus. As adjunct faculty teaching fully online, I use webconferencing to enrich my class with experts in their field. These guest speakers may or may not be local but add another dimension to the learning experience. The webinars are well attended and receive high ratings and feedback.

Certainly CGU has many adult learners who are making a long commute in challenging circumstances with LA traffic! Additionally, this presents valuable opportunities to include guest speakers from around the world. In all likelihood, students are already extremely familiar with this commonly used tool through work or other environments. Therefore, implementing the strategy in your course would be fairly easy.

Academic Computing can assist you with getting comfortable and setting up your sessions. You will see Web Based Conferencing listed on our OIT Services page. Just email cgu.learning@cgu.edu for information and orientation to Elluminate/Collaborate.

Carleen