Fake Phishing Results, Banner Modernization, and Generative AI Faculty Resource LibGuide

 

Fake Phishing Results

In the last edition of The Hyperlink, we noted that we are beginning fake phishing exercises. This has become a standard exercise to help us all be vigilant when opening emails and links in emails.

The first fake phish was sent to 940 Harding employees on June 6 at 4:07 pm. The email asked the user to verify their Amazon account.

Below is a summary of the results.

While a 4 % 'submitted data' is not outrageously high, it potentially provided some bad actors information that could be used to subject our systems to attacks. Even just clicking on the link could expose the user to malicious activity on their Harding account. Remember, if an organization is asking that you verify your account, don't click on the link in the email. Go to their site directly.

Banner Modernization

We want to provide you with more information about the Banner Modernization Project. Implementation of Ellucian Experience has commenced, and we can expect to see it and use it later this year.

In order to find out more about this, I interviewed Mike Chalenburg.

Keith: We are currently embarking on a project that has become known as the Banner modernization project. Tell us how this project got started and when it might end.

Mike: It began when Ellucian (the company that owns and markets Banner) approached us asking to work with us to produce a Strategic Alignment Plan to discover how well we were using Banner functionality and identify gaps that could help us in our work.  

Part of the reason for that plan is that Ellucian is moving all of their products to the cloud as a Software as a Service (SaaS) product and, as we plan to stay with Ellucian and Banner for several years at least, the ultimate goal of this project is to move to that environment.  At this point, our estimate to move is 5 years.

Keith: This sounds like a major shift in how we have done things in the past, both from the end user and IT perspective. Can you highlight some of the changes you can see coming down the road from this project?

Mike: The main difference for the end user will be Ellucian Experience (more below) which will replace Pipeline with a more modern  interface as well as a seamless integration with Banner.  One of the advantages for IS&T in a SaaS platform is a significant reduction in time our people will spend installing upgrades and fixes which are already being  provided more often.

Keith: We read a lot lately about digital transformation. Would you see this as one of the significant digital transformations at Harding?

Mike: While we have a culture of adding and using transformative digital tools, I believe these tools will provide a more consistent user experience as well as providing the opportunity to better automate business processes.

Keith: As you noted earlier, this is a 5 year project. Where are we starting with our modernization?

Mike: Similar to our use of Pipeline, Ellucian plans to use Experience as the “front door” to all of their products in a way that will be more friendly than it is now.  Ellucian has also dramatically improved their SSB (Self-service Banner) products.  We will be deploying those along with Experience.  

Keith: It seems like Banner Experience will replace Pipeline. As you know, Pipeline is used extensively by all of us in the Harding community. Tell us what we can expect from this new portal system. When will I be able to see and use this new system? Can we still call it Pipeline?

Mike: We plan to provide all of the tools that Pipeline provides within Experience plus some that are new or enhanced.  Some of the blocks in Pipeline are dated and need to be rewritten.  Along with that, Ellucian has provided additional tools that we can use to ease the flow of work.

At this time, we hope to have a pilot group use Experience near the end of 2023.  However the time could change as we are still learning about its capabilities and requirements.  When we think it’s ready, we plan to open it up for people to “opt-in” for about 4 months. 

And yes, we plan to call it Pipeline.  It’s too easy to say “go to Pipeline and…” so during the opt-in period, we’ll talk about Old Pipeline and New Pipeline before we end the opt-in period by shutting down Old Pipeline.  

Experience also has the ability to be deployed as an app in both the Google Play Store as well as the Apple App Store, so soon after that, we plan to replace the HardingU app with the Experience version and have a consistent user experience (pun wasn’t intended but is now) across platforms.

Keith: Is there anything else you would like to add about Banner Modernization?

Mike: We believe it will bring us to currency with the Ellucian platforms and allow us to better keep up with the new functionality that is regularly being provided for Banner and its related products.

Generative AI Faculty Resource LibGuide (eg ChatGPT)

Brackett Library has created a living guide that will be continually updated as ChatGPT and AI are rapidly evolving technologies.  The purpose is to have a resource available for faculty that contains helpful information and resources that are easy to understand.  Bookmark this link and check back regularly for updates!

https://library.harding.edu/GenerativeAI/facultyresourceguide

Generative AI is quickly maturing and moving into many areas. For example check out how Generative AI imagines what Barbie's dreamhouse would look like in each state of the USA!
Barbies Dreamhouse in each US State

Spring is Here; Change is in the air!

Banner Modernization Project

In November last year, a Strategic Alignment Planning exercise was conducted to help plan the digital future for Harding. This exercise was focused on our main systems from Ellucian, which is primarily Banner. We want to ensure that we are maximizing the value of our investments in the Ellucian solutions and that we have a clear roadmap to keep our Ellucian products and services aligned with modern technology and operation efficiencies.


The major deliverable from this exercise is the Banner Modernization Project. There are many items in this project, but the overall objective is to ensure that our deployment of Banner is always aligned with the latest updates and features. As is common with most vendors in the higher education space, there is a concerted move to have products like Banner be implemented in the cloud as Software as a Service (SaaS). While this is some time away from being fully implemented, we want you to be aware that a SaaS implementation will bring changes to what we can and cannot do ourselves and will lead to business process changes.

The first steps in the project will be to implement Ellucian Experience and the Intelligent Learning Platform.

Ellucian Experience is a platform that ties all the operation elements of Banner (and other services) into one place. Experience is a centralized and secure information hub. It can be tailored to fit the roles that we fulfill. One major outcome we see is that Experience would replace Pipeline! The intention is to make this a ‘soft’ rollout where we will have a pilot group use and stress test Experience and from there enter an opt-in period where we can choose to opt-in to using Experience. During this opt-in time we should be able to switch back and forth between Pipeline and Experience. Following the opt-in period, there would be a hard cutover time.

We are planning for the opt-in period to begin in the first quarter of 2024.

The Intelligent Learning Platform (ILP) provides a tight integration between Banner and Canvas. Currently we are using homegrown software to provide this integration. As we move forward, it is better to use the platform that comes with Banner. ILP works seamlessly with Experience to the point where it can send reminders to students of upcoming assignments (if of course all this information is in Canvas). ILP implementation is planned to be in place by the Summer of 2024.

Cyber Security Update

One of the key requirements of our Cyber Insurance policy is to have fake phishing exercises and any follow-up training that may be needed! I can only guess what we are all thinking about this! Please don’t look down on the folks in IS&T because of this.

However, because those bad actors that send out the phishing emails and so forth keep getting ‘better’ and looking more and more legitimate, we are about to start sending out fake phishing emails and invite some who may be hooked by the fake phishing bait to undertake some online training. The training will be in the form of 3-5 minute videos, most of which are animated. The video is followed by a simple quiz. Here is a sample video (our videos will be more suited to a higher education institution) - https://player.vimeo.com/video/344657894
The fake phishing emails will be sent out randomly. Some will focus on particular groups and others will be to the general community.

Changes in Google's Agreement

Google is changing the way they handle storage. Because of this, it was necessary for us to purchase Google licenses instead of using the “free” version of Google. The licenses we purchased are called Google Plus Licenses and are available for current employees and current students.

Our new licenses come with some nice features. Most of them are administrative, but there are some enhancements to Google Meet that we think will be helpful to you.  

• Q&A – allows anyone in the Meeting to ask questions. The moderator can filter the questions, mark them as answered or hide them.

• Breakout Rooms – moderators can divide participants into smaller groups during the Meet.

• Record a Meeting – recordings are saved in your Google Drive.

• Transcripts – Captures a transcription of the Meet that is saved in your Google Drive.

• Noise Cancellation – helps to limit distractions in the Meet and filter out background noise.

• Attendance Reports – track Meeting attendance automatically.

You don’t need to do anything to use your new Google license. It has already been applied to your account. Licenses for students with similar features will be added soon.

New Telephone system coming...

If you haven’t already, please complete the survey that will help us determine the features of the future telephone system that will be installed.


We have had 354 people respond so far. That is a great response to the survey. Here are some of the early results:

In the charts below, 5 - strongly agree and 1 - strongly disagree.

The survey closes this Friday, March 24, 2023.
Here is a link to the survey: https://forms.gle/1tsRJ4graSDScp4n6.

Will Banner live on? Where is the VoIP Conversion project up to? Is there an app for that?

Banner??

Pop quiz--How long has Harding been using Banner/Oracle as its core student information system, Finance/HR system, Admissions and Advancement systems?
          A) 10 years           C) 15 years
          B) 20 years           D) Too long
          E) None of the above

As part of our strategic plan, we are currently exploring alternatives and future roadmaps for Banner. This does not mean we will be automatically replacing Banner (and that would include many of the other systems connected to Banner), but are actively looking at other options. We are also asking Ellucian (the company that "owns" Banner) to show us their development road-map beyond Banner 9!

What Other Systems?

There are not many options really.
          1. Ellucian (Banner)
          2. Campus Management (Nexus) - this is being implemented at Lubbock and                            Lipscomb, and being used at ASU-Beebe
          3. Workday - chosen to replace Poise, Banner and PeopleSoft for the entire                              University of Arkansas system.

          4.  Unit 4

All the newer systems are cloud-based and have CRM (Client Relationship Management) built in.  

When Is It Going To Happen?

The research and investigation is underway.  We make our last payment under this contract with Ellucian in August 2021.  We pay a year in advance.  So we have time, and if we were to change, we would minimize "double payments!"

How Will I Be Affected?

The simple answer is - yes!  There is no doubt things will be different from Banner 9.  However, I suspect there are not too many of us reading this who are using Banner all day. Most Banner users are use Banner more as a casual user. Many of us will rarely use Banner directly. We all use what is in Banner but access it through our portal, Pipeline.  We are confident that our portal will also change!

Do We Really Have To Change?

The answer is yes and no.  We can certainly stay with Banner as long as Ellucian will maintain and enhance the product.  But even with that scenario, change is going to happen e.g. Banner 8 to Banner 9.  So in essence, the real answer is yes.  Whether that change is to enhanced versions of Banner or to another product is yet to be determined.

Whichever way we go, we will do our best to keep you as informed as possible of what is happening with this project.

The Answer to the Pop Quiz?

While a number of people would like to answer D, the answer is C --15 years.

Updates from Brackett Library

The 2018 lectureship audio and video files are now available in Brackett Library’s online institutional repository, Scholar Works at Harding. Past lectureships, starting with the year 2014, are located on this site. The repository also contains digitized collections from the Ann Cowan Dixon Archives & Special Collections, faculty and student research, Harding publications, and Harding doctoral dissertations.

Brackett Library is also happy to announce that students and faculty can self-reserve the newly named Henry Terrill Conference room located on the second floor of the library. Patrons can go to https://ht-confroom.youcanbook.me/ to find available times and reserve this space online. Reservations are for groups of 6 – 15 people and can be made up to 30 days in advance. Room amenities include a large white board and a 65” SMART TV with HDMI and wireless access. More details can be found on the reservation page.

DormNet helps people get “unstuck” …

Dr. McLarty made this statement recently at a Welcome Dinner to a group of student workers who returned to campus a week early to participate in a rigorous week of training and twelve-hour workdays. These students are called DormNet Assistants (DNAs for short), and they work in IS&T.

This group of 15 student workers, managed by Lora Fleener, runs the DormNet Help Desk. They support the Harding student body with all computer-related issues. Two of the 15 student workers are Senior DNAs – they help supervise and assist the other DNAs.

The DNAs handle everything from “my computer doesn’t work” or “I can’t log into my Pipeline account!” to “how do I make this laundry app work?” or “Help! My computer just crashed!” They are on the “front line” when something goes wrong. They get to answer the phone when things go very wrong. They help students get “unstuck.”

Recently, before school started, DormNet was able to assist different groups of students and help them get their computers ready for school to start. One of the most fascinating things to watch is a group of recently-trained student workers help international students set up their computers, all of which are in a foreign language. In these pictures, DNAs were helping the Chinese students set up their computers. None of the DNAs has training in Chinese, but somehow they were able to work together and get the job done.

As displayed on the entrance to the IS&T offices, Colossians 3:17 says: “And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him.” And then a few verses later in Colossians 3:23-24: “Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving.”

And for DormNet, that means we help people get “unstuck.”

There is an App for That - Canvas Teacher App

Have you been away from your computer and realized you need to send a
quick announcement to your Canvas course? Did you know Canvas has an app that
will allow this and much more?

Canvas has multiple apps available, including the teacher app for iOS
and Android devices. The Canvas Teacher app allows teachers to grade
assignments, provide feedback and conveniently communicate with students from
your mobile device.

For more information, check out the Mobile Guides - Canvas
Teacher page in the Canvas Guides or download the Canvas Teacher app from the
App Store or the Play Store.

VoIP Update

As announced in this article from April, the conversion to VoIP is nearly complete. The only devices left on the old telephone switch are a few fax machines and we have been turning off sections of the old phone switch as we proceed.

We have tried to convert all of the devices on that switch, but we may have missed some. If you have any phones or fax machines that are in an obscure location or seldom used, please try them and assure that they work. If they don’t work, please call 4100 and enter a ticket so we can convert them.