Be Cyber Savvy

“My account has been hacked!”  

We hear this regularly, but in almost every case that is not an entirely true statement. 

Hacking involves a person using technical methods to find a way around the security of systems and expose data that was supposedly secure.  Yes, such security breaches happen and when they do they make headline news.  But when a single personal account is compromised, “hacking” is usually not the reason.  In almost all cases of individual account compromises, we are simply fooled into giving away our private data or account credentials to a scammer.  It isn’t very high tech.

Protect yourself.  

• Take the time to learn about “Phishing” and “Spear Phishing”.  This is something that anyone using technology should be doing. It is like being a pedestrian and learning how to safely cross the street, we just have to do it. Check out the “Valparaiso University Phishing Awareness” video at YouTube.  It is a VERY good video done by a Google Apps school.
• Avoid randomly clicking on unfamiliar web links that pop up in a search result or in an advertisement. 
• Don’t use a single password for all of your accounts. When you do, one mistake compromises ALL of your accounts!  

New security threats.

• Nearly all of us are carrying a smart phone now which is, in essence, a small computer.  And like all computers these phones can be infected with malware.  We need to be using the same security techniques with our phones as we do with our computers:  
• keep the software on your phone updated 
• install software to help protect from malware.  There are some decent options out there for free.  One unfortunate employee recently had spam spewing from their e-mail account and it appears the source of the problem was malware on their Apple iPhone.
•  As we all become more inclined to use the internet for shopping we have to remember to never use our Harding passwords for our other online accounts (Amazon, WalMart, etc.)  We know it's a bother to keep up with more than one password but please reserve your Harding password strictly for Harding use. Consider using tools like LastPass to manage your passwords.

Please ensure that your Harding password is different from other passwords you may use for your personal accounts.

What's new in office computing?

New update service

We are slowly implementing a new service that installs updates to a wide array of software on Windows computers.  Languard is scheduled to work overnight, as are most anti-virus scans, so you will want to leave you computer on overnight to avoid the having these things run during the day while you are trying to work.  We plan to evaluate the Apple version of the same product soon.

Secure Off Campus Connections

Harding now has a solution which will help protect your data when you must use your Harding laptop from an off-campus network.  Fortinet creates a secure connection to the campus network which not only protects any sensitive data you might need to access, but also gives you access to your M: drive and other departmental storage. Over the next few months we plan to install it on all Harding laptops.

New software

New software from Microsoft and Apple is being tested to make sure it works will with our campus tools.  Soon we will be looking for volunteers to help us test Windows 10, Mac OS 10.11 (El Capitan), and Office 2016 for Macs.  Once these are determined to be safe we will begin offering upgrades and training for those who would like to upgrade.  FYI Office 2016 is now available for iOS devices and it's free!

The material for this entry was written by Jim Baird and John Nunnally. Thank you Jim and John.

Are we ready? Are we ever...

Hello

It has been a year since we started this blog. We started it with a run down of what IS&T had been up to over the summer. So, this year we are going to do the same thing. Here are some of what has happened in IS&T over the summer.

Brackett Library

Brackett Library made some exciting changes over the summer.  First, the English Department's Writing Center has moved to the library and is located on the first floor.  More information about services offered and scheduling appointments can  be found on the Writing Center's website.

There is also a vending machine now located in the library on the first floor by the stairway. The Harding University Bookstore will be maintaining and stocking the items which includes note cards, flash drives, and highlighters. Students can purchase items with a simple swipe of a credit card.

Faculty and students will also notice several new resources this year.  If you have been wanting to learn a new language or just get a refresher course, Pronunicator is a language database that offers programs in over 80 languages. Other new resources include the Rehabilitation Reference Center, the Nursing Reference Center, SciFinder and several new eBooks. 

You can go to the library's "What's New" page for details and information about the other changes such as Brackett Library opening  at an earlier time on Sunday afternoons and the new rolling white boards.  

Network Services

Our internet bandwidth has doubled! Yes doubled. Right now our internet speeds are pretty good. Check out these results from Speedtest.net:

Now this result will change once the students arrive of course, Never-the-less, we believe we are in good shape with our internet bandwidth - for at least 6 months!

As it easily seen there has been/is quite a bit of construction happening around campus. This means there is network cable and equipment, wireless access points, phone and so forth that has to be installed, tested and commissioned. Our crew has completed work in; Legacy phase III, 2nd floor student center remodel, Ezell building remodel and even planned for wireless coverage for the First Ladies Garden.

This week, a new VoIP phone system was installed at the Harding School of Theology in Memphis.

Center for Learning with Technology

We recorded and produced video tutorials for our Quality Matters (QM) workshops. 

We have finalized our faculty training schedule for the year and are excited about our offerings of hands-on sessions for QM training. We are building a large portion of our training around effective course design and QM aligned syllabus. A new addition will be training teachers in creating an interactive, digitized syllabus. 

We designed course content for EDT 620 (QM aligned), a graduate course in the College of Education. 

We reviewed courses from the Nursing and the College of Education departments. 

We presented at the Teaching with Technology Symposium at UAMS. Presentation Topics:  Give Me a Voice, Allow Me to Create and Invite Me to Learn (VoiceThread and ShadowPuppet) and Enhance Your Learning with Web 2.0 Tools 

Set up spaces in the wiki (Kenobi) for a Policy Portal and Academic Planning and Program Review.  Centralizing information for both are in answer to accreditation needs but also good things for the university to do.

Applications Development & Enhancement

With the Harding website mostly behind us now, we have moved onto the major redesign of  Pipeline. We will follow a similar process to the website redesign, but we will do the work in house this time. Over the summer preliminary investigations have been going on. We will be making Pipeline mobile friendly and completely reorganizing it. It has grown a lot during its life. It currently has a lot of content that can be difficult to find.

We have met and talked with some people around campus already, people such as Dan Stockstill and Frank McCowen about Faculty views on what's working and what's not in the current Pipeline. We have talked with the Provost office about Faculty info and how to separate it into meaningful groups. We are planning similar meetings with Staff about the Administrative side of Pipeline.

Additionally we are assembling another group to guide, evaluate and provide relevant input to our efforts for the redesign of Pipeline. That group will start meeting very soon.

If all goes as planned we should see a redesigned Pipeline during the first quarter of 2016.

We are also transitioning the Harding Academy website over the new design. It will be branded as Harding Academy, but have a similar look and feel to the University website. Here is a peek at the Academy home page:

There is still some work to do with this site, but it is well underway.

Client Support

Replaced

 - 435 Windows desktops
 - 100 Windows laptops
 - 100 Macs
Trips to install in Memphis, Rogers, and NLR
Multiple classes each week for those upgrading, including taking the lab to Memphis to train there.
Survived:
 - 3 people taking honeymoons (no dedication)
 - 1 broken leg (some people will do anything to get out of work)
 - 1 resignation (already married and not enough guts to break his leg)
Erased and returned 500 computers to leasing company
Erased and liquidated 80 computers

Business Intelligence

A major update and move of work to new version of Dashboards. They are more modern, but need a lot of work to convert.

Engaged a consultant from Birst to carry out a 'health checkup' on the work we have done so far. We don't want to walk far down the wrong track so had this checkup performed. We are quite healthy it seems!

Also, preparing dashboards to show our enrollment numbers. This is crucial at anytime, but especially this time of the year.

Student Communications

Quite a bit of work getting ready for the Fall and preparing ways to provide training in the use of the phones and voicemail. Look forward to having some videos available to help us all use our phone system effectively.

Dormnet is a large part of the this departments responsibilities. There are 17 Dormnet assistants. They will be here next week to participate in a full week of training and be ready to deal with the students that start arriving on Thursday (well quite a few will be here before that). Specifically the Dormnet Online Training (DOT) has been developed and implemented. This means that the Dormnet training can start during the summer.

Systems and Database Admin

Installed a new Storage Area Network (SAN) Disk Storage Array which now contains all of Harding's critical data, including the Banner database.  This SAN Array is made up of mostly conventional (spinning) disk drives, but 5 Terabytes of its 50 Terabyte total capacity is comprised of extremely fast Solid State Drives (SSDs).

Construction was completed on a new Disaster Recovery Data Center (DRDC) at Harding's Professional Center in Rogers, Arkansas.  Computer equipment will be moved into the DRDC this fall that will maintain continuously-updated copies of all of Harding's mission-critical servers and data.  These copies will have the ability to become our live production servers and data within just a few hours if our Searcy Data Center is rendered inoperable for any reason.

Conducted a complete shutdown and startup of the Searcy Data Center so some major maintenance could be performed on our main Uninterruptable Power Supply (UPS).  The UPS maintenance required the power to be completely disconnected from the Data Center for about 6 hours.  This was a great test of our ability to properly shut down and start up all of the software and hardware in the Data Center in the correct order so that everything would work when it came back up.  This involved many of our experts within IS&T, and the process was accomplished brilliantly!

Classroom Technology

All classroom and lab computers were upgraded to Windows 8.1 (still have a few left to do).  This is a big change but should make for a smoother transition to Windows 10 when the time comes.

The computer lab in the Ezell building has moved to room 209 and has expanded to 41 computers.  This is now the second largest computer lab on campus next to Mabee 108.

God can be glorified in every situation...

Hello

Dormnet is Harding's help desk for students. It is staffed by a group of wonderful student workers known as Dormnet Assistants (DNAs)

It is a service provided by Harding’s Student Support & Communication, managed by Lora Fleener that brings the Internet and the campus network directly to a student’s personal computer.

Some facts about Dormnet:
 Location 
Administration Bldg.
Room 205

School Hours 
Monday - Thursday:
11 am - 10 pm
Friday: 11 am - 5 pm

Summer Hours
Monday-Friday
8 am - 12 noon
1 pm - 5 pm
In addition to the help desk operations, the DNAs have been compiling a blog focused on being a source of information for students who are seeking help with using IT in the dorms.

Recently one of the DNAs compiled an entry in the blog that reflected on his three years working in Dormnet. It is a thoughtful reflection. You can read the complete entry by following this link: http://dormnet.blogspot.com/2015/05/looking-back.html

In particular, I was encouraged by the last section of his blog post. Even if you do not have time to read the complete blog entry, I wanted to share with you this section from his post. 

We have some great students at Harding, who are learning so many things that we may not be aware of on a day to day basis. This is a great reminder of this, and also a great encouragement for each of us to do the same.

Sam says:

• God can be glorified in every situation. When I applied for DormNet, I wasn't initially thinking that it would be a great way to serve God. I was just looking for a job, and this one was highly recommended to me by my friends. However, in working here these last three years I have seen that we can be giving glory to God in every situation. Every time students come to us seeking help with their computer issues, we have an opportunity to be servants of Him and show everyone His love. Computers can be frustrating to deal with, but to be able to be friendly and loving in the face of the frustrations they can bring I think can be a great Christian thing to do. We interact with students from all different walks of life, and the way we act and serve gives us an opportunity to reflect Christ in our interactions and give glory to Him. He can use us to improve other students' lives through this service that we have learned how to do. Through this job, I have learned that it really doesn't matter what service or job we're doing, anything and everything we do can be used to glorify Him. I hope that whatever you are doing and wherever you are in life, you can remember this and use your skills for Him.

Print is dead!

This post is from Paula Kirby. Paula directs the E-learning and Multimedia Services department in IS&T

How Popular is the Printed Page in 2015?

In The Reading Brain, in the Digital Age: The Science of Paper versus Screens, Mr. Jabr states that studies find “few signification differences in reading speed and comprehension between paper and screens” (Jabr, 2013) Judging from the numbers of HU's last print report, the printed page is still in demand on Harding's campus.

According to our records, there were 6,561,512 copies made during the 2011/12 school year. At the mid-point of the 2014/15 school year, we have printed 6,012,966 (See Table 1 below). While this number fluctuates, this represents a considerable lower number. And consistently the number at the end of the year is less the double the mid year number. So, we may be heading for a record low year of printing (these numbers come from the Canon printers and Multi Function Devices on campus).

So where do these number come from? Check out the link below to see the copy count from your area:

Mid Year Copy Count by Area

Jabr, F. (2013, April 11). The reading brain in the digital age: The science of paper versus screen. Retrieved from Scientific American: http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/reading-paper-screens/

Table 1.

Business Intelligence...

We are now well and truly in the full swing of a wonderful spring semester here at Harding University. 

There are some exciting things planned for release over the next few months. Most visibly will be our redesigned web site. It is still on schedule for release at the end of March. 

The other project to mention is the business intelligence (BI) system. The vendor chosen to produce our BI was Birst, a cloud based system. 

According to Gartner, Business intelligence (BI) is an umbrella term that includes the applications, infrastructure and tools, and best practices that enable access to and analysis of information to improve and optimize decisions and performance.

(I am sure there are other less flattering descriptions of business intelligence!)

The development team at Harding are on working on our first dashboards - Retention, Graduation Rates and an Enrollment dashboards. They will show trends and provide the ability to drill down at various levels. The information in the dashboards is drawn a data warehouse that holds accurate current and historical data.

BI systems provide great information for planning and decision making. We will be adding more dashboards as the development continues.

The BI system at Harding has been given the name, Tardis. What is Tardis? The Tardis is the time machine that Dr Who uses. It stands for, Time And Relative Dimension In Space! On the outside it is a British Police Box, but inside it is much larger with many rooms and so forth. For those who want to know more (and who doesn't), check this out - The Tardis. 

BI systems are a bit like that as well - simple on the outside, more complex as you get into them. I know - it is a bit 'nerdy' but we needed to call it something.

There are some dashboards below that Google provides for us. These dashboards give us a good idea of how we used some of our Google Apps suite last Fall. As we look at these dashboards over time, it can help us plan for future use, services and capacity.

God  bless you all as we serve Him this semester. 

Who Let the Dogs In?

The Brackett Library brought along some therapy dogs for the first time during finals week this semester. Apart from being very cute and being man's best friend, they proved to be calming for the students who went along to pet and be with the dogs.

What did the students think of this? Here are some of their comments:
"The support dogs in the library were one of my favorite things that Harding has offered. I went before a final and the chihuahua, Tyler, just snuggled up to me, sat there looking at me with his big brown eyes and any anxiety I had just melted away.  So many students were impacted by the power of these animals, one girl said that she wanted to take a dog into her final so she could pet him while taking her test."

"Thanks so much for doing this!!  This was a great idea".

"The best part of finals week--dogs to pet in the library!"

"...I could feel the atmosphere change.  It provided students the chance to step out of their stressful week. People were happier and more relaxed. It's amazing the power that animals have to soothe the soul."

And from a library worker: 
"The dogs provided a wonderful break for students, a moment in their hectic frenzy of final exams to slow down and enjoy something simple and fun.  :)"

Did you miss seeing the dogs on Wednesday? Not to worry they will be back this Friday (December 12) afternoon from 3.00pm to 5.00pm

While a lot of the students will have left the campus by then, those engaged in grading might want a way to relieve some anxiety. So come on over to the library on Friday from 3.00pm - 5.00pm to spend some calming time with a puppy.

Finally I want to share the feedback from the therapy dog handlers. This speaks so much for the great Harding community:

"Jean, just a short follow up on therapy dogs in the library.  I want to extend a heart felt THANK YOU for inviting ABLEPaws to your library.  I hope the event was everything you expected or even more.
My volunteers were so excited to be there and participate.  We honestly have never been thanked by so many different students/staff for coming.  It was wonderful to be a part of and witness.  
Please let me know if in the future we can be of service to your establishment again.  We look forward to serving you again.
Also on behalf of ABLEPaws my volunteers would like to thank you & the library staff for the gifts provided to our volunteers. The gifts were not necessary or required at all.  However, your thoughtfulness has touched our hearts greatly.  Steve, Nancy, Amy, Candee, and I extend a sincere THANK YOU as well as our fur babies!  
Thank you again,
TJ & Bella"

Thanks to Jean Waldrop the other library staff for this initiative. Jean sums it by saying:

"I always get a little anxious trying something new but the smiles on the student's faces and the positive comments I heard made me feel good about the decision to have therapy dogs in the library."

Harding Partners with Ritter Communication

During the week of Thanksgiving, IS&T will be moving our primary Internet connection to Ritter Communications. Ritter is headquartered in Jonesboro, Arkansas.

With its roots in northeast Arkansas, Ritter started as a telephone company providing the first dial tone to many rural communities.  Today Ritter serves 59 communities and more than 45,000 customers in northeast and north central Arkansas and west Tennessee with a full suite of communications services including high speed internet, voice, video, and broadband connectivity.

For the past several months, you may have seen Ritter trucks around Searcy installing fiber optic cable to extend their services into our community.  “We’re very excited to name Searcy among the elite ‘gig cities’ in the nation, and we’re excited to be the internet backbone for Harding University.” said Steve Smith, Vice President of Sales at Ritter.“

Ritter has had great success in offering local businesses in our service areas the kind of advanced broadband services typically found only in large metro areas.” 

Ritter has built their fiber optic network directly into Harding’s Data Center.  This will enable Harding to have a lower cost position, increase their user experience, and take advantage of the broadband connection for future growth applications.