Information Technology Updates
Submitted by Dr. Melanie Abbas, Director IT-Educational Technology & Media Services, Computer Science Adjunct
I have been teaching CS 3730 Project Management for the past couple years and have been looking at ways to engage students in the classroom in the activities that support the content in what could be a very dry subject area. One area that is often hard to convey is the idea of project risk. This semester, I think I have finally found a way to use the technologies in the room to assist with this transfer of knowledge and also address the competency in the course of learning to use project management software.
By using the technologies in the StudioIT 1 (room ITTC 134), I was able to setup groups using one TV and a Solstice wireless display sharing device so that each group could collaborate on the decisions they were making. As an instructor, this also helps me to see that each group is working and walk around the room to discuss their decisions without hovering over a laptop or looking at a piece of paper on the table. I have used this same method any time I am having the students working on a group discussion. This keeps the note taking up on the TV for me to respond as I walk around the room. It also allows the rest of the class to see during our wrap up of the discussions
In regards to this particular activity, the class was put into teams who were given a project file using 30 day free trail of a project management software at gantter.com. Each group started with the same project file, a choice of staff and a fixed budget to update their file.They were given 20 minutes to set their project and prepare for the execution phase. During the execution phase, I drew random issues from a bag that would impact their project. For example, the ordered equipment was $1000 higher than estimated, a staff member was sick on a specific date, or a task took longer than expected causing delays. After several issues were drawn and schedules were adjusted, the team which completed their project the soonest with the lowest budget won (in this case, a bag of mini snickers!).
Students in the class mentioned that it helped them to have the group discussions on how to do the scheduling, use the software and think of possible issues that could go wrong. There is no way in a 5 week course that I could have students go through an entire project management cycle to learn about risk, but this activity could be done in one class period.
If you would like to know more about how I have used the room or schedule a tour of the room, please email me melanie.abbas@uni.edu
This classroom can be reserved for a specific class period activity, group meetings, or as the primary classroom for the entire semester (depending on availability).
If you are interested, please fill out a request for the space at: https://it.uni.edu/studio-it-or-computer-based-testing-center-reservation
January 28th is National Data Privacy Day, an educational initiative focusing on raising awareness among businesses and individuals about the importance of protecting the privacy of personal information. With more and more information being collected by companies, websites, and social media, this is something everyone should consider.
To understand the importance of Data Privacy day, it is vital to understand Personally Identifiable Information (PII) and exactly what privacy is. PII is any combination of data points that can lead to the identification of a specific individual (you). This can mean things such as your name or email address, but most times PII refers to “sensitive PII” such as Social Security, driver’s license, state identification, or financial account numbers. Sensitive PII can also exist if PII is combined with another piece of information about you such as a birthdate, medical information, or even passwords. The more pieces of data combined about an individual, the more valuable and sensitive the body of information becomes.
Privacy is often considered to be the concept of confidentiality, which is keeping information secret from those that should not see it. While that is an aspect of privacy, often called “need to know,” privacy is much more. Privacy is a larger concept centering on you as the individual to whom the information refers. It is about your rights to access, correct, and control the information that another entity has about you.
Privacy Rights:
Organizations that honor your privacy will not only protect confidentiality, but should follow a set of principles related to how they manage your information, including:
- Not collecting more information than they need to conduct their business with you;
- Informing you of what they will do with the information that they collect and not doing more with it than they have promised;
- Retaining the information for only as long as it is needed and then properly destroying the information;
- Not sharing your information with others without your permission, except as required by law;
- Allowing you to review and correct information if necessary.
To understand your privacy rights it is essential that you read the privacy policies of any organization to whom you provide information, especially PII. This includes websites, health care providers, insurance companies, and financial institutions. If you do not agree with how they intend to protect your privacy, consider not using their service.
Privacy is a Shared Responsibility:
While organizations and websites have a responsibility to protect your privacy, which most will outline in their privacy policy, this is also your responsibility. Social media users are especially susceptible to privacy concerns. Individuals voluntarily place enormous amounts of information about themselves, their friends, and associates, on social media. It is critical that everyone is aware of the information they post on social media services, such as Facebook, LinkedIn, Snapchat, and Twitter. This awareness is not limited to what you post about yourself, but what you post about others as well!
Identity Theft Protection:
Despite many organizations best efforts in handling and using your private information properly, the countless breaches of PII by cyber criminals in the past few years have resulted in the exposure of information about millions of people. One reaction to such breaches can be to provide credit monitoring for one year. This is a very short amount of time to have such a protection. Those that have stolen the information, or those to whom they have passed it on, may hold it for much longer than a year before using it to steal your identity, commit credit card fraud, or worse in your name. If you have been a victim of a breach, check out some of the FTC’s resources on starting a credit freeze to protect yourself.
If you are considering Identity Theft protection services, research the firms that you are considering engaging and ensure you understand the services they will and will not provide. Also, read their privacy policies, because for them to deliver these services you must provide them with varying amounts of PII.
Protecting privacy is both your responsibility and that of those individuals and organizations that have information about you. Do everything in your power to be aware of how you personally can compromise your privacy and hold those organizations that you engage with accountable for their management, or mismanagement, of your personal information.
For More Information:
US-CERT Data Privacy Day Events
Online Trust Alliance Data Privacy & Protection website
Stay Safe Online website: National Cyber Security Alliance
Forbes, Data Privacy Day: Easy Tips to Protect Your Privacy
It is great to see another classroom / learning space installed and ready to use at the University of Northern Iowa.
Our team has the opportunity in assisting the campus with the technologies installed in various spaces. We provide services with assessing the technology needs for the space, acquisition, installation, and training for the technology within these spaces.
Training involves both the “what buttons to push” to make the classroom operate to “best practices” on how to utilize the classrooms to have the most effective impact for engaged student learning.
This classroom has the capabilities to support wireless or wired screen sharing from mobile devices, document camera, DVD player as well as high definition local and international video and audio conferencing capabilities. It also has an easy to use control system.
The room looks a little empty as the furniture has not been delivered. This room will have a table in the center. Several other rooms we have completed have movable tables and chairs to allow for active learning capabilities.
If you're interested, http://classrooms.uni.edu is our web page that has an overview of technologies installed in our base standard classrooms.
Off to the next adventure!
By the end of 2018 UNI will be requiring a higher level of security for your UNI email using a protocol called OAuth 2. If you use an application that doesn’t have this security today, it will not be able to connect the next time you change your CatID passphrase.
If you access your UNI email through a web browser (visiting uni.edu/email), no change is required and you will continue to access your email like you do today, but you will need to log back into your web browser.
If you use a mail application on your desktop or laptop, we recommend accessing your email through your web browser.
Do you use the Gmail app today or want to start using it? See our information on configuring your device using the Gmail app.
If you own an Apple device, you can also use the Gmail app.
Need further help or have additional questions? Experiencing an issue on or after the change? Submit an incident through Service Hub or contact the IT Service Desk at 319-273-5555.
Over the past two years, an initiative has been underway to upgrade the technologies within classrooms and learning spaces at the University Of Northern Iowa (UNI).
This initiative is focused on classroom and learning spaces in regards to upgrading aging technologies, providing a consistent experience, providing centralized support and training within these spaces. This initiative has been a collaborative effort involving Information Technology (IT), Students, Faculty, Staff, and Administrators.
A set of baseline technologies have been selected and are currently being integrated within classrooms and learning spaces across campus. The initiative is a multi-year initiative and will continue to be implemented in the future.
For more information about the project, technologies that are being installed, and contact information please check out the Learning Spaces web site at https://classrooms.uni.edu/
The morning of Wednesday, October 18th, Information Technology will update the look of the CatID login screen used to gain access to many of UNI's online applications. Beyond just having a more updated look and feel, the new login screen will have a responsive design, meaning it will resize itself automatically to be more useful on the smaller screens of mobile devices.
Below is a preview of the new login screen:
As always, if you are unsure if the login screen you have navigated to is genuine, please contact the Information Technology Service Desk at 273-5555, or via email at servicedesk@uni.edu.
Eduroam is the university standard wireless network for students, faculty, and staff. Eduroam is a secure, world-wide wireless access service available at hundreds of universities, colleges, and research institutions. By connecting to eduroam here at UNI, your mobile device will be able to connect seamlessly at any of these other eduroam institutions.
Connecting with eduroam is slightly different than for the older WiFi-UNI wireless network. Your username is your CatID @uni.edu. For example, tcpanther@uni.edu. Use your CatID passphrase for the password.
If you have questions or concerns, please don't hesitate to get in touch with the IT Service Desk.
How to connect to Eduroam
Pages
- ITTC 36
- (319) 273-5555
