ITS Training Services - News & Announcements

Register for technology training offered this summer

Registration is now open for the ITS technology workshops offered this summer. Popular topics include Access, Excel, Photoshop, InDesign, SQL, Dreamweaver, cascading style sheets, Flash, and many more. Please note that in an effort to conserve environmental resources, ITS Training Services will no longer send printed reminders of these opportunities through campus mail. Be sure to subscribe to one or more of the electronic options available to continue receiving information about upcoming technology training opportunities in the future. Visit the Web site to register for training or to learn more about the many ways that you can opt to stay up-to-date on technology training opportunities at Penn State: http://its.psu.edu/training/

New lunchtime sessions added to summer technology training

In addition to the for-fee workshops offered this summer, ITS will pilot some informal, lunchtime sessions that will be free of charge. These sessions will be held in the 23 Willard conference from noon-1:00 p.m. and will consist of informal presentations and discussions on a variety of topics, like digital photography, creating powerful presentations, and how to handle information overload with RSS. Visit the Web site after 9:00 a.m. on May 12 to view or register for summer technology training at http://its.psu.edu/training/

Faculty, staff invited to participate in beta test of enhanced version of Turnitin

Author: Derick Burns

Turnitin is conducting a beta test of a new, enhanced version of their Web-based plagiarism prevention resource, and faculty and staff are invited to participate. Some of the enhancements being evaluated include a redesigned interface, expanded student paper databases, improved Originality Reports, and expanded content databases.

For more information about participating in the beta test and to see demonstrations of some of the enhancements, please attend one of two informative online sessions offered Thursday, May 15 at 1:00 p.m. or Friday, May 16 at 10:00 a.m. in the Adobe Connect meeting room at https://breeze.psu.edu/turnitin/. Before joining a Connect meeting, please read through the Getting Started information at http://meeting.psu.edu/quickstart and test your connection with our generic test meeting room at https://breeze.psu.edu/testmeetingroom/. Questions can be directed to turnitin@psu.edu.

Linux computer labs available for faculty to reserve for courses

Author: Derick Burns

Faculty who are interested in using computers with the operating system Linux for their courses can reserve computer labs at 316 Hammond Building and 216 Osmond Building. The Linux labs give faculty, students, and staff the opportunity to work on a powerful operating system that is quickly being adopted into business, industry, science, education, and government.

The Linux labs machines are state-of-the-art high performance computers, set at large desks with 30-inch monitors at each station to provide students with a natural collaborative work area. The labs also feature a podium computer with projector.

The Linux computer labs can be useful to faculty teaching a variety of subjects. Linux offers benefits such as a high amount of computing power, a variety of programming languages, and a selection of modeling and calculating software such as Mathematica, Matlab, Ansys, Abaqus, Comsol, and many others. If faculty need a specific type of software for their course, they can request it to be added by emailing clc-linux@psu.edu.

The Hammond lab has twenty-four Linux computers and can seat forty students in collaborative work areas, while the Osmond lab has seventeen computers and can seat thirty-two students. The Faculty can reserve either lab for an entire semester or on an ad-hoc basis.

To help faculty learn more about Linux, ITS Training Services is offering Getting Started with Unix/Linux January 10 from noon to 2:00 p.m. at 23 Willard Building. The training session is being offered as part of the Winter-Fest technology training week, and enables attendees to acquire a basic understanding of Linux. Visit the ITS Training Web site for details and to register at http://its.psu.edu/training/.

The Linux labs are maintained by Classroom and Lab Computing, a unit of Teaching and Learning with Technology, in collaboration with the University Committee on Instructional Facilities. For more information on Linux labs, please visit http://clc.its.psu.edu/Labs/Linux/. You can see photos of the Hammond lab here: http://clc.its.psu.edu/Labs/Linux/hammond.aspx. To reserve a Linux lab, faculty should contact their departmental scheduling coordinator.

ITS Training Services launches feed network

To better serve the Penn State learning community, ITS Training Services now offers a network of RSS feeds that provide information and links to all of workshop offerings for the fall 2007 semester. There are feeds for each workshop category; all workshops for the semester; and a special feed for all workshops within the upcoming 2 weeks.

To subscribe to any or all of these feeds, please visit the feed listing (http://its.psu.edu/training/feedspage.html) at the ITS Training Services website.

ANGEL Town Hall (via Connect Pro)

The ANGEL Town Hall is an open discussion forum where in depth exploration of ANGEL tools and features will take place. Time will be available at the end of the session for questions and answers.

Objectives:
* Review the ANGEL 7.1 interface
* Explore how ANGEL 7.1 impacts learning and content management
* Discuss ANGEL 7.1 with your peers from across the university

Please log into Adobe Connect Pro 15 minutes before the session is scheduled to begin. There will be someone available via Chat Pod to help you if you are having difficulty seeing or hearing the session.

Log in using your Penn State Access Account userid and password. The url for the meeting is: https://breeze.psu.edu/angeltownhall/

Free technology tutoring available to faculty at University Park

Faculty members at University Park who would like one-on-one tutoring on teaching, learning, and class management tools can apply to have a technology-savvy student help them acquire computer skills on a range of topics. Through the Technology Learning Assistant (TLA) program, students tutor faculty in their offices on PowerPoint, Excel, file management, e-mail, Web page development, electronic gradebook software, and other applications and tools. TLAs can also demonstrate how to use Penn State services such as ANGEL 7.1, podcasting and iTunes U, Adobe Connect desktop videoconferencing, ITS Streaming Services, and the "Blogs at Penn State" pilot program. To learn more about the TLA program or to fill out the brief online application form, visit http://ets.tlt.psu.edu/tla/. The Technology Learning Assistant program is sponsored by the Schreyer Honors College, the College of Information Sciences and Technology, the Instructional Systems program of the College of Education, and Teaching and Learning with Technology, a unit of Information Technology Services.

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