Issue 14: September 2007 ICT News Newsletter of the Faculty of Humanities ICT Office in this issue... Page 1 Welcome Humanities Welcome Site 2007 Student Guide to IT Services Link to IT Support for Staff and Students Page 2 Recent Updates Humanities Welcome Site 2007 The welcome site which is designed to give pre-registration support for new undergraduates went live on the 16th of August. This is the third year of the site which is designed to breach that awkward and sometimes nerve wracking gap between the arrival of A level results and FreshersвЂ™ week. One of its main aims is to allow students to feel part of the community before they actually arrive in Manchester. To this end it contains welcome videos from Alistair and Kersti, plus interviews with students who were coming to the end of the first year and were happy to pass on their tips and experiences to new comers. Over the three years the most popular pages are freshersвЂ™ week, accommodation and when you first arrive in Manchester. There are also discussion boards, general ones as well as school specific ones, where freshers can contact each other. A constant theme is how nervous and excited they are. They can also post questions which we attempt to answer with the help of the undergraduate administrators in the schools. Changes to IS delivery Cluster Updates Outlook access to staff email service Students are informed about the site by a coloured flyer and a page of instructions which are included in the Welcome Pack which schools distribute. It never fails to amaze us how quickly the first message is posted on the site. On two out of three years its been on the day the results were published! Page 3 We have made changes to the site in the light of feedback received in previous years and if you want to see it in action then you can logon with the generic username facultyhum and the password welcome. All comments are gratefully received. Teaching and Learning IT Learning Resources Update on Blackboard Induction, Registration and Sign-Up Guides to IT Services This year sees both staff and students having access to a Guide to IT Services The Student Guide to IT Services 2007/2008 is available on line at http:// www.manchester.ac.uk/itservices/. Paper copies of the Guide will be available from Services Desks and Whitworth Hall. The IT Services website contains a wealth of information introducing new students and staff to IT at the University. Page 4 News PGR Update Goodbye to Ivy Brember Congratulations to Susan Mackay The Staff IT Guide to IT Services 2007/2008 is a new publication developed by IT Services with support from the Faculty and Central Services. Humanities ICT Office has made this available online as part of its Staff IT Handbook which also includes Faculty specific IT information. This will be available from the beginning of October 2007 and will replace our monthly face-to-face sessions, see http://www.manchester.ac.uk/humanities/ ict/ for more information. Link to IT Support for staff and students http://ICT/humanities/manchester/ac/uk/web/webmgt/itservices/index/html How to contact us - Service Desk Details September 2007 Location Humanities Lime Grove, W1.19 Phone 54999 Email servicedeskhum@manchester.ac.uk http://www.manchester.ac.uk/humanities/ict This newsletter is available online as a pdf from: http://www.manchester.ac.uk/humanities/ict/atoz/aboutus/news/. Past copies are also available here as will future copies. Updates 2 Changes to IS delivery This note is intended to update staff and students within the Faculty on the progress being made towards developing a seamless IS support function operating efficiently and effectively across the three levels of the administration: School, Faculty and Centre. As part of the May 2007 review of devolution an IS Task Group was established to look at ways in which IS could be better structured in order to deliver more effective services in the most efficient manner. The Task Group report (see www.staffnet.manchester.ac.uk/medialibrary/taskforce/it-services.pdf) produced a number of principles together with a number of recommendations as to areas for further consideration/review. The Faculty IS Managers, working with the Head of the IT Services Division, have been working hard to develop new structures and to revise service delivery models which reflect these principles and recommendations. A great deal of progress has been made in some areas offering the opportunity for early restructuring (common University staff desktop, shared service desk and infrastructure), whilst other areas (IT procurement, applications development, reprographics and eLearning) have produced initial reports containing recommendations which will be considered further over the coming months. It is intended that a consultation document outlining these revised delivery models will be published by the Head of the IT Services Division during the week beginning the 18th September. This consultation document will be considered at an extraordinary meeting of the Faculty Information Systems Committee (HISC). Cluster Updates New cluster software The new cluster image, CLIP 5, will be used in most student clusters for the new session. You can see the list of software on this image at http://www.itservices.manchester.ac.uk/ clustersoftware/software0708/ Faculty Cluster Closures Following estates moves during the summer the clusters in Dover Street, the Maths and Social Sciences building, Harold Hankins and the Mansfield Cooper 4.10 and Bridgeford Street 2.12 are now closed. New PCs have been installed in Devas Street B3.17, B3.1, B3.6 and B3.3, Lime Grove Multimedia studios and W2.19. Outlook access to Staff Email Service IT IT IT We've come across an issue recently accessing the Staff Email Service using Outlook with the OCFO (Oracle Connector for Outlook). The problem looks to have started after installing a patch from Apple. If you have iTunes installed on a machine and you apply the patch, it prevents Outlook accessing the Staff Email Service using secure protocols (SSL). As iTunes is a popular application, this issue could affect quite a few users. There is a solution to the problem and a FAQ has been added to the IT support staff email web site at: http://www.itservices.manchester.ac.uk/itsupportstaff/staffemail/faqs/outlook/#d.en.120468 Teaching and Learning 3 IT Learning Resources All staff and students have access to a wide range of resources and opportunities to develop our IT skills. Recognising that time is a limited resource IT Services and the Faculty of Humanities are increasingly presenting more resources online. http://www.itservices.manchester.ac.uk/trainingcourses/trainingresources/ In addition to face to face training we now also have access to a variety of online interactive resources covering the main Office products from beginners to advanced level. They also include resources specifically designed for learners taking the ECDL. http://www.itservices.manchester.ac.uk/trainingcourses/corporateapplications/ As well as training courses the Corporate Applications Team provide a wealth of downloadable training materials. http://www.manchester.ac.uk/humanities/ict/training/resources A variety of online video demonstrations and downloadable PDFs for software supported by the Faculty. If you are interested in resources specifically for Postgraduate Researchers see our article on the new Resources for Postgraduate Researchers area on WebCT. Update on Blackboard During 2007/2008 the University is implementing the change to the Blackboard Virtual Learning Environment. The implementation involves three phases. Phase I involves 16 pilots for delivery this semester, Phase II sees a further 60 exemplar projects rolled out in Semester 2 and Phase III is Blackboard going live to all staff in February 2008 Details of the implementation are outlined in the Blackboard bulletin available from the web address below. The next issue will be available in October. 31st August was the final date for submission to become one of 60 exemplar project in Phase Two. These involve courses to be delivered from semester 2. The Faculty is currently reviewing the submitted projects and will be letting the people involved in this Phase know soon. Again full details of the process for selection as a Phase Two Exemplar is available from the web address below. WebCT will continue to be supported until the end of 2007/2008. http://www.manchester.ac.uk/humanities/ict/tandl/elearning/blackboard.html Induction, Registration and IT Sign-Up Postgraduate Induction Sessions There are a number of induction sessions for PGR students taking place from 12th September through to the end of the month. If you are a member of staff and require an induction session for your postgraduate students please contact humittraining@manchester.ac.uk. If you are a student, see your School induction programme for more information. If you miss your IT Induction you can download a copy of the presentation from http://www.manchester.ac.uk/humanities/ict/training/induction/. Support for registration During registration there will be student support available in the Kilburn building. Staff IT Induction To provide more flexible and timely access to IT Induction information for new members of staff the ICT Office is presenting an online Staff IT Handbook which includes the new 2007/2008 Staff Guide to IT Services as well as Faculty specific information. This will be available from the beginning of October 2007 and will replace our monthly face-to-face sessions, see http://www.manchester.ac.uk/humanities/ict/ for more information. News & Regular Features 4 PGR Update A new WebCT Site for PGRs in the Faculty of Humanities will be launched in September. It is intended that it will be a вЂ�one stop shopвЂ™ for PGRs in the Faculty. To this end it will contain welcome videos featuring the Dean and the Associate Dean for research students, useful web links and information that is considered useful for both home and international research students.There will be several discussion boards which we hope will serve a social purpose as well as leading to crossschool research. Communication is a constant problem in a faculty as bid as Humanities and we hope that the discussion boards will encourage a sense of community amongst our research students. An important feature of the site will be the training materials some of which have been funded from central funds. There is a comprehensive guide to academic writing, and IT training materials which have previously been offered in a workshop format are now being put on-line, so they will always be accessible. The site is a result of cooperation between the Faculty IT Teaching and Learning Team and the Faculty Research Training Manager. It is hoped that PGRs will find it a valuable resource and the first students will be given access to it in September. If it is to run as intended we will need the cooperation of all the schools, in encouraging students to use it, helping answer their questions and suggesting materials to be uploaded onto the site. Currently the site is managed by Ivy Brember but when she leaves at the end of September this role will be taken over by Emmet Flynn. The site is not finished and in a sense it never will be finished because it will constantly being developed in the light of suggestions from users and changes being made to the materials on it. If you would like to have access to the site then e-mail your username to ele@manchester.ac.uk. Everyone involved with the creation and maintenance of the site will welcome any feedback. Did You Know? Goodbye to Ivy Brember 1. What does the acronym ICT stand for? Ivy Brember is retiring at the end of September after 42 years happy (this is what she tells us!) service here at the University. 2. What does the acronym HTML stand for? Answers below 2. Hyper Text Mark-Up Language 1. Information and Communication Technologies Any Questions? Please send any questions you may have concerning IT, Teaching and Learning, Development and Research etc. to: janet.thompson@manchester.ac.uk and we will answer them in the next newsletter. Ivy spent the majority of her career in Education in VUM and following Project Unity moved to Humanities ICT Office to lead the IT Teaching and Learning Team. Ivy has led and supported many successful Teaching and Learning projects during the last three years including a Welcome site for new undergraduate students which provides help and support before students even arrive in Manchester. More recently Ivy has been working tirelessly to support the development of a variety of online resources, support and information for Postgraduate Researchers here in Humanities. Ivy's support, commitment and enthusiasm will be very much missed by her colleagues in Teaching and Learning and the wider ICT Office. Ivy has been a valued colleague and friend to many of us and I am sure you will join the ICT Office to wish her a wonderful retirement. There will be a send off for Ivy on the 28th of September 2007 at 4pm. Contact Janet Thompson janet.s.thompson@manchester.ac.uk for more information. Congratulations to Susan Mackay Susan MacKay, from our Teaching and Learning Team, has won the Teaching and Learning Award for support staff. Susan's award reinforces the partnership between academic and support staff in teaching and learning. She has not only supported development of major elearning projects across the Faculty but has also had an impact on outreach through the ChildrenвЂ™s University and school workshops. Susan says: вЂњA belief that communication and collaboration are key to successful and productive working relationships informs my approach to the role of learning support. These create an environment for the successful facilitation of student-centred,student-led e-learning.вЂќ SusanвЂ™s colleagues Annie Morton and Catherine Franc, said: вЂњHer expertise is invaluable; she shares this with IT novices like ourselves, enthusing us in turn to reflect upon our provision and try out new things under her guidance.вЂќ