UIT Highlights

Tools to Support Academic Continuity at Tufts

2009-10-20T19:54:54Z

As part of the university's pandemic planning, Tufts CIO David Kahle and Associate Provost Mary Lee asked the UIT Academic Technology group to create a simple information site for faculty describing technologies that can be used to support academic continuity, focusing especially on ways to record lectures ahead of time so that students can access them remotely if need be. This was a generous cross-university team effort, including contributions from UIT, ITS in Medford, Cummings, Fletcher, Friedman, and School of Medicine colleagues, all of whom assisted with information and resource links. The "Tools to Support Academic Continuity" resource site is accessible to everyone in the Tufts community via Spark (login is UTLN and webmail password): http://go.tufts.edu/academiccontinuity

VUE Kudos in the Blogosphere!

2009-09-02T14:25:12Z

VUE, Tufts' Visual Understanding Environment application developed through a grant from the Mellon Foundation, has been cited this week as a "Great Information Visualization Tool": http://zenstorming.wordpress.com/2009/09/01/great-information-visualization-tool-vue/ The blog, "Zenstorming - Where Sciences Meets Muse... Innovation at its Most Authentic," is authored by Michael Plishka, an "Innovator" who explores and shares creative approaches to strategic planning, problem solving, "intellectual portfolio development," and ways to optimize creativity.

ePortfolios Facilitate Experiential Learning through Ghana Gold Program

2009-06-26T16:05:38Z

In 2007, Tufts launched a unique experiential learning program focused on gold mining in the country of Ghana. Supported by a grant from Tisch College and sponsored by the Africa in the New World interdisciplinary minor, the Ghana Gold program seeks to introduce undergraduates to issues confronting the West African nation by examining political, historical, cultural, socio-economic, and environmental issues surrounding Ghana's gold mining industry. Issues are framed within the larger context of corporate social responsibility (CSR) and the ways in which such policies have been constructed, deconstructed, contested and negotiated over time. Currently in its third year, the Ghana Gold program consists of a study tour in January followed by an undergraduate colloquium in the spring term.

For the past two years, Ghana Gold students have worked with instructional design specialists in UIT Academic Technology (AT) to articulate and preserve aspects of their learning experience through the creation of electronic portfolios. Using an open source application developed by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, students are asked to reflect upon their experiential learning during the study tour, connect the study tour to theory and literature on corporate social responsibility, select artifacts that demonstrate accomplishment of their learning objectives, and discuss how their experience relates to their own evolving views on CSR and active citizenship.

The 2009 cohort of Ghana Gold students, many of whom such as Judy Fitzpatrick were freshmen, did an exceptional job of reflecting upon their experiences in Ghana and articulating how they saw these experiences in relation to their future academic, personal and professional goals. The full set of 2009 Ghana Gold student portfolios can be found in the KEEP Toolkit environment or by clicking here.

Slideshow and audio by Tufts Web Communications

Summer Institute 2009: A Success by Design!

2009-05-28T16:36:25Z

"I don't usually give A plus grades- this really was a great conference." "I was impressed with the level of support that each UIT person offered. This was the most valuable teaching conference I have attended at Tufts thus far." -- Summer Institute 2009 Participants This year's UIT Summer Institute brought together fourteen faculty from across Tufts University to focus on developing technology-enhanced learning designs for their courses and programs. UIT Academic Technology shaped this year's program as a guided "backward design" process for the participating faculty, who each focused on developing a learning design for a particular course and on exploring new options for learning activities, new forms of assessment, and new technologies for teaching, learning, and collaboration. The form, structure, and practices of the Institute supported the principles and frameworks we explored. Each person could anchor his or her experience in a concrete focus that mattered personally, and faculty came away with a process they can re-use, as well as a new community of practice on which they can draw for continued inspiration, shared reflections on teaching practices, and peer models of experimentation and success. In the Summer Institute wrap-up sessions and evaluations, faculty reported that they enjoyed the layering of technologies and the clear message (and demonstration) that we select particular technologies and approaches to suit specific goals and contexts. Representative comments from the Summer Institute evaluations: "This conference truly energized me. Part of it, of course, was the content/subject. It helped me rethink the courses I teach and presented possibilities that will make them -- and my teaching-- stronger. Yet as importantly were the people involved. In particular, the UIT staff and the participants. Thus, the value of the conference was not simply derived from what we learned as participants, but how much we enjoyed the process. This was a conference none of us dreaded coming to; instead, we looked forward to what each new day would bring. Thanks and congratulations." "This has been inspiring and informative. I look forward to doing more of these in the future. I would really like to be able to return in the future to re-examine what I've learned. I would also like to have help using some of this information in terms of organizing and sharing my professional information and scholarship." "Overall, an excellent program. I got a tremendous amount out of it and am excited by developing on the things I've learned. Knowing that I can call on the presenters for support is unique and extremely valuable. It keeps the Institute alive. Thank you all." "I enjoyed this institute very much. My very sincere thanks to all the staff. You all are so supportive, friendly, knowledgeable and thoughtful. I share, though may not be up to the same caliber, your passion and view towards incorporating technology wisely into education. I look forward to our interaction and co-operation in future. Thanks." UIT Contributors: * Hannah Reeves, Instructional Design & Technology Specialist: program design lead, coordination, and program delivery * Rebecca Sholes, Senior Faculty Development Consultant: project manager, program design and delivery contributions * Sheryl Barnes, Senior Educational Technology Specialist: program design and delivery contributions * David Grogan, Manager, Curricular Technology Group: program design and delivery contributions * Melanie St. James, Senior Interactive Media Designer: program design and delivery contributions * Gina Siesing, Associate Director, Educational Technology: program design and delivery contributions * Ian Altgilbers, Academic Systems Administrators: anticipated and met technology infrastructure and support needs in outstanding ways * Matthew McVey, Learning Technologies Developer & Academic Systems Administrator: anticipated and met technology infrastructure and support needs in outstanding ways * Susan Ward, Office Coordinator: logistics support * Bill Sivret, Web Applications Team Lead: videotaping and video editing, which enabled us to post immediately to Spark MediaMarkups for use in the Institute

5/6/09: 2009 GIS POSTER EXPO

2009-05-01T16:32:54Z

UIT welcomes the entire Tufts community to join us for the 2009 GIS Poster Expo! This campus-wide exposition of the Geographic Information Systems (GIS) work being done at Tufts is a great chance to see what GIS can do. Students and faculty present together, and over 60 participants are scheduled to show their work. https://wikis.uit.tufts.edu/confluence/display/GISatTufts/Tufts+GIS+Poster+Expo 2009 GIS POSTER EXPO Wednesday, May 6, 2009 3:30 pm - 5:30 pm Cabot Intercultural Center, 7th Floor, Medford Campus Hosted by Tufts GIS Center, UIT http://gis.tufts.edu

Spark 2.0: UIT Forum for Teaching, Learning and Research 4/29/09

2009-04-22T18:31:06Z

Please join us at the next UIT Forum for Teaching, Learning and Research: Spark 2.0 Wednesday, April 29 12:00-1:30 pm Room 204, Tisch Library Medford campus The forum will focus on the new Spark web site (http://spark.uit.tufts.edu). UIT Academic Technology will give a short presentation on the new site and it's features, followed by a discussion with Tufts community members who are using Spark tools to support their teaching, learning, and research. We will discuss the pros and cons of using Spark and generate ideas for improving the service. Bring your lunch and join us for the presentation and discussion. Cookies and drinks will be served. If you have questions, please contact Rebecca Sholes at rebecca.sholes@tufts.edu.

VUE voted Best of Show (3rd place) at the Apple Academix2009

2009-04-01T19:44:09Z

On March 26, 2009, the VUE project was voted Best of Show (3rd place) at the Apple Academix2009 - MIT. The conference focused on "spurring change in teaching and scholarship through emergent digital learning environments". To learn more about the VUE project, go to http://vue.tufts.edu

UIT Information Security Issues a Malware Security Bulletin

2009-03-25T21:18:48Z

As you may know, there is an unpleasant piece of malware called Conficker or Downadup, which has been in the wild, targeting Microsoft Windows computers since October 2008. Security researchers are now reporting that infected machines may collectively go into action on April 1, seeking instructions from a distributed infrastructure in a way that is difficult to anticipate or block. Here at Tufts we can see that more than 90% of those using the UIT managed Windows Server Update Services (WSUS) have been patched (with MS08-067) and likely maintain current anti-virus signatures which will prevent infection. As you might expect, those who are at greatest risk do not use an FSP supported image/configuration, do not use windows updates or antivirus, and run with excessive privilege; however, others may become victims as well. Some of the symptoms that a host is infected include: disabled firewalls, the inability to update patches or the inability to reach security websites. Please be sure your support team is aware of these symptoms. UIT will be using its resources to monitor our Trend Micro Antivirus consoles, our WSUS server for new updates, our Intrusion Detection System, and private security email lists. In the next few days, UIT Information Security will distribute a basic Conficker preparation and remediation program, but we wanted to begin to spread the word to raise awareness of this important issue now, even though the software is mutating into new variants. In addition, you may find the following advanced information from SANS useful: From the SANS Institute - http://isc.sans.org/diary.html?storyid=5860 Wikipedia Conficker information - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conficker If you have any questions or are interested in learning more about how to pro-actively address this potential security issue, contact the UIT Support Center at uitsc@tufts.edu or call 73677. Thanks, UIT Information Security

AquaPedia Beta Site Launched with Water & Diplomacy Case Studies

2009-03-12T19:23:15Z

With help from UIT Academic Technology, Professor Shafiqul Islam and a group of graduate students from the Civil & Environmental Engineering Department have developed a customized, wiki-based web site with the goal of creating an international, interactive repository of shared water information and wisdom. Professor Islam and his students will be presenting AquaPedia at the 5th World Water Forum in Istanbul on March 20th. The students participated in the inaugural year of the University Seminars, sponsored by the Office of the Provost at Tufts. The Water & Diplomacy seminar was led by Professor Islam and Professor Bill Moomaw with curriculum design support from CELT, the Tufts Center for the Enhancement of Learning and Teaching and with academic technology support from UIT. Please visit the web site and provide the AquaPedia team with feedback.

Spark 2.0 Beta Released - Your Feedback Welcome!

2009-03-12T15:52:45Z

This new design of the Spark website is aimed toward improving usability, support, and discovery of Spark-enabled activities across the university. Explore the new interface and send us your feedback. Spark is a suite of communication and collaboration tools sponsored by UIT and designed to enrich your teaching, learning, research and co-curricular experience at Tufts! Easily create online web pages and sites using a blog or a wiki, publish your podcasts, discuss ideas and materials in online forums, upload and annotate video and audio, create map collections, set up and participate in online conferences. Learn more via the Spark Support website.

UIT Information Security Enhances Application Security with AppScan

2009-03-06T21:17:08Z

In a world where “web-enabled” is the order of the day, the ability to perform automated technical security assessments of applications that hold Tufts most critical and sensitive data is a necessity. To address this security challenge, UIT Information Security researched, evaluated, and chose AppScan, an application vulnerability scanning tool that both prevents and detects by allowing UIT IS to quickly and cost-effectively assess web-based business applications and services developed by commercial vendors, business partners, outsourcing firms, and Tufts' in-house development teams for security concerns. AppScan, in conjunction with UIT's current assessment services, supplements traditional quality assurance efforts by proactively finding problems early in the development cycle when they are less expensive to fix and less vulnerable to external exploits, such as identity theft and financial fraud. This innovative service complements UIT's security consulting services and blends together with current network based (IDS) protection efforts and anti-virus efforts to provide more secure and robust operations. A significant benefit to this approach is the ability to provide basic metrics to identify common themes across Tufts, helping UIT IS to measure patterns and continuous improvement over time.

UIT Administrative Computing Completes Successful PeopleSoft Upgrade

2009-03-06T20:21:58Z

UIT Administrative Computing recently completed a successful upgrade of the PeopleSoft Human Resources System to version 9.0. Some of the benefits and additional functionality are readily visible to users of the system, such as the redesigned Self Service user interface, which improves presentation and ease of use. The upgraded Self Service tool features new functionality, including online name change, access to compensation history, a tool for updating voluntary deductions, and race/ethnicity self reporting. Less visible, but equally important is the ability to leverage the new architecture to provide added functionality in the coming fiscal years. Two major enhancements from version 8.0 to 9.0 are Recruitment/Applicant Tracking and Person Model, which allows the storing and tracking of all person types, including contingent workers and persons of interest, with one centralized repository. This allows users of HRMS to enter 'non-employee' types, such as affiliates, into PeopleSoft HR. Features to be rolled out at a later date include: • PDF delivery of Paychecks and W2’s delivered in Adobe PDF format • New Hire process, which will allow employees to choose their benefits through Self Service as part of the new hire process • Extending electronic PAFs from the current option of student and temporary workers to include faculty and staff

VUE Makes List of “100 Powerful Web Tools to Organize Your Thoughts and Ideas”

2009-02-21T09:47:57Z

VUE, the Visual Understanding Environment, has been named among an interesting list of contemporary tools that help people analyze, organize, and share information and manage time. See the Online College Blog's “100 Powerful Web Tools to Organize Your Thoughts and Ideas”. Funded through the Mellon Foundation and developed by UIT Academic Technology at Tufts with a team of colleagues from MIT and beyond, VUE is an open-source concept and content mapping tool used throughout the world to support teaching, learning, research, and general organization, analysis, and presentation of information within a context. Categories in the "100 Powerful Web Tools" list include "Note-Taking and Documents," "Bookmarking," "Mind Mapping," "Personal Wikis," "Highlighters and Sticky Notes," "To-Do Lists," "Collaboration," "Calendars," "Time Trackers," and "General Organizers and Task Managers."

UIT co-sponsors new CS visualization course at Tufts!

2009-01-16T21:29:59Z

This new visualization course entitled "Foundations of Scientific Visualization" (Comp 150-08) and taught by Dr. Yun (Raymond) Fu is the result of a collaboration between the department of Computer Science and UIT Academic Technology. The goal of this course is to introduce relevant topics and concepts in visualization, including computer graphics, visual data representation, physical and human vision models, numerical representation of knowledge and concept, animation techniques, pattern analysis, and computational methods. It will also cover tools and techniques for practical visualization; elements of related fields including computer graphics, human perception, computer vision, imaging science, multimedia, human-computer interaction, computational science, and information theory; and examples from a variety of scientific, medical, interactive multimedia, and artistic applications. Students will be engaged in hands-on exercises and projects.

UIT Launches MeetingMaker Archive Website

2009-01-13T18:08:07Z

UIT is pleased to announce implementation of a MeetingMaker archive website that contains historical calendar data and allows MeetingMaker users to view archived data for legal or other administrative purposes. The MeetingMaker archive contains data from September 2005 until October 24, 2008, when the application was upgraded. UIT has also included manually imported calendar data a user or their FSP migrated from previous calendar systems. The archive can be accessed via the web at: https:\\mmarchive.tufts.edu using a UTLN and Trumpeter password. The website is named mmarchive.tufts.edu to distinguish it from the active Trumpeter Time calendar website. There is no thick client access due to the limitation of running two versions of MeetingMaker on the same computer. It is important to note that due to constraints imposed by PeopleCube, the makers of MeetingMaker, the MeetingMaker archive does allow users to edit/modify their archived calendar data. We strongly suggest that users only view archived calendar data and make no modifications to it because no further maintenance will be done on the archived database. Users will have to be vigilant, as any changes they make will be permanent. If you have any questions or concerns please contact UITSC via email at uitsc@tufts.edu.