• We have two catalogs in an academic year, Fall and Spring. While the catalog defaults to the current catalog, you can view a different catalog (Fall 2013-14, for instance) by going to the sidebar on the right side of the page and choosing “Select a different catalog”. Having two catalogs per year eliminates duplication and confusion regarding which requirements are current.
• The new design follows the pattern set by the recently launched Ole Miss website, and includes the ability to navigate laterally rather than by scrolling down the page. It also leverages Responsive Web Design (RWD)—an important improvement as our users are increasingly accessing our sites using mobile devices.
• The content is presented in smaller, more accessible “chunks”. There are more sub-navigation points across the top of the page, eliminating the need to scroll and search through one, long page to find what you’re looking for.

We will continue to enhance the online catalog. Specifically, degree audit rules associated programs of study, listing of faculty and staff achievement awards and indicating the courses that have special course fees. We’ll also be enhancing the  search function within the catalog, it is currently limited to course name, code, and department, but we will add course descriptions as well as programs of study, minors, etc., and an A-Z index.

Making a course change in a program of study’s requirement list may be as easy as using the “find/replace” tool in a document, but not so in an online system. For example, in Degree Audit and our online catalog, a course may be used in several different places and housed in separate tables in the database. Or, there may be a use case where it’s changed in one area, but needs to stay the old way in another. Keeping the course requirements current in Degree Audit and the online catalog is kind of like a game of pick-up sticks. The goal may be to remove a blue stick (or, update a sub-requirement), but because that one blue stick is touching all the other sticks, care must be taken to ensure that none of the others are altered in the course of the extraction.

Students can access information about their degree program requirements from three sources: the various academic departments, the printed/online catalog, and Degree Audit. We want to help ensure that the student is getting consistent information. The tool we use to do that is the Academic Council Workflow. Properly using Academic Council Workflow ensures that all offices & personnel who interact with students get the same information.

Degree Audit rules mirror what appears in the online catalog. Therefore, if a change does not go through the Academic Council Workflow system, it will not be added to the online catalog or to Degree Audit. For example, here are some typical discrepancies I’ve seen over the last 3 months:

• A student’s degree audit showed a “red light” when the administrator knew it should be green. A check of the requirements and a brief discussion uncovered that the school would accept more courses to satisfy that requirement than were listed in Degree Audit. The school had made the additions in their own documentation, but since they never went through Academic Council Workflow, we never received that information.
• In a different degree program, we compared the school’s advising sheet against the requirements in Degree Audit and the online catalog. The online catalog and Degree Audit were the same; however, the school’s advising sheet was different. The advising sheet had been changed to reflect recent updates to the department’s curriculum.

Academic Council Workflow is used when a school or department wants to add, change, or delete a course, program of study, minor, or to make an Academic Request (such as a change in a policy). The process starts with “Initiate a Request” through the myOleMiss portal in Academic Council Workflow, and is then automatically forwarded to the appropriate office or council: from the originating department, to Graduate/Undergraduate Council, to the Chancellor, to Publications, to the Registrar, then finally to Information Technology (IT). From start to finish, getting a change approved usually takes between 4-6 weeks.

Whew, that’s a lot of steps!
Think of your Request as the equivalent of Bill in the Schoolhouse Rock video entitled “I’m Just a Bill.”

The key to remember is that we build our Degree Audit rules based on the degree requirements listed in the online catalog. The way to ensure the program and degree requirements are correct in the online catalog is to go through Academic Council Workflow. Each of these changes affects multiple departments at the University, and the Academic Council Workflow system was designed to ensure each department gets the information it needs. The system was built so we’re all communicating. We just need to use the system, so those Requests can become Requirements!

For questions about or assistance with Degree Audit, email terriet@olemiss.edu.

The Good

Swipe Gestures – The goal of Mailbox is to quickly “get to zero” emails in your default inbox. Mailbox App users simply swipe to quickly delete or archive email.

You Snooze, You Win! – What a great feature!   Snooze allows you to basically resend an email at a future date and time.   That can come in handy when you are out of town or when you are trying to get that critical project done and don’t have time for distractions.

Custom Lists – For organizing emails, you can use the three default lists, namely To Buy, To Read, and To Watch.   You can also create personal lists.

The Bad

W8 – Yes, you wait.   The Mailbox App installs quickly but remains inactive for several days while your request is queued.   For me personally, I waited two weeks for the app to become active.

iOS only – The app was designed to work on an iPhone or iPod Touch.  While the Mailbox App works on iPad, an actual iPad version is still in the works.  Hang on android users.  An android version is also on the radar.

No Landscape – While not a deal breaker for most folks, I prefer landscape mode when handling email with my iPad.  Landscape mode is in the works.

More Information

Check out the Mailbox App FAQ online.   Good luck this week and be safe driving home!

Some of the sites these emails direct you to will attempt to install malware on your computer. If your system and antivirus patches are not up to date, key logging or screen capturing software can be installed on your computer. Software to destroy all the data on your computer could be installed, or as a worst case a root kit can be put in place to completely take over the computer system without your knowledge or consent.

Inadvertently revealing your login password via these phishing attempts is magnified significantly with the use of VPN.  Your VPN credentials are the same as your email credentials. Once authenticated via VPN, a remote host becomes a “trusted” host.  If a criminal logs into VPN as “you,” the remote computer they are using then becomes a “trusted” host  and security measures put in place are circumvented.

Some best practices to keep in mind concerning your user  account:

• NEVER click links in unsolicited emails!
  • If you suspect an email, expand the header and forward the message to complaint@olemiss.edu

• Use good passwords and change them every 90 days. Good passwords are a minimum of 8 characters with upper/lower case letters, special characters and numbers.
  • Even better passwords can be based on a phrase and approximately 15 characters if your system will permit.

• Always be suspicious of a site that asks for your account or personal information. Familiarize yourself with the address bar at the top of your browser. Beware entering your account information if the site does not end in “olemiss.edu.”

Additional trust is given with VPN access. Please take care of your account!

The university’s course management system, Blackboard Learn+,  is fully compliant with Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act issued by the US federal government and with the a Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.0 (WCAG) issued by the international World Wide Web Consortium (W3C).  Unfortunately that compliance does not eliminate the need for instructors to post compliant and accessible instructional materials to their Blackboard courses, particularly if that resource is only available via the web.

What does that mean for Instructors?

Front Door of Fulton Chapel with sign pointing to Wheelchair entrance. The University of Mississippi.

Accessibility in the classroom, whether traditional or online, is recommended regardless of whether a student has reported a disability to the instructor or not.  Often students will not report their disability to their instructor because of social pressure or personal concerns.  To provide access for those students, or to insure that your course is already accessible when a future student with a disability enrolls, instructors should integrate the three principles of Universal Design for Learning when creating instructional materials and assignments.  Allow for a variety of ways for students to access the course content and to communicate their understanding of the content, consider differences in learning styles and be aware of accessibility issues from the outset when designing your course. Incorporating these principles will result in a classroom environment that allows students with a variety of abilities and differing strengths to participate and gain knowledge and skills equally, while eliminating barriers. The expectation for equal access to classroom resources applies to every course no matter the mode of instruction.  Instructors who utilize web-resources to supplement their live class or to teach a fully online course have an increased burden to provide accessible resources, particularly if the resource is only available on the web.

Recommendations for Accessibility in the Classroom

1. When considering new textbooks or instructional materials ask the publisher for information about the accessibility of the materials and if they are available electronically.
2. When photocopying articles for use in the classroom avoid black edges and make the quality as high as possible.
3. When showing videos in the classroom turn on closed captioning, or if listening to audio files have a transcript available.
4. If you post your syllabus or an article in Blackboard, be sure that it is available as text, or link to the digital version of the article through the library’s website.
5. When linking to videos through Blackboard that are required viewing for students, be sure that the video has closed captioning.  The text in the captioning should be the same as, or very similar to what is being said and heard in the video.
6. Any required links to audio files should also include a transcript file.

Conclusion

We all share responsibility for insuring equal access to resources for our students, whether in the classroom, on the web or in other less formal educational settings.  Whenever we’re deciding which resources to use in our courses, accessibility should always be part of the process.  Over the next year the Offices of Student Disability Services, Information Technology, and Online Learning will be working together to provide opportunities for the faculty and the university community to learn more about best practices for incorporating accessibility requirements into our classrooms and our institution.

It’s important to keep in mind that this number doesn’t reflect stolen smartphones or tablets, only laptops. With technology doubling every 2 years, there are multiple ways to keep yourself, and your mobile devices, protected. The best approach to defending yourself against thieves is to have multiple layers of security. This includes using software to locate your devices in case of theft, encrypting stored personal data, and writing down serial numbers, MAC addresses, and model numbers.  The most effective theft deterrent, however, is using common sense.

UNPROTECTED MOBILE DEVICES

Don’t leave your devices unprotected, not even for a second. A majority of thefts occur when students step away from their mobile devices during study sessions, prior to class, or in offices while leaving the door unlocked.  It’s important to remember never to leave your hardware lying around, as it takes only seconds to pick up an unattended device.  Some theft deterrents for laptop thieves include items such as visual stickers, labels, or metal plates indicating the laptop can be traced, cable locks that can anchor the hardware to a chair or table, or even laptop theft alarm systems.

GPS TRACKING SOFTWARE FOR MAC AND PC

For Mac hardware, it’s possible to set up location software, called Find My iPhone, using an iCloud account. This allows you to locate your MacBook, iPhone or iPad, using their built-in GPS capabilities. You can also remotely lock the device, wipe it, have it play a sound, or even display a message on the screen. For PC’s, a program called Prey can help you locate your laptop in the event of theft, and offers many of the same options as the Find My iPhone software.

MAKE YOUR LAPTOP IDENTIFIABLE

There are ways to make sure your laptop is harder to sell in the event of theft, which can be a theft deterrent on its own. One method is “tagging” your laptop, which entails applying a metal security plate with a customized barcode linking to the owner’s information. One of the more common brands of this product is called the Stop Tag, which boasts requiring 800 pounds of pressure to remove, and also has a chemically bonded tattoo underneath that says “Stolen Property.”

PROTECT YOUR PRIVACY

According to a report by Javelin Strategy and Research, in 2012 there were over 12 million cases of identity fraud. It’s important to make sure that your personal information is secure on any of your devices, especially laptops.  To keep personal information safe, it’s important to choose strong passwords comprised of a mix of upper and lowercase letters and numbers. It’s also recommended to change your passwords frequently. For added security, you can set up an encryption for sensitive files on your devices, requiring a special password to be able to access them.

ENCRYPTING YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION

Setting up part of all or your hard drive to be encrypted can help keep your personal information safe in the event of theft, and is relatively easy to do. For Macs running Mountain Lion, you simply use disk utility to create a partitioned section of the hard drive, choose 128 bit or 256 bit encryption (one is more secure, but slower,) and then enter the password you want to use for access to the partitioned drive. (Instructions Here) For PCs, AxCrypt, allows the encryption of single files, and is the self-proclaimed  leading open-source encryption program  for Windows.  (Instructions Here)

* It is important to note that if you encrypt your data, you MUST remember the password used for the encryption. If you forget or lose it, you will be unable to retrieve any of the encrypted data.

REPORT ANY THEFTS IMMEDIATELY

In the event of theft of any personal devices, be sure to notify University Police immediately. The longer you wait to notify the police, the less likely you will be to find stolen devices. UPD can be reached at 662-915-7234, or via email at upd@olemiss.edu.

The campus cable television system has truTV on channel 102 in basic service so everyone on the University cable television system will have access to see the game.  You can also access the game via Internet video streaming from the NCAA March Madness website.  Live audio will be available via the Ole Miss radio network, satellite radio XM 192 or Sirius 94.

If you have convenient access to the University cable television service, please use it rather than Internet streaming to protect our bandwidth.

Go Rebels!

Final designs for UM home and secondary pages

You may have heard rumors that we are in the process of redesigning the UM website. You may have even taken part of one of the focus groups that provided input on what a design should include. Perhaps you were one of the people who provided feedback about the design concepts in our survey last September. Or, maybe this is all news to you and you’re thinking “What website redesign?” Whatever your involvement, we appreciate your help (…except for maybe that last group). We are well on our way to implementing the new design.

Two Phases

The structure of the website partially reflects the overall structure of the university. The UM homepage promotes the university itself, while “departmental” sites represent the colleges, schools, and organizations that make up the university. The website will be upgraded in two phases. The first will address the UM home and secondary pages and should be completed on April 13. The second phase will begin in early May as departmental sites are assisted in their adoption of the new template.

Trusted Friends

Although the university’s Web Planning Committee came up with the main structural components of the site, and University Communications created the initial concept designs, we turned to a professional design company, Mercury Intermedia, for the final design. This same company created the Official Ole Miss App and we chose them because we wanted the style of the new website to reflect that of the app. Working with people outside the university has not only helped us refine our broad concepts into more functional content organization and better use of screen real estate, but it has also provided opportunities where we could strengthen the website’s overall usefulness. Here are just a few of the paradigms we’re exploring this time:

• The primary focus should be on potential students and others interested in learning about us. In the past, we’ve promoted all our audiences equally. But more thoughtful design suggests it is best to cater to the people who are most likely to go elsewhere if they can’t find what they need quickly. By dedicating primary navigation and promotional areas of the page to those visitors, we can hopefully grow our base.
• Assume everyone else is more committed to finding what they need. Our current students, faculty, and staff already have a sense of what they are looking for, and they are willing to take a few extra seconds to learn where it is. This frees us from having to crowd the top of the page with shortcuts and links that most anonymous visitors can’t even use (e.g., myOleMiss, Blackboard, etc.). We trust our core users will be able to find their most commonly used links lower on the page. And if they want to have even easier access to those links, they can set bookmarks in their browser.
• The design needs to be almost invisible. This Zen-like approach allows the content to stand out by avoiding the use of distracting graphics in the layout. Of course the graphics, fonts, text sizes, and spacing are all there, but they should feel natural, almost too obvious to even notice. Comfortable spacing and proper alignment help the reader’s eye to move more easily from one area to the next.

Design ≠ Website

Mercury designers have provided us with Adobe Illustrator files showing how the pages should look on different sized screens. It is the job of the Webmaster (with the generous help of others in IT) to go from those designs to functional Web pages. Much of the home page will consist of content generated by feeds from Ole Miss News, the Event Calendar, Twitter, and UM Today. University Communications is revising and, in many cases, creating new content for the dozens of secondary pages.

Responsive design means a single website adjusts to the size of the device on which it is being viewed.

One major change coming is that we will no longer support a separate mobile version of the website. The new layout will, instead, use responsive design and progressive enhancement techniques to present a fitting layout for whatever browser visitors use, whether it be a mobile device or a high-definition monitor. Through the use of HTML5, CSS3, and Javascript, we are in a position to have much better control over the visitor experience.

Obstacles to the “Bleeding Edge”

In 2009 during our previous site redesign project, we had to consider the browser limitations of the majority of our audience. At the time, over 65% of our visitors used Internet Explorer, and IE8 was released only in March of that year. IE6 and IE7 were recognized even at the time as failing Web-standards testing. (IE8 is somewhat better.) This situation made it difficult to provide a common look and consistent functionality across our entire audience base. So it is a great relief to see that only 12% of our current visitors uses IE8 or lower. Even though Google dropped support for IE8 in November, we still need to provide at least partial support for it. This means there are still some new techniques that we still aren’t able to fully implement because IE8 and some other browsers don’t yet support them. Still, whenever we are sure we won’t be facing one of those browsers, like on mobile devices that don’t have IE, we’ll try to “sneak in” a few neat tricks!

If you are an Internet Explorer user and you aren’t yet using IE9, it’s a good time to consider either upgrading or switching to browsers that respond better to the modern Web environment like Safari, Firefox, or Chrome.

Search UM

Another big change is how you find things. The new Search UM application has combined most of our Web index and directory listings into a single search field. And because it returns many different categories of results, adding the Search UM form to every page frees us from having to waste space by linking to several separate directory listings. Simply enter what you’re looking for and you can jump from one part of the site to another.

In with the New

We are looking forward to implementing the new home page design on April 13. A lot of time, thought, and creativity has been put into it, and we think you’re really going to like using it. If you have a couple of minutes, you might want to look back at past site designs we’ve had to get an idea of how technology and tastes have changed over the years. Soon, the current UM site will be retired to that archive as well.

Emergency Notifications

Before we dive into the mobile emergency app review, please remember the University of Mississippi (UM) offers a few ways to receive emergency messages and information. Associate Provost Noel Wilkin from the UM Crisis Action Team highlights the key communication strategies used to communicate emergency notifications to UM employees, students and parents.

REBALERT Text Messages: REBALERT is an emergency text message notification service available to UM employees, students and parents. University employees and students who have provided a valid cell phone number will automatically receive REBALERT text message notifications from the University. These can be received on any cellular device, even cell phones that are not smartphones.

Employees and students can verify or change their cell phone information by logging in to myOleMiss with their WebID. Within myOleMiss, students click the Student tab => My Profile => Contact Information. Employees click the Employee tab => Self-Service => Address & Communication Preferences. Follow the instructions to edit your cell phone information, if needed. Parents with a WebID may also sign up using these instructions.

App Alerts: If you have The Official Ole Miss App, iPad or iPhone edition, you can receive alerts by enabling the notifications for that app. After the app is installed, click the Settings icon, click the Notifications tab, click Ole Miss, and finally click the switch to ON. On this same screen, you can also change how the app alerts you.

@RebAlert on Twitter: The University sends out emergency information using the @RebAlert Twitter account. Simply follow @RebAlert to view these messages. If you turn on notifications for your Twitter app, these messages will appear as alerts on your smartphone.

UM Emergency Web Site: Using any smartphone, you can visit the UM Emergency web site for the latest, time stamped information about emergencies and the campus status.

UM Today Email: The University sends out emergency information using email sent from UM Today. Smartphones will allow you to receive your @olemiss.edu or @go.olemiss.edu email on that device.

Free Emergency Apps

AroundMe is an application that shows businesses or landmarks around your current location including banks/ATM, gas stations, hospitals, movie theaters, restaurants, and taxi services.

Code Red Mobile Alert uses your location along with the national CodeRED Emergency Notification System to provide emergency alerts near your current location.  Warnings are identified as icons on a map within the application.

Disaster Alert displays advisories, watches and warnings worldwide.  You can tap on the map icons to see more information about each alert. Disasters can include flooding, drought, earthquakes, wind, volcanic activity and storms.

Earthquake – American Red Cross, as expected, provides earthquake support and survival information.

Emergency Distress Beacon will send out a distress beacon with your current location to rescuers.   For android devices, you might look at Here I Am 2.

Flashlight turns your phone’s camera flash into a temporary flash light.   The app supports adjustments to the brightness settings.  A compass is also included on the screen.   NOTE: This application will drain your battery faster than most other applications.

ICE: Emergency Contact allows you to identify your smartphone phonebook contacts as your “In Case of Emergency” contacts.  An individual can also save information such as medications, allergies and health conditions in the app.

WebMD allows individuals to read about their health symptoms and conditions.  WebMD offers first aid suggestions including allergic reaction treatment and CPR to name a few. Through the use of your current location, you can search for nearby physicians, pharmacies and hospitals.

Additional Thoughts

If you enjoy backpacking or plan to travel to a location without consistent power, you need to consider how you will charge your mobile device.   For under $30 (as of March 2013), you can purchase a solar powered backup battery to charge your equipment.

Be safe.

Some of you may soon receive a notice asking that you test in QAS all the transactions that you regularly use to do your job. This is an extremely important task, as it helps us to identify any issues or authorization changes that may result when the patch is applied to the Production system.  We appreciate your help with this task; ultimately it makes your job easier, too!

Please schedule some time early in the period after March 19th to do thorough testing of this upgrade in QAS.  You may reset your QAS password in myOleMiss. Report any issues that you encounter when testing using the SAP Issues Database in myOleMiss.