Technology Services http://blogs.vcu.edu/ts/ en Copyright 2009 Tue, 10 Nov 2009 12:01:34 -0500 http://www.sixapart.com/movabletype/ http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss Blackboard Downtime Maintenance completed Friday, Nov 13 at 5:30pm

Please report all system problems by emailing blackboard@vcu.edu, calling VCU Help Desk at 804-828-2227, or submitting an Online Help Request Ticket at http://www.ts.vcu.edu/helpdesk.html . Thank you!


]]> http://blog.vcu.edu/blackboard/2009/11/blackboard-downtime-maintenance-completed-friday-nov-13-at-530pm.html http://blog.vcu.edu/blackboard/2009/11/blackboard-downtime-maintenance-completed-friday-nov-13-at-530pm.html Blackboard Downtime Fri, 13 Nov 2009 17:31:54 -0500 Depends On The Topic almost never. There are a number of ways to get at this information from using the tabs at the top of the webpages to browse for topics or the search box found near the top of every page to get to a topic as quickly as possible if you know exactly what you are looking for.

Sometimes you know what you are looking for but you are not real sure. A helpful feature that can assist with this "I think I know what I am looking for but I am not so sure" feeling that we all get from time-to-time is the topics listing. On the left side of each page is a topics listing of articles and links that relate to the topic at hand. Many topics use this list as their navigational structure with links to the articles that comprise the topic. These can be helpful when you know the subject you are interested in but you are not sure exactly what that bit of information is that you are looking for. A nifty feature that we have begun to implement on some pages is a top articles list. These are articles that people who have come to our site looking for similar information have clicked on. The more an article is clicked on the higher up the list it goes. The Blackboard topic group uses this to assist with finding information that many others have found useful who have previously visited the site. The top list on the left side of the page suggests a path of exploration for the Blackboard topic but below that is a list of "Popular Blackboard Articles". These are the specific articles in the Blackboard topic that people who came looking for Blackboard information clicked on the most. The top level Knowledge Base page also uses this scheme to list "Most Popular Topics" and "Top Knowledge Base Articles". These lists display the most popular topics on the VCUTS site as well as popular articles across all topics.

So when you are visiting the VCU Technology Services site feel free to have it your way to find the topic you are looking for. Whether you are a browser, searcher, or not exactly sure what you are looking for, we'll try to help you to the information you need.  And if you can't find what you are looking for we always invite you to contact the VCUTS Help Desk for assistance. They are always ready to lend a helping hand.

]]> http://blogs.vcu.edu/ts/2009/11/depends-on-the-topic.html http://blogs.vcu.edu/ts/2009/11/depends-on-the-topic.html General TS Updates technology services topics vcuts website Tue, 10 Nov 2009 12:01:34 -0500 Blackboard Downtime Maintenance - November 13, 2009 - 4:00pm to midnight http://blog.vcu.edu/blackboard/ Regards, The Blackboard Team ]]> http://blog.vcu.edu/blackboard/2009/11/blackboard-downtime-maintenance---november-13-2009---400pm-to-midnight.html http://blog.vcu.edu/blackboard/2009/11/blackboard-downtime-maintenance---november-13-2009---400pm-to-midnight.html Blackboard Downtime Blackboard Mon, 09 Nov 2009 10:28:58 -0500 Sophos Antivirus Support For MS Windows 7
The current version of Sophos Antivirus that VCU Technology Services provides does work with MS Windows 7 even though it is not officially supported as such by Sophos at this time.  The company released an officially support version of Sophos Antivirus for Windows 7 at the end of October which VCUTS staff is currently testing.  Staff expects to continue testing  this new software until after the first of the year to ensure that it works properly with the many systems and services that comprise the VCU computing environment. So it is save to use the current version of Sophos Antivirus provided by VCUTS now and the new version will be available in a couple of months.

Please contact the VCUTS Help Desk at the number or email provided in the right column of this page should you have any questions.
]]> http://blogs.vcu.edu/ts/mailbag/2009/11/sophos-antivirus-support-for-ms-windows-7.html http://blogs.vcu.edu/ts/mailbag/2009/11/sophos-antivirus-support-for-ms-windows-7.html Question antivirus windows Fri, 06 Nov 2009 16:09:48 -0500 Network Performance Issue
VCUTS Network Services is aware that the VCU data network is currently experiencing intermittent performance issues with both internal (VCU only) and external (Internet) traffic. We have been working with our equipment vendors over the last two weeks to determine the cause of these problems. To date, we have made configuration changes that have positively impacted some services but issues remain. Network Services is aggressively working with our vendors to determine the cause of these issues and develop the appropriate solutions.

Please contact the VCUTS Help Desk with any questions at 828-2227 or via email at help@vcu.edu.
]]> http://blogs.vcu.edu/ts/mailbag/2009/11/network-performance-issue.html http://blogs.vcu.edu/ts/mailbag/2009/11/network-performance-issue.html General Comment Fri, 06 Nov 2009 09:44:36 -0500 VCU Student Email in myVCU

A new gadget has been added to the myVCU portal that allows students to see a preview of their unread email messages. The subject and part of the message body is shown, along with links to the VCU Gmail (myVCUmail) website.  Only unread messages contained in a user's inbox are shown.  All other messages can be accessed on the email website.

Note: This gadget only works with VCU Gmail (mymail.vcu.edu) accounts. Currently, only VCU students have access to these accounts.
]]> http://blog.vcu.edu/webservices/2009/11/vcu-student-email-in-myvcu.html http://blog.vcu.edu/webservices/2009/11/vcu-student-email-in-myvcu.html myVCU Portal Wed, 04 Nov 2009 10:18:29 -0500 VCU iTunes University - now over 600 podcasts http://itunes.vcu.edu.   There are nearly 100 publicly available podcasts from VCU Athletics, VCU TV/HD, VCU Libraries and many more.   There are over 500 podcasts requiring one to log in with their VCU eID from almost every college and school within the University.   If you have never listened to a VCU podcast, now is a great time to begin.
]]> http://blog.vcu.edu/webservices/2009/10/vcu-itunes-university---now-over-600-podcasts.html http://blog.vcu.edu/webservices/2009/10/vcu-itunes-university---now-over-600-podcasts.html iTunes Tue, 27 Oct 2009 15:10:01 -0500 Web Users Group - November 3 There will be a web users group meeting on Tuesday, November 3 from 10:30 am to noon in Cabell Library, room B-35. Here's what we are planning to discuss:

  1. Updated web standards & guidelines: We would like your feedback about the newly revised web standards & guidelines. Feel free to look them over ahead of time and bring any questions or concerns to the meeting on Tuesday.
  2. Web compliance reviews: We have gone through the current list of sites and checked them for compliance with the web standards & guidelines. You can check the compliance of your site(s) ahead of the meeting. We will be contacting individual webmasters whose sites have failed to comply over the next few weeks.
  3. Go.vcu.edu - Permanent and temporary keywords: We are adding in the ability to create temporary randomized, shortened URLs for use in microblogging and emails. Temporary URLs will look like this:

    http://go.vcu.edu/_1aY0

    You will continue to have the option of creating permanent keywords as well.
  4. Copyright and Creative Commons: We have revised the copyright guidelines to allow for Creative Commons for portions of your website. In addition, we will be creating a system to track who provides content under Creative Commons.
  5. CAS (Central Authentication Service) updates: Another change to the VCU web standards & guidelines - all sites and web applications with eID-based authentication will be required to use CAS for logins.
  6. Updated notifications from the change management system: You can sign up to be notified when specific systems will be affected by upcoming changes. In addition, you can sign up to be notified when new systems are added to the change management system.
  7. New VCU and TS websites: Over the summer, the main VCU website and the Technology Services website were updated. Have you seen them yet?

We look forward to seeing you at the Web Users Group meeting.

]]> http://blog.vcu.edu/wug/2009/10/web-users-group---november-3.html http://blog.vcu.edu/wug/2009/10/web-users-group---november-3.html Announcements Tue, 27 Oct 2009 14:11:37 -0500 Blackboard Learn App for iTouch/iPhone Temporarily Unavailable Blackboard Technical Support is working on the issue. Updates will be posted as they become available. Blackboard Learn app for iPod Touch and iPhone will be unavailable from 10:30am until 3:00pm for maintenance required to correct an unexpected issue. http://blog.vcu.edu/blackboard/2009/10/blackboard-learn-app-for-itouchiphone-temporarily-unavailable.html http://blog.vcu.edu/blackboard/2009/10/blackboard-learn-app-for-itouchiphone-temporarily-unavailable.html Bb Sync - Bb Learn BbLearn BbSync Blackboard iPhone iPod Mon, 12 Oct 2009 11:19:18 -0500 Upcoming Maintenance for Blackboard SafeAssign, Sync (Bb Learn), and Scholar the VCU Blackboard system WILL STILL BE AVAILABLE, but specific components may not be, as indicated in the announcement below from Blackboard. "Please note that Blackboard SafeAssign, Blackboard Sync (including the Blackboard Learn iPhone application) and Blackboard Scholar will be intermittently unavailable while undergoing maintenance on Saturday, October 10th and Sunday, October 11th. This maintenance window is to update the hardware and network infrastructure of these products. The expected outcomes of this update are: • Increased capacity for all of these services • Improved performance of these applications • Increased stability The systems are expected to be intermittently unavailable from morning (EST) on October 10th through morning (EST) on October 11th. Please notify your institution of this period of the unavailability for these services. Users will not be able to submit assignments to Blackboard SafeAssign, utilize the notification capabilities as part of Blackboard Learn for iPhone application, or access their Blackboard Scholar bookmarks during this maintenance period. While we realize that no time is particularly convenient for temporarily removing these capabilities from your implementation, this proactive maintenance will improve the stability, capacity and performance of these applications and services following this downtime."]]> http://blog.vcu.edu/blackboard/2009/10/upcoming-maintenance-for-blackboard-safeassign-sync-bb-learn-and-scholar.html http://blog.vcu.edu/blackboard/2009/10/upcoming-maintenance-for-blackboard-safeassign-sync-bb-learn-and-scholar.html Bb Sync - Bb Learn SafeAssign Scholar Blackboard SafeAssign Scholar Sync Thu, 08 Oct 2009 12:02:57 -0500 Blackboard Downtime Maintenance - September 25, 2009 - 8:00pm to midnight (Completed 12:05am) http://blog.vcu.edu/blackboard/ Regards, The Blackboard Team ]]> http://blog.vcu.edu/blackboard/2009/09/blackboard-downtime-maintenance---september-25-2009---800pm-to-midnight.html http://blog.vcu.edu/blackboard/2009/09/blackboard-downtime-maintenance---september-25-2009---800pm-to-midnight.html Blackboard Downtime Blackboard Tue, 22 Sep 2009 11:59:56 -0500 New myVCU portal statistics for the new myVCU portal which represents an average of 40,218 logins per day.   
The single highest day of 74,531 occurred on Aug 20th, the first day of class.
]]> http://blog.vcu.edu/webservices/2009/09/new-portal-statistics.html http://blog.vcu.edu/webservices/2009/09/new-portal-statistics.html myVCU Portal Wed, 16 Sep 2009 15:24:41 -0500 New Services For A New Year VCU Technology Services rolled out a number of new services this fall that provide their own unique set of benefits but in the aggregate they promote ease of use, better access to information, more ways to access resources, and creates a safe online environment for the VCU community. Let's take a look at each of these services.

myVCUmail
The myVCUmail service debuted this past summer for all new incoming students.  Returning students are now being migrated to the new service. This new service, powered by Google Apps for Education, provides students with an easy to understand, web-based interface with more than 7 GB's of storage. The former service provided students with just 100 MB's of storage. myVCUmail also gives students access to Google's easy to use collaborative tools such as Docs, Talk, and Calendar. Besides better service, VCU will enjoy cost savings on hardware, software, and staff effort to support student e-mail. We expect the future to be bright for this service as Google continues to develop for the Google Apps platform.

]]> http://blogs.vcu.edu/ts/2009/09/new-services-for-a-new-year.html http://blogs.vcu.edu/ts/2009/09/new-services-for-a-new-year.html General TS Updates knowledge base myvcu myvcumail safenet search Wed, 09 Sep 2009 11:49:59 -0500 Blackboard Maintenance Completed Saturday at 12:55am Bb maintenance that began Friday, August 28, at 9pm was completed at 12:55am.

Please send any questions to blackboard@vcu.edu.

Thank you,

Blackboard Team

]]> http://blog.vcu.edu/blackboard/2009/08/blackboard-maintenance-completed-saturday-at-1255am.html http://blog.vcu.edu/blackboard/2009/08/blackboard-maintenance-completed-saturday-at-1255am.html Blackboard Downtime Sat, 29 Aug 2009 01:02:10 -0500 WUG Update: Fall 2009 As the fall semester starts up, I wanted to let you know about some of the new tools we've made available over the summer:

  1. The new myVCU portal
  2. The new Technology Services website
  3. The Central Authentication Service
  4. Social availability

We will also have more details coming in the next week about our fall Web Users' Group meeting.

]]> http://blog.vcu.edu/wug/2009/08/wug-update-fall-2009.html http://blog.vcu.edu/wug/2009/08/wug-update-fall-2009.html News Fri, 28 Aug 2009 10:02:39 -0500