FROM:
Rodney Erickson, Vice President and Provost
Gary Schultz, Senior
Vice President for Finance and Business/Treasurer
TO:
Students, Faculty, and Staff
Welcome back! The summer is behind us and it is time to turn our attention to final preparations for the Year 2000 computer bug (Y2K). Although expert opinions differ widely regarding the Y2K bug, there is credible evidence of the potential for problems. This potential has motivated the University to work diligently to ensure that all Penn State computing systems are Y2K ready - an effort that began in the late 1980's and continues to this day. The Y2K bug is especially challenging at Penn State because computers are prevalent in every aspect of University life, including teaching, learning, research, outreach, student services, business services, and alumni services.
Despite the magnitude of these challenges, Penn State's Y2K readiness is well advanced, as the Frequently Asked Y2K Questions illustrates. Penn State's mission critical computer systems (including financial aid, registration, and payroll) are Y2K ready. Penn State continues to be in close communication with area utility suppliers and other critical vendors, so that we will have an uninterrupted supply of the utilities, products, and services needed to continue business as usual.
As a result, we expect to begin the next Spring semester as planned. We will resume normal University operations after the holidays on January 3, 2000, residence halls will open on Wednesday, January 5, and classes will begin on Monday, January 10. We will continue to evaluate the Y2K issue as it affects Penn State and retain the option of changing plans for the start of Spring semester, if that appears to be in the best interests of our students, faculty, and staff.
Desktop and laptop computers are a particular concern because they are so pervasive and involved in so many University activities. Therefore, please be advised that Penn State cannot vouch for the Y2K compliance of these computers. Responsible University offices will ensure that microcomputer lab computers are Y2K ready, but beyond that, you are responsible for making sure that your office and residence computers are ready. Please see http://www.psu.edu/Year2000/action/intro.html for instructions on testing and preparing desktop and laptop computers. You can also work with your local technical support staff to bring your computer into compliance, but you are responsible for initiating this process.
Penn State's Y2K Coordination Office will continue to communicate plans for Y2K. Look for this information in the Intercom and the Collegian, and via http://www.psu.edu/Year2000/executive.html on the Web. Throughout the Fall semester, we will announce details about the steps mentioned above. We will also announce our contingency plans for communicating information about any Y2K-based disruptions to students and their families, faculty, and staff, especially over the New Year's weekend and during the first week of January 2000.
Penn State has been supporting the Commonwealth in its Pa2K: Pennsylvania's Working Together program, so another good source of Year 2000 information is their Solving the Year 2000 Technology Challenge (http://www.pa2k.org) Web site. The Penn State Cooperative Extension service has also published an excellent guide entitled Consumers and the Year 2000 (Y2K). The guide may be downloaded in its .pdf format at http://www.cas.psu.edu/docs/casdept/familyliving/cb/Y2K.pdf . This publication contains steps that you and your family can take to prepare for Y2K.
We know that Y2K raises many questions. We are enclosing answers to some of the most frequently asked questions (FAQs) about Y2K readiness at Penn State. If you have other questions or concerns about Penn State University's Y2K readiness, you can contact us or you can contact Penn State's Y2K Coordinator, (Kenneth Blythe) at 3 Shields Building, University Park, PA 16802 (814-863-0958 or kcb1@psu.edu).
1. What is Penn State's opinion about our Y2K risks are they real or mostly hype?
Although there is clearly a wide range in the predictions about the impact of the Y2K bug, we believe there is credible evidence of the potential for problems. For this reason, we take the position that Y2K represents a risk that must be taken seriously.
At this point, our expectations are that the United States may see limited duration, localized failures of services and infrastructure (power or phone service, for example) though the type and number of failures will vary geographically and no one can predict exactly what will happen. Pennsylvania is well prepared for Y2K because of the leadership of the Commonwealth's Governor, Tom Ridge. Pennsylvania power companies, water companies, and Bell Atlantic have invested heavily in Y2K preparations.
2. Is Penn State considering delaying the start of classes in January 2000?
At this point, we believe Penn State's Y2K preparations will enable the University's internal and on-campus systems to operate normally. Therefore, we are currently planning to open residence halls as scheduled on Wednesday, January 5, and to maintain the current academic calendar, which calls for classes to begin on Monday, January 10. We will continue to evaluate the Y2K issue as it affects Penn State and retain the option of announcing a delay in the opening of residence halls and start of classes, if it appears to be in the best interests of our faculty, staff, and students.
3. Will faculty and staff be asked to report to work prior to January 3?
A small group of faculty and staff who are essential to Y2K continuity efforts will be asked to report to work as early as midnight, December 31. Local Area Network administrators will also be asked to report to work on January 1 and 2, to ensure that local area networks are in proper working order for the start of the first business day, January 3.
4. Should international students return to campus earlier than the rest of the student body?
International students who are concerned about flying back to campus from outside the United States after December 31 may want to consider making arrangements to complete their trip prior to January 1, 2000. We are planning to have a few residence hall rooms open to accommodate those international students who choose to return early. If you intend to return before January 1, please inform the Office of Housing and Food Services by December 1, 1999, so that arrangements can be made for your return.
5. Will Y2K issues affect University ID cards (including the ability to get into residence halls, track meal plan use, etc.)?
The current Penn State ID Card has been certified by the vendor to be Y2K compliant. Systems that rely on the ID card (such as access to buildings and other restricted areas, library material checkout processes, meal card tracking, etc.) have also been tested and verified to be Y2K compliant.
6. How will students, faculty, and staff who are away during the break learn about any changes in plans for the start of the semester?
We are developing primary and backup communication channels so that students, faculty, staff, and their families, no matter where they are, can obtain the latest information about any Y2K-related disruptions that might have an impact on the start of classes at Penn State. We will provide more detailed information as we finalize our plans and develop the mechanisms for maintaining communication over the New Year's weekend and during the first week of January.
7. What should students, faculty, and staff do now to prepare for Y2K?
Students, faculty, and staff are responsible for their own office and residence computers. Please see http://www.psu.edu/Year2000/action/intro.html which includes specific instructions for correcting or replacing computers that are currently installed. Please use this material to determine corrections that are required in your case. Even though you may have technical support personnel to help you with your computer(s), it is your responsibility to initiate the process. If your office or personal computer does not work when you return to work in January 2000, it will be the result of your inaction this fall.
Research faculty are similarly responsible for their research computers, data, and embedded chips in equipment. Please see http://www.psu.edu/Year2000/action/rsrch.html which includes specific instructions for research faculty to make sure that their research products are not affected by Y2K.
8. I have additional questions or concerns about Y2K. Where can I find out more information?
Please see http://www.psu.edu/Year2000/executive.html which provides a great deal of useful information about Y2K that is specifically designed to inform our community about what Penn State is doing to prepare for Y2K and what personnel, students and faculty can do to help mitigate disruptions in their daily lives.
If this information is not sufficient, please contact Kenneth Blythe, (Penn State's Y2K Coordinator), 3 Shields Building, University Park, PA 16802 (814-863-0958 or send email to kcb1@psu.edu).
Now is the time to begin correcting any Year 2000 problems that may exist on your personal computer. Since it is difficult to identify all of the problems that a non-ready computer may cause you, it is better to be safe than sorry. We recommend that you check each of the following components for Year 2000 readiness and update them if necessary: hardware, operating system, software applications, and data.
Because Macintosh computers and operating systems were designed from the beginning to be Year 2000 ready, software applications and data are the main concern for owners of this system. We suggest that you check the date setting in the Macintosh operating system to make sure it uses a four-digit year. We suggest that you replace Apple computers that predate the Macintosh.
Windows and Unix computers are a different story. Penn State has software available for pre-testing PC hardware, which can be downloaded from http://www.psu.edu/Year2000/action/intro.html on the Penn State Year 2000 Web site. Information is also available on this page concerning Unix computers. After the hardware is tested, most operating systems on the PCs require updates from vendors. There is further step-by-step guidance at the following Web site: http://ftp.cac.psu.edu/pub/year2000/PCFixes.htm
To ensure that all PCs obtain the date correctly after January 1, 2000, the University will provide a Yr2000 Start-up Disk (or documentation on how to create the disk) throughout the University. Windows users will insert the disk into their computers and boot their systems from the disk as the first thing they do in the new year. The disk will start a version of DOS and allow the user to set the date and time. Information about creating the disks is available on the Web pages listed above and will be posted in all of the Penn State computer labs in late fall 1999. We also plan to provide facilities in these labs for students to make the disks.
Kathy Plavko, Office of Administrative Systems
A Y2K Support Center will be available starting January 1 to help the University community with questions and problems related to the new year. The support provided will include general information about the status of University facilities, particularly computing and communication facilities, the Y2K status of major computing applications with recommendations for obtaining and applying fixes, help with tools to identify computing problems, and referrals to web sites, help desks, Y2K officers, and other university units that can resolve a particular problem.
The phone number of the Support Center and more information about its hours will be available on the Penn State home page http://www.psu.edu after December 1.
DATE: September 20, 1999
FROM: Rodney A. Erickson, Vice President and Provost
TO: Penn State Faculty, Staff, and Students
SUBJECT: Use of E-mail Accounts
As a user of the Penn State computer and information network, you are a part of the global Internet. Along with its unparalleled opportunities for research and the free exchange of ideas between friends and colleagues worldwide, membership in the electronic community brings with it certain responsibilities. Penn State users are expected to behave professionally and courteously in electronic discourse at all times, much as they would if the same correspondence were conducted via postal mail or telephone.
University Policy for the appropriate use of electronic resources is included in Policy AD20, Computer and Network Security (http://guru.psu.edu/policies/AD20.html). Links to other information technology policy issues can be found at http://www.psu.edu/computing/policies/. However, I would also like to take this opportunity to remind users in more general terms of their responsibilities as members of the electronic community.
1. Your Access Account is your electronic identity at Penn State. You are directly accountable for actions performed under its auspices, thus it is critically important for you to protect your account and password, lest someone else use it under your name.
2. Accounts are reserved for your individual use only. They are not to be shared with friends or family members. To do so is a violation of University Policy (AD-20) and the terms you agreed to when you accepted your Access Account. In many cases, the data and other resources that can be accessed using your University account are restricted contractually to Penn State faculty, staff, and students. Extending access beyond those limits could jeopardize the University's own standing with various service and content providers. In addition, use of the University modem pool by your spouse or children in the evening hours has the potential to create bottlenecks for those authorized to use the service, resulting in reduced service levels and increased investment requirements.
3. Your University account should not be used to:
4. Think before you send. Because of the almost instantaneous nature of electronic mail, it is often easy to speak in anger or to use hurtful language that would never be considered appropriate in a more traditional medium. Users should exercise restraint before hitting "send" and should remember that electronic mail tends to take on a life of its own. It can be forwarded to others, modified, posted on electronic bulletin boards or stored on intermediate systems. The general rule of thumb is if you wouldn't say these words directly to the person, or would not want to see them transmitted to a wider audience, or recorded in a printed medium, do not send them electronically.
5. Plain text electronic mail is not suitable for extremely confidential or private material. It is much like a postcard in terms of the level of security available. If the content of your correspondence would normally require a sealed envelope in the physical world, unencrypted electronic mail is probably not appropriate for its transmission.
6. Practice "safe computing." Viruses and other malicious code may be transmitted by electronic mail attachments even if you know the originator of the correspondence. It is good practice not to open email attachments unless you have and are using current anti-virus software that will detect the latest instances of hostile code.
If you have questions or concerns with regard to appropriate conduct on the University's computer networks, please contact the Office of Computer and Network Security at (814) 863-9533 or security@psu.edu. Hopefully, this short review of these few guidelines will make your computing experiences at Penn State more enjoyable and productive.
Relevant Web Sites
| Y2K: | http://www.psu.edu/year2000 |
| Policies: | http://www.psu.edu/computing/policies |
| E-mail information: | http://cac.psu.edu/internet/email.html |
| Computer Accounts: | http://cac.psu.edu/infotech/accounts.html |
This article offers a selection of very useful resources for computer users. General sources of information are given here that are platform independent. The software cited here is freeware and, unless noted otherwise, applies to Windows 95/98 and/or Windows NT 4.0.
To view this page in its entirety please see " Where to Get What" at
http://ftp.cac.psu.edu/pub/access/win95/PennStateStuff
/Where95&NT.htm.
Year 2000 Resources
Official Penn State Year 2000 Pages:
http://www.psu.edu/Year2000/
IBM and Microsoft Operating System and Application Program Y2K Fixes:
http://ftp.cac.psu.edu/pub/year2000/PCFixes.htm
Year 2000 and Your PC, Where the Tire Hits the Road:
http://ftp.cac.psu.edu/pub/year2000/
PSU-NSTL/pcy2k.htm.
Virus Information
Free for Personal Use Windows 9x/NT Virus Detectors/Removers
Note: No virus remover is any better than its virus data base which must be kept up to date by regular downloading, suggest checking at least monthly.
F-PROT for Windows 95/98 recognizes long file names but runs as a
DOS program (using a file protected boot diskette) since it's not safe to run a
virus checker from a potentially infected system. Also has a virus stopper,
F-Stopw for Windows 95/98. Can be used on Windows NT to scan for Macro viruses.
Please see http://www.simtel.net/pub/simtelnet/msdos/virus/
or ftp://ftp.complex.is/pub/ and
get any fp-???.zip and macrdef*.zip files (if present). F-PROT
is free only for personal use. For institutional/commercial use see the zip
file member, ORDER.TXT. The latest version of F-PROT and it's companion virus
files is also available from the PSU FTP server at ftp://ftp.cac.psu.edu/pub/dos/virus.
Directions for making an independent boot diskette to run F-Prot may be found
at
http://ftp.cac.psu.edu/pub/dos/virus/fp-psu.txt
.
Innoculate/It Personal Edition versions are available for Windows 9x/NT. Easily installed/uninstalled. Free for personal use. Virus Data Base updates free, by Computer Associates: http://antivirus.cai.com/
Some Key Virus Web Pages
CERT - Software Engineering, Research, and Testing:
http://www.cert.org/advisories/
DataFellows:
http://www.datafellows.com/
ICSA - Internet Security and Assurance:
http://www.icsa.net/services/consortia/anti-virus
/lab.shtml
National Institutes of Standards Technology (NIST):
http://www.metro.ch/avpve/
Symantec AntiVirus research Center:
http://www.symantec.com/avcenter/
Virus Bulletin:
http://www.virusbtn.com/
Virus Pages: Good source of vendors, pointers, information on
computer viruses:
http://cac.psu.edu/~santoro/cac/virus.html
Virus Hoax Information - Kept very current, read this before you
perpetrate an alert:
http://kumite.com/myths/
Freeware/shareware
(Runs under both
Windows 95 AND NT unless otherwise specified).
Collections:
http://www.netlib.org/
http://www.simtel.net/simtel.net/
http://www.jumbo.com/
http://www.software.com/
http://www.download.com/ http://cws.internet.com/32menu.html
http://www.zdnet.com/
Acrobat Reader:
View/print/search Adobe Acrobat files:
http://www.adobe.com/prodindex/acrobat/readstep.html
Compare: Fast Compare of two (binary) files. Source/help(.TXT)
and .EXE are at:
http://ftp.cac.psu.edu/pub/ger/fortran/hdk/compare.txt
CSDIFF - Smart Compare of two text or MS Word files. Very nice
visual compare screen at:
http://www.componentsoftware.com/csdiff/dlcsdiff.htm.
ERU/ERD Emergency Recovery of critical files (including Registry)
utility. Windows 9x ONLY. Sources are: Windows 95 CD-ROM OTHER/MISC/ERU and Web
pages:
http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/Q139/4/37.asp
and http://support.microsoft.com/support/downloads/LNP192.asp
.
For Windows NT 4, please see:
http://support.microsoft.com/support/ntworkstation/serviceware
/ntw40/e9jvwnuo4.asp.
GhostScript - Displays, Prints, scales Adobe Postscript files. http://www.cs.wisc.edu/~ghost/index.html
HyperSnap - Screen capturing tool; can capture any region and save in 20 different graphic formats. Also can be run as Batch command to convert one graphic format to another. See http://www.hyperionics.com/
RealPlayer G2 - Displays audio and video files in a variety of formats. http://www.real.com/ and click on the FREE link button. Note that if you choose "Search" at http://www.psu.edu/ and choose "Search the Penn State WWW" for keyword: RealAudio, there are lots of clips you can tune into with this program. Two versions, free (G2) and commercial (G2 PLUS), are available.
RegClean - Microsoft utility for Windows 95/NT (Windows 98 has
its own utility for this) to "clean up" the Registry; see Question 4.4.4 at
http://hannah.jentronix.com/win95/faq/.
I recommend running SCANDISK and REGCLEAN at least biweekly and DEFRAG at least monthly. For RegClean please see http://support.microsoft.com/support/downloads/LNP195.asp or http://support.microsoft.com/support/downloads/dp3049.asp .
Search Engines - Looking for programs via searches at Microsoft's home
page(s) occasionally does not come up with the right match. This is because
Microsoft is constantly changing their home page(s). If you know what you're
looking for (e.g., say REGCLEAN) and don't get a match at Microsoft, try using
another independent search engine like:
http://support.microsoft.com/support/
(Microsoft Support/Knowledge Base) or
http://lycos.cs.cmu.edu/ (CMU's
Search Engine) or http://www.altavista.com/ (Digital's
Search Engine) or http://www.excite.com/ (Magellan Search
Engine). For a menu of many search engines see:
http://home.netscape.com/escapes/search/ntsrchrnd-1.html
(Netscpe's collection of Search Engines). For more information on Search
Engines in general see: http://calafia.com/webmasters/
and http://www.searchenginewatch.com/
. Finally, the best for last, see Meta Crawler, a search engine that
searches several other search engines simultaneously:
http://www.go2net.com/search.html
ZIP and UNZIP for Windows 95/NT (from INFOZIP):
http://www.cdrom.com/pub/infozip/UnZip.html.
KEDIT - POWERFUL COMMERCIAL ASCII
EDITOR FOR WINDOWS 9x/NT:
http://www.kedit.com/
Recommended combination of tools for program development is Kedit for Windows and CSDIFF.
Windows 9x/NT Information
Microsoft Knowledge Base is a good place to start searching for new Windows information. Click "Knowledge Base" bullet at the Web page: http://search.microsoft.com/us/default.asp. Then type in your search phrase.
Windows Updates:
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/downloads/default.asp
http://windowsupdate.microsoft.com/default2.htm
For the Microsoft Windows 9x/NT Media Player see
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/mediaplayer/default.asp
Windows Audio and Media Resources:
http://gwis2.circ.gwu.edu/%7Egprice/audio.htm
Windows NT FAQ, the best source for NT technical information not found elsewhere. Check out the "Links" link for pointers to other Windows 9x/NT Web pages. The FAQ subscription box and the FAQ itself is located at: http://www.ntfaq.com/
Windows 95 Annotated File Listing: what system function is carried out by what Windows 95 (not NT) file. Please see: http://www.zdnet.com/pcmag/pctech/content/14/17/sp1417.001.html
Windows 95 Annoyances:
http://www.annoyances.org/win95/
Windows 95 Resource Kit Help: On Windows 95 CD-ROM as folder: \Admin\Reskit\Helpfile\ Copy/Paste the two files: win95rk.cnt & win95rk.hlp to any Win95 directory (E.g., C:\WINDOWS\HELP). These files are also available at: http://www.microsoft.com/windows95/default.asp. Click on "Resource Kit Tools" and then download the item: "Complete Windows 95 Resource Kit Help file." If you download from the Web instead of copying from CD-ROM, just install the downloaded .EXE file by double-clicking from Windows 95 Explorer.
Windows 95 Support Assistant, which is a Help file, may be obtained via: http://www.microsoft.com/windows95/default.asp
Click on "Support Tools" and then download "Windows 95 Support
Assistant" from there. Install the downloaded file, assist.exe via
Windows 95 Explorer.
H. D. Knoble, Center for Academic Computing
The students featured here represent just a few of the many student employees who help the CAC fulfill its mission.
Computer Science and Engineering
I was born and raised in Ibadan, Nigeria. I earned my Bachelors degree in Computer Science from the University of Ibadan. I spent a year as a Programmer/Analyst developing Oracle based applications for a company called Information Projects Ltd, in Lagos, Nigeria, prior to my coming to the United States for graduate study.
I joined the Center for Academic Computing Help Desk in September of 1998. My primary responsibility has been to assist faculty, staff and students with various computer-related problems. Most of the questions I have had to field concern email and connecting to the Internet.
Perhaps the most challenging aspect of this job is dealing with people. It often requires lots of patience and perseverance, but I enjoy the opportunity to help others with their problems. It is really satisfying after all is done to see our callers happy and satisfied. It helps to be part of a wonderfully experienced team of individuals who are always willing to help out when there are problems I am unable to resolve by myself.
In my spare time I like to read a good novel, particularly spy thrillers, but I've been know to indulge in science fiction occasionally. I also like to listen to music, and for exercise, I jog and play soccer.
Mechanical Engineering
I come from a city in India called Bombay. I did my undergraduate degree in Mechanical Engineering in India before coming to the States.
I started my graduate work at the University of Toledo in Ohio and transferred to further pursue a Masters in Mechanical Engineering here at Penn State.
While at Toledo I worked for a remote access support group to help students, staff and faculty get connected to the Internet from home, something very close to what we do here at the Help Desk at the Center for Academic Computing.
I enjoy working here at the Help Desk. In fact, I can relate better to the Help Desk office as home on campus rather than my department since I spend more time here. I like working with people and I am glad to consider those with whom I work not just professional colleagues, but friends.
I think the most satisfying part of this job is to succeed in helping someone who has a difficult problem. Of course with the support of able and knowledgeable consultants and full-time staff here, almost any problem can be solved.
When I'm not studying or working at the Help Desk I play tennis, volleyball and I am a great lover of travelling and driving. I love meeting different kinds of people and understanding different walks of life. And I love Penn State!!
Hotel, Restaurant, and Institutional Management; Management Science and Information Systems
After completing my degree in Mechanical Engineering and four years in various leadership positions in the Turkish army, I wanted to diversify my professional qualifications. I decided to leave Ankara, Türkiye where I was born, to come to Penn State where I am now pursuing concurrent master's degrees in Hotel, Restaurant, and Institutional Management; and Management Science and Information Systems.
I joined the Help Desk at the Center for Academic Computing in fall 1997, my third semester at Penn State It has been a very interesting and challenging job; it involves lots of problem diagnosis and problem solving.
I believe, having almost completed my second year as a Help Desk consultant, that an important part of the job is to have a positive rapport with clients: communication skills play a big role in the consulting business. Support from full time staff, which we have enjoyed without any limitation, also helps us as consultants to provide our clients with satisfactory solutions.
In my spare time, I enjoy tasting fine beers - my interest is in quality, not quantity - playing golf, mountain biking, scuba diving, and playing the occasional soccer match with friends.
Educational Psychology
I received my MA in Applied Experimental Psychology in 1994 and I am currently a doctoral candidate in Educational Psychology. My primary responsibilities at the Help Desk include helping computer users solve basic computing problems with email, configuring dial-up connections, transferring files, etc.
When not at the Help Desk I provide in-home computer tutoring as well as statistical consultation. I also spend a good deal of time playing on our home computer with my son Daniel whom, I must brag, is an eight-year-old computer wizard.
What I like most about working at the Center for Academic Computing is the collegial atmosphere. My coworkers are wonderfully diverse, universally share a sense of humor, and are all counted among my friends.
Each member of the Help Desk staff is expected to have a broad base of general computing skills as well as expertise in some area; I specialize in the use of statistical programs such as SAS and SPSS. I also have had an increasing number of Mac users directed to me - my favorite callers!
Computer Science and Engineering
I come from Madras, India. I completed my Bachelor's degree in Computer Science and Engineering at the University of Madras in May 1999. This is my first semester in Penn State and my first visit to the United States.
I joined the Center for Academic Computing this fall as part of the Help Desk team. I help callers or walk-ins with their computer-related troubles (or otherwise too:).
The Help Desk team is very friendly and helpful. The best part of working at the Help Desk, I think, is the good feeling I get when I manage to help someone, who doesn't know much about computers, get connected.
Reading novels in one of my hobbies; science fiction is my favorite category. I like many sports and am partial to soccer andn tennis. Some of my time is spent off-road biking. I'm into rock, especially Pink Floyd. In my spare time I'm doing my Master's in Computer Science and Engineering.
Electrical Engineering
I joined the Center for Academic Computing Help Desk in August and like my work here. It feels great to be a part of a friendly group of people and it's satisfying to help people sove their problems. But the best part of work is the amount I learn while trying to find a solution to a problem. Brainstorming for solutions is a regular phenomenon at the Help Desk and everybody chips in with his or her valuable advise.
Before joining Penn State, I worked for two years in the communication software industry. I am a B.E. (Instrumentation) graduate from Birla Institute of Technology and Sciences, India. I have lived in various parts of India but love my birthplace Delhi the most. It's one of the most beautiful places in the work (if you could get rid of all those polluting vehicles).
My spare time (which seems really little since I've joined school) is spent reading some of my favorite classics, or on a computer. I love the outdoors and love to go canoeing and rafting (in spite of not knowing how to swim!). I love travelling and aim to see all the seven continents in the next five years.
The CAC offers walk-in, phone, and electronic consulting
at two Help Desk locations at University Park. You may send questions by
electronic mail to helpdesk@psu.edu or fill out a request
form at http://cac.psu.edu/consulting on
the Web.
2 Willard Building
(814) 863-1035
Toll-free 1-888-778-4010 in PA
Mon.-Thu. 9
am to 10:30 pm
Fri. 9 am to 4:30 pm
Sun. 6:30 pm to 10:30 pm
215 Computer Building
(814) 863-2494
Mon.-Fri. 9 am to 5 pm
ConMan (Disk Space)
The Connection Manager (ConMan) is a CAC-developed system for providing
private file storage on a central server from public lab machines or private
machines, and access to other central file services from private machines. No
more email on diskettes! See
http://dsg.cac.psu.edu/Labs/ConMan/Index.html
for information and application instructions.
More general information about projects in the labs can be found at http://dsg.cac.psu.edu/.
Printing in the CAC Labs
The CAC provides students with 110 free sheets per semester (or 220 pages if you print on both sides). The cost for printing over that amount is 7 cents per sheet. Laser printers are set to print on both sides of the paper in order to reduce the cost of printing and waste of paper. This is a non-refundable credit.
Students have the choice of accepting or rejecting the billing system at the time of activating an Access Account. Students who decline to have their bursar bill charged will be unable to print in the CAC microcomputer labs beyond their 110-sheet credit per semester (but can later return to the signature station and choose to have additional printing charged to their bursar bill). Printing charges are included on tuition or interim student bills.
See http://cac.psu.edu/labs/printing/ on the Web for more information.
Scanners in CAC Labs
Scanners are available in the following CAC computer labs. The scanners are all Apple ColorOne model number 3043's, and they are attached to Macintosh computers. These systems are available on a first-come, first-served basis. There is no sign-up or reserved time. Scanning has priority over other use. Hours are posted at http://cac.psu.edu/labs on the CAC labs Web site.
Assistive Technology in CAC Computer Labs
The Center is committed to supporting persons with disabilities by providing adaptive technology resources at labs. Information about these resources is available at http://cac.psu.edu/assist/ on the Web or can be obtained by calling (814) 865-4757 or by sending e-mail to docreq@psu.edu.
Lab Consulting Services
In a number of CAC labs, student consultants can help with general questions about Access Accounts, lab equipment, software, and printing. However, they are not permitted to help students with course assignments. During the fall/spring semesters, lab consulting locations and hours are as follows:
Pollock Library, 2nd Floor
24 hour consulting
1 Beaver Hall, 317 Hammond,
1 Health & Human Development,
2 Sparks, 2 Willard
Sun. - Fri. noon - 4 pm
Sun. - Thu. 7 pm -
11 pm
103, 111, 214 Boucke, 101 Fisher,
112 Redifer, 108
Warnock
Sun.-Thu. noon - midnight
Fri. noon - 4 pm
6 Findlay and 107 Waring
Sun.-Thu. noon - 1 am
Fri. noon
- 4 pm
For more information about CAC computer lab services, see http://cac.psu.edu/labs on the CAC labs Web site.
Detailed Search Page
LIAS users can now easily conduct complex searches in The CAT, the Libraries Online Catalog of more than 2 million items, and other local LIAS databases such as Periodical Abstracts, ERIC (education), and ABI/Inform (business).
A new page, called the Detailed Search Page, provides several boxes where users can construct searches using Boolean operators (AND, OR, NOT, ADJACENT, WITHIN) to pair concepts together. These Boolean operators permit the user to expand or limit search results by joining or eliminating specified words. The boxes are arranged so that the user chooses the Boolean searching criteria from dropdown menu choices, and then types search word(s) in the empty boxes. No guess work is needed as to how to construct a complex search.
A Detailed Search button appears on all Web LIAS pages, so it's easy to find.
Some searches simply join two different concepts together, and deliver results that contain all requested words. The words don't have to be adjacent; they can occur anywhere in these LIAS Headings: Authors, Titles, Subjects, or Series. Example:
coffee AND brazil
More complicated searches permit nesting terms in parentheses, so that nested operations are performed before other operations. For example, the following two searches yield very different results:
coffee AND (brazil OR venezuela)
[27 hits in The CAT]
coffee AND brazil OR venezuela
[2722 hits in The CAT]
Detailed Searchingdelivers a lot more power in LIAS database searching. Although Boolean capabilities have been available in LIAS databases since 1993, their inclusion in a Web-based page allows difficult searches to be executed with ease.
I Want It,a button on The CAT, lets users "reserve" any currently available item, or "recall" any item previously on loan to another user, at any Penn State Libraries location. Now, if you decide you no longer need the item, you can CANCEL the request on the Web, using the same I Want It button. Requesting items on the Web is easy, and now canceling requests is easy too!
To make it easy to quickly find journal information, a subset of The CAT has been extracted to create a new database called Journals & More. This database contains descriptions about all the journals that Penn State Libraries owns, including call numbers, holdings information, and locations. It is especially useful when users are searching any of the numerous Web journal databases that LIAS provides access to, such as Medline and Current Contents; users can open a simultaneous session of Journals & More to verify if journals they find are in the Libraries' collection. Although journal information also resides in The CAT, this database, focused solely on journals, is a definite time saver.
A web-based Change of Address Form now lets you update your email or local street address in LIAS on the Web. Keeping address information up-to-date ensures that Overdue, Recall and other library notices are delivered quickly and correctly. Formerly, this procedure was handled by filling out a form at the Circulation desk. As an added convenience, this Web page includes a link to Penn State's Address Updates web page, where students can find instructions on keeping their address current for other University correspondence.
Effective August 10, 1999, LIAS requires undergraduate and graduate students to use their Penn State Access Account User ID and password to access the full range of LIAS services. Previously, they had the option of using their Access Account OR their Last Name and 9-digit ID number. The Last Name/Nine-Digit number is no longer supported for students.
Faculty and staff can continue to authenticate both ways, since some of these users don't have Access Accounts.
Sylvia MacKinnon, Library Computing Services
The Center for Academic Computing (CAC) offers Web space to all Penn State students, faculty, staff, colleges, departments, schools, and official organizations.
This article presents general information for aspiring Web developers who use the CAC's Web services. Additional information is available at http://www.personal.psu.edu/faq/cacweb.html on the Web.
To get started, you need the following:
(Printed copies of the guide are available at CAC Help Desks in 2 Willard Building and 215 Computer Building, or can be obtained by calling 814-865-4757 or by sending e-mail to docreq@psu.edu.)
Individuals are responsible for managing personal Web space. In the departments and colleges, however, a computer support person, system administrator, or editor may serve as "Webmaster"the person who manages the Web site. For many organizations, a group of people help to manage the Web site using their various areas of expertise. A Web site typically requires a system administrator, programmer, editor, and perhaps a graphic artist. Sometimes one person can do it all, but if the Web site is large and complex, most large organizations find that additional highly skilled staff are needed to keep up with the demand for high-quality presentation, content, and site maintenance. How this is handled depends on the resources and staffing of each department or college.
Prerequisites
Individuals can apply for a basic personal home page by completing an on-line application form at the following URL: http://www.psu.edu/webspace/
A personal directory and home page is generated in about three business days. Students and staff get two megabytes; faculty get six megabytes. Your URL is formatted as follows:
http://www.personal.psu.edu/xyz123
(where xyz123 is your
Access Account user ID)
Personal Web space for students remains active during periods of continuous enrollment (fall and spring semesters) and for six months after graduation. (Web space is kept active during the summer for students who are expected to return in the fall.) Personal Web space for faculty and staff is closed upon termination of employment.
Penn State student groups or organizations can apply for Web space on the Student Activity Server at the following URL: http://www.clubs.psu.edu/
Official university units can purchase Web space through a P-account. Space costs 12¢ per megabyte per year plus a $10 processing fee annually and each time a request for additional space is processed.
When you apply for Web space for a college, department, or other official unit, the person who will supervise the space selects the last part of the URL on the application form. The URL is in the form
http://www.psu.edu/dept/deptname
where deptname is the name or abbreviation you selected (restricted to thirteen characters). This will also be the name of your Web directory. Please note that if someone else has already selected that name or abbreviation, you will be asked to select a different one.
Before applying, each person who will be using the Web space should obtain personal Web space. See the previous section "Personal Web Space" for instructions.
To apply for department Web space, complete and submit the form Application for Academic Computing Account Services. The form can be downloaded from the CAC's Account Services Web site at http://cac.psu.edu/accounts or can be obtained by contacting the Computer Accounts Office, 230 Computer Building, University Park, (814) 865-4772, accounts@psu.edu.
Two types of Web space are available for course development: the Course On-Line Account (COLA) and the Student On-line Development Account (SODA).
The COLA provides faculty with ten megabytes of Web space for course development and presentation. COLA space is continued indefinitely as long as the instructor continues to teach at Penn State, but must be renewed each semester. COLA account owners will receive e-mail when their space is established, and will also receive a renewal form by e-mail before the end of each semester.
The SODA allows faculty to request five megabytes of additional personal Web space for each student in a course to use for course assignments. This space is added to each student's personal Web space. SODA space is available for one semester.
To request COLA or SODA space, faculty need to fill out the form Application for Academic Computing Account Services and select the appropriate option on the "Course-Related Services" section of the form.
To apply for course space, an instructor must:
Additional course space can be requested at no charge; however, the CAC reserves the right to limit disk allocations. To request additional space, send e-mail to accounts@psu.edu or use the form Application for Academic Computing Account Services.
To obtain a COLA or SODA, complete and submit an application form. An Acrobat form can be downloaded from the CAC's Account Services Web site (http://cac.psu.edu/accounts) or can be obtained by contacting the Computer Accounts Office, 230 Computer Building, University Park, (814) 865-4772, accounts@psu.edu.
A utility for finding out how much space you have used out of your allotment is provided at the following URL: https://www.work.psu.edu/
Select "Directory quotas" at the above URL; then enter your Access Account user ID and password. The amount of personal space used will be displayed on the Web page. To find out how much space you have left in your department or course directory, you will have to use the "change directory" function. In that field enter /afs/psu.edu/services/www/dept/department/ (where "department" is your department's directory name).
Or, in the case of COLA course space, enter /afs/psu.edu/services/www/course/course999_xyz123/ (where "course" is your course name, "course999" is your course name and number, and "xyz123" is your user ID).
A limited amount of Web space is provided free of charge as described below. Fee-based Web services cost 12¢ per megabyte per year plus a $10 processing fee initially and each time a request is processed.
The application form mentioned above should be used to request additional space. Three business days are required for processing requests. After requests have been processed, charges cannot be refunded.
Student organizations using the Student Activity Server must apply for additional Web space at http://www.clubs.psu.edu/ on the Web.
One of the most exciting features of the Web is its capability of including images. New Web developers are often eager to incorporate a variety of images in an effort to make their pages unique and interesting. However, when too many images are included on a Web page, the page can be very slow to load, look cluttered, or be very difficult to read. Following are some tips to consider when using graphics on your Web pages.
<A HREF="title.html">
<IMG SRC="example.gif"
ALT="photo" WIDTH = 472 HEIGHT = 192></A>
Penn State Images
The CAC is working with the Office of University Publications on a Penn State Web style guide. Meanwhile, please refer to the Penn State Style Guide and the Penn State Licensing Manual and Visual Standards Guide for information regarding the use of Penn State logos and images. Guidance can be obtained from the Office of University Publications at (814) 863-1870.
Photographs or images can be scanned at one of the scanning resource locations listed at the following Web site: http://cac.psu.edu/general/scan.html
After you have scanned the photograph you must make certain that the image size is set to 72dpi and the dimensions that you desire.
Your graphic files must be saved in the correct format, and their names must also end with the appropriate format designation (such as .gif or .jpeg or .jpg). If you are uploading a graphic from a Macintosh computer, it must be transferred as raw data. If you are uploading a graphic from a PC, it must be transferred as binary.
There are several locations on the Internet that offer icon and art libraries. Your best option is to use one of the many Internet search sites available and seek out the kinds of graphics you are looking for. See the CAC's training site at http://cac.psu.edu/training/outlines/indexgraph.html for links to some good sources. Please note that you are responsible for following the use agreement that is posted with the graphics at most of these image libraries.
To make an image map, create a .map file and use the NCSA httpd 1.5.1
server imagemap support. There are other ways to do this, such as some
Netscape-specific tags. NCSA has a good tutorial at
http://hoohoo.ncsa.uiuc.edu/docs/tutorials/imagemapping.html.
Scripts, or Common Gateway Interface (CGI) programs, can affect server performance and security for all users. These programs are not necessary for Web publishing. However, for those who wish to use scripts, a library of general-purpose CGI scripts that have already been evaluated and tested are available on the CAC's Web server.
Persons who write their own scripts should test and debug them on the CAC's test server at http://scripts.cac.psu.edu/ after which they may submit them to webmaster@psu.edu for approval and installation. The Web support group requires approximately two weeks to process these requests.
For further information see the following URL: http://www.personal.psu.edu/faq/cacweb.html
There are two counters available: one text and one graphical. Following is an example of a text counter that can be used to count the number of "hits" on your page.
This page has been accessed <!--#exec cgi="/cgi-bin/counter"--> times.
For more information about counters, see the FAQ: http://www.personal.psu.edu/faq/cacweb.html
You are expected to exercise responsible, ethical behavior when using the University's computers, information, networks or resources. This applies, of course, to your use of Web space. Penn State Web space is reserved for University-related use.
Content of Web pages must not violate Penn State policies or federal, state, or local laws. These include laws or policies pertaining to libel, slander, threats of bodily harm, pornography, and sexual harassment. By using your Access Account, including the CAC's Web server, you agree to abide by these laws and policies.
The CAC does not monitor the content of Web pages. However, if inappropriate materials are discovered or reported, the CAC reserves the right to block access to such files until the author removes them or until competent authority grants access. Disciplinary action, including referral to the Office of Judicial Affairs, police, and suspension of account are possible.
Generally, laws that apply to the printed word apply in the electronic medium as well. Publishers should be concerned with issues related to copyright, libel, and liability. If you use copyrighted materials (such as text, photographs, images, video, or audio files) you must have permission from the copyright holder. Photographs require signed photograph clearances. Always ask permission from the author if you would like to use files you find on the Web. At many Web sites you will find restrictions and guidelines for use of the material published there. When in doubt, get written permission.
Web space is for University-related use. Don't use your Web pages for purposes such as selling a product, a profit-making business or sales position, or in conjunction with mass mailings. If you wish to use the Web for purposes unrelated to Penn State, use a commercial service. Many companies known as Internet Service Providers (ISPs) offer Internet access, including e-mail, for a fee. Some examples are America Online, Compuserve, and AT&T. One method of finding an ISP is to enter "ISP" in the search field at Yahoo's site at http://www.yahoo.com on the Web.
Penn State researchers know that all research performed on human subjects must be approved by the Office for Regulatory Compliance. However, they should also be aware that Internet surveys are subject to the same regulations. Whether conducting a survey on paper or on-line (by using e-mail, the World Wide Web, and other Internet resources) researchers must comply with all policies, including Policy SY22, The Use Of Human Subjects In Research.
All researchers and the students who work for them are expected to exercise responsible, ethical behavior when using Access Accounts, the University's computers, information, networks or resources. See the following World Wide Web sites for additional information:
The Office for Regulatory Compliance may be contacted at 212 Kern Graduate Building, University Park; (814) 865-1775; Fax 814-863-8699, e-mail orc@psu.edu.
Please review the policies related to computer use (see http://www.psu.edu/computing/policies).
CAC Web Support Group, webmaster@psu.edu
This article focuses on use of the CAC's Web server. However, here are all of the options to consider.
The Center for Academic Computing Web server. Web space is available for all Penn State students, faculty, staff, and official departments and organizations. Advantages of this service include low cost, 24-hour expert staffing and maintenance, and consulting services.
No matter which of the above options you may choose, we welcome you to attend seminars offered by the CAC that focus on Web development. See http://cac.psu.edu/training for information.
New Web developers may encounter many terms that are unfamiliar. Here are a few basic definitions that may help.
|
Browser - |
software that can access and display Web files, such as Netscape and Internet Explorer |
|
CGI - |
Common Gateway Interface - a standard for interfacing external applications with information servers. A simple HTML document retrieved through the Web doesn't change. A CGI program, on the other hand, is executed in real-time, so that it can output dynamic information. |
|
FTP - |
File Transfer Protocol (FTP) enables transfer of files over the Internet. |
|
GIF - |
Graphics Interchange Format - a file format for line art images on the Web, such as icons and graphs. |
|
HTML - |
Hypertext Markup Language - a set of tags that enable files to be accessed on the Web. |
|
Hypertext - |
text with pointers to other text. |
|
Hypermedia - |
a medium with pointers to other media. |
|
Internet Explorer - |
World Wide Web browser software supported and distributed by the CAC for IBM compatible and Macintosh computers. |
|
ISP - |
Acronym for Internet Service Provider. Many companies have been created solely for the purpose of offering server space for Web pages or for creating and publishing Web pages. If you want to run a business on your Web page or advertise commercial products for sale, you should use an ISP, not University Web space. |
|
Java - |
a language developed by Sun Microsystems that allows Web pages to contain code that is executed on the browser. |
|
JavaScript - |
A scripting language for Web pages that can be embedded into an HTML file to produce interesting effects on Web pages. |
|
JPEG - |
Joint Photographic Experts Group (the original name of the committee that wrote the standard) - a file format for photographic images on the Web. |
|
Netscape - |
World Wide Web browser software supported and distributed by the CAC for IBM compatible and Macintosh computers, and also available on UNIX workstations. |
|
Server - |
a computer that "serves" files. |
|
URL - |
World Wide Web browser software supported and distributed by the CAC for IBM compatible and Macintosh computers, and also available on UNIX workstations. |
|
VRML - |
Virtual Reality Modeling Language, an attempt to extend the Web into the domain of three-dimensional graphics. |
After you apply for Web space, wait three business days. You should then be able to transfer files to and from your Web directory. You can check to see if your Web directory has been created by opening the URL http://www.personal.psu.edu/ followed by your user ID, department's directory name, or course name, as in the following examples (substitute your user ID for "xyz123":
Example URL for personal home page: http://www.personal.psu.edu/xyz123/
Example URL for department home page: http://www.psu.edu/dept/departmentname/
Example URL for course home page: http://www.courses.psu.edu/art/art100_xyz123/
1. Use an FTP program such as Fetch on the Macintosh or WS_FTP in Windows. Double-click the application.
2. Select "New Connection" from the "File" menu.
3. In the dialogue box that appears, enter
Host Name: ftp.personal.psu.edu
To go to your personalspace, leave this field blank. The CAC provides personal home pages as a courtesy. You are welcome to alter the one we provide or create your own. Once you establish your connection, a window should appear showing your user ID and a directory/folder named www. Double-click "www". Inside you will see a file named index.htmlthis is your home page file.
To go to your departmental space, enter the following: /afs/psu.edu/services/www/dept/deptname/ (where deptname is the name of your directory).
To go to your course space, enter the following: /afs/psu.edu/services/www/courses/course/coursenumber_userID/ as in the following example: /afs/psu.edu/services/www/courses/hd_fs/hd_fs129_xyz123/
4. To work on your files, use the "get" and "put" functions of your FTP program to copy files to and from your directory. Edit your file with any text editor, HTML editor, or word processor. (If you use a word processor, make sure your file is saved as text onlywith line breaks, if that is an option.) We recommend that you continue to use the name index.html as your home page.
If you are on a machine that runs an AFS client, such as the Hammond UNIX machines (ptph or ptpo) or the Sun Cluster, you can copy files directly into your Web directory without having to FTP. (Currently, you have to get an AFS token to do this on the Sun Cluster, because they are in different "afs cells." The command /usr/afsws/bin/klog userid -cell psu.edu will give you a token, where "userid" is your Access Account user ID.)
|
Site |
Location |
Description |
|
|
Account Services |
Account and Web space application |
||
|
Personal Web Space Application Form |
Apply for personal Web space |
||
|
Secure Server |
Manage your account and Web space |
||
|
Scanning Resources |
Scan photographs or images at one of these locations |
||
|
Seminars |
Seminars are offered on Web development |
||
|
Design Resource Links |
Links to free graphics and tips on design |
||
|
Office for Regulatory Compliance |
Web surveys must be approved prior to use |
||
|
Policies and Guidelines |
Links to policies, guidelines, and legal resources |
||
|
Web Developer Resources |
Resources, Guides, and tutorials |
||
|
Web FAQ |
How to use CAC Web space |
||
|
World Wide Web FAQ |
Guide to the World Wide Web |
||
In the spring of 1998, Penn State opened the doors to its newest "campus," a distance learning initiative called the World Campus. As word spread, prospective students began to inquire. Telephone calls and e-mail notes poured in to Penn State's Department of Distance Education/World Campus. "What is the World Campus like?" they wanted to know. After all, the notion of a "virtual" university is still quite new, so it was only natural that the general public would be confused, curious, and even skeptical.
For almost a year World Campus staff struggled to answer the question. "It depends . . ." was the common reply, as World Campus courses weren't being created with a cookie cutter. Each course and each program of study was developed a unique entity, based on the nature of the content and the needs of the students. To try to paint a picture of what a World Campus course "looks like" as well as addressing related issues such as technical requirements, student application and registration processes, and learner support services, was a difficult task. As time went on, however, it became increasingly apparent that the question had to be answered . . . no one would want to register for a course that was a complete unknown anymore than one would want to take a new job without knowing anything about the job responsibilities or the working environment. The staff had to come up with an answer. That answer was World Campus 101.
World Campus 101 (WC 101) is a free, publicly accessible "course" that provides students with the information they need to be productive and successful in the World Campus. It is designed to help new World Campus students become acquainted with Penn State's distance learning environment. It is also a resource that can help potential students decide whether the World Campus learning environment is for them or not. WC 101 speaks to the adult learner about the demands and dynamics required to be successful when learning at a distance. The resource also introduces learners to the core technical skills and capabilities they'll need to have in order to participate in the World Campus. After learning about the World Campus, many find that, besides the fact that students are located all around the globe, the virtual campus is not so different from a traditional one.
WC 101 is divided into five modules:
1. What's it like to be a Penn State World Campus student?
2. Using on-line course materials.
3. Interacting with your instructor and fellow students.
4. Using academic resources in your courses.
5. Getting help when you need it.
Each module covers several different topic areas, providing students with the specific, detailed information they need. (See the World Campus 101 Table of Contents for a listing of the topics currently covered.) For visitors who are in a hurry, there is even a "Quick Tour" that provides a summary of each module, with links to more detailed information.
Real-life examples taken from World Campus courses are included in each module so that students can see what taking a course through the World Campus is really like. And throughout WC 101, students have the opportunity to test their knowledge and skills by completing various activities that are designed to make the orientation process fun. WC 101 can be reviewed at any time, place, and pace. All that is needed is a Web browser and an Internet connection.
World Campus 101 did not require an enormous resource investment. It was well worth the effort in terms of making the student orientation process much more efficient. The main goal was to create a resource that would not only explain to students what taking a course through the World Campus would be like, but would also let them experience our on-line environment. The latter was a challenge, there isn't just one delivery system in use at the World Campus. Some courses utilize FirstClass computer conferencing software, others exist in a course management system called WebCT, some rely on simple HTML pages with "homegrown" communications tools, some have CD-ROM components and still others aren't computer-based at all. And that doesn't even cover all the variations.
An additional concern was security. Many of the systems that are used to deliver World Campus courses are password-protected. In order to let students "try out" a World Campus course based in FirstClass or WebCT, for example, we would need to give them access to those secure resources. However, allowing Internet surfers to create "guest" accounts would have been in violation of our University security policies since such accounts are easily falsified by the "guests." As a result, the decision was made to concentrate on the core, "generic," skills that one would need to be a successful learner and to teach those skills in a publicly-accessible environment. For example, instead of trying to teach students about the unique features of FirstClass "conferences" or WebCT "forums" by using those same systems, WC 101 includes a more generic section on "Using a Bulletin Board System."
In terms of staffing, a single staff member (an instructional designer for the World Campus) took approximately 100 hours designing the resource, writing the content, and developing the Web site. A second instructional design staff member then spent 15 hours formally reviewing the resulting course and providing editorial feedback. Throughout the design and development process, many members of the World Campus staff (including student employees) were asked to review components of the site and provide formative feedback in order to ensure that the course would meet the needs of World Campus students and prospects.
The technology used to develop the resource was fairly "routine" for a Web site. A "WYSIWYG" (what you see is what you get) HTML editor (Claris Home Page) was used to quickly markup the pages and a graphics program (Adobe Photoshop) was used to create the screen shots that are embedded in the resource. For the self-check quizzes (including an interactive crossword puzzle) an inexpensive shareware program was employed (Hot Potatoes from the University of Victoria Language Centre). The entire resource was developed on a midrange Macintosh computer. The resulting "course" was then placed on the existing World Campus server.
To market this free resource, a press release was distributed statewide to Pennsylvania media and to Distance Education/Higher Education media outlets in early 1999. A high-profile link to WC 101 was also added to the main World Campus home page. In addition, WC 101 was featured prominently in the World Campus view book, a marketing piece that is distributed to individuals who request information about the World Campus. Links to WC 101 also appear on the main information page for individual World Campus courses.
While initially created for a Penn State audience, WC 101 has received a good deal of attention from outside the University. The Web site is being accessed by more than 2,000 visitors per month. Approximately 10% of these visitors are from outside of the U.S. and nearly 75% are from non-higher education domains. World Campus staff have received numerous messages from around the globe, stating how valuable the resource has been in helping people to better understand what on-line learning is all about.
As word spread and the number of visitors to the site grew, the decision was made to add an evaluation form to WC 101 to capture feedback. The form consists of 7 core questions about WC 101, as well as some demographic items. Feedback will be analyzed in an ongoing basis and modifications made to WC 101 as appropriate. Over time new modules and topics will be added to the course in response to this formal feedback and also based on the recommendations of faculty and instructional design staff who are involved in the development and delivery of World Campus courses.
At the time of this writing too little feedback has been captured to prove useful. While we've had many visitors to the site and have received a good deal of positive response through e-mail, relatively few have taken the time to fill out the formal evaluation form. Although this is not surprising for a free resource, the lack of formal response is still troubling. We will continue to strategize ways to solicit more feedback from our users.
The internal response to WC 101 has been overwhelmingly positive. The resource has allowed for a consistent and thorough orientation to World Campus students that far surpasses what was previously covered on a course-by-course basis. Instead of addressing core skills or knowledge over and over again at the beginning of each World Campus course, staff members now refer students to a central resource, one that is accessible throughout their learning process, not just at the beginning of a new course. An additional benefit, from an administrative standpoint, is the fact that because WC 101 is fully automated, it does not require an instructor.
The creation of World Campus 101 has allowed the staff to reflect on the core competencies that are needed for one to be successful in an on-line learning environment and to share those reflections with the others in the Penn State community and with colleagues around the globe.
For further information regarding the World Campus, please see http://www.worldcampus.psu.edu on the Web.
Ann T. Luck, Center for Academic Computing, Instructional Designer, World Campus
As announced in fall 1998, the Center for Academic Computing will be terminating the VM/CMS (PSUVM) system on June 30, 2000. Because of year 2000 compliance problems, you should plan to be off the system before December 31, 1999. This will ensure that you are not trying to use programs that may no longer function correctly due to date dependencies. If you must have access to VM/CMS after November 30, 1999, you must complete and return a VM/CMS Access Continuation Form by November 15, 1999. Below are URLs of announcements about changes in VM/CMS service, the continuation form, and instructions for migrating to other systems.
Business Databases CRSP and Compustat data are now accessible from Windows and UNIX machines through the DFS shared file system. Fortran and SAS code will be made available to read the data.
ICPSR will continue to be imported by FTP. We can put the data on DFS or on a CD, zip disk or jazz disk.
Census data will be imported and stored in DFS as needed.
See Moving Files From PSUVM to Your Macintosh or Windows Computer at http://cac.psu.edu/vmcms/movefiles.html for instructions.
The Numerically Intensive Computing (NIC) Group (http://cac.psu.edu/beatnic) has been managing a large Unix supercomputer, an IBM SP, since the early 1990's. Additionally, the Unix Group (http://cac.psu.edu/unix_group) has been managing a Unix workstation lab in 316 Hammond and in 216 Osmond. Fortran applications may also be run on Windows and NT PC's, PC's running Linux, and Apple PC's. These are the alternatives to PSUVM for computing and running Fortran applications which have existed for many years at the CAC.
For long-running and CPU-intensive (requiring more than 30 minutes of CPU time under VS Fortran on PSUVM) applications or applications requiring vectorization and/or parallelization, we recommend porting your existing PSUVM Fortran application to our Unix machines. For more information, please contact the Numerically Intensive Computing Group by sending e-mail to beatnic@cac.psu.edu.
For instructions on using a PC alternative to PSUVM for Fortran applications, please see "Converting PSUVM Fortran Applications" at http://ftp.cac.psu.edu/pub/ger/fortran/FortranPSUVM.html. For additional information, see Fortran resources and Fortran 77/90/95 Compilers for Windows 9x/NT at http://www.personal.psu.edu/hdk/fortran.html .
With the removal of the WILLARD line printer on June 1, 1999, the only remaining CAC-supported printing available on VM/CMS in the Willard Building (until July 1, 2000) will be on the HP Postscript page printer called PSWB1. See Willard Printing in VM/CMS at http://cac.psu.edu/vmcms/willard.html for instructions.
SAS and SPSS
SAS and SPSS can be purchased from the Microcomputer Order Center (see http://moc.cac.psu.edu) for Macintosh and Windows 95/98/NT Workstation. Unix and Windows NT Server versions of SAS also may be licensed to Penn State departments through the CAC's Institutional Licensing and Software Distribution (ILSD) program (see http://www.sas.psu.edu/ilsd.shtml).
SAS software is also available in CAC Windows NT labs on campus, and remotely from the Unix SAS servers armstrong.cac.psu.edu (Solaris) and splogin.cac.psu.edu (AIX). SPSS software is also available in the CAC Windows NT labs, and will be installed for use from armstrong.cac.psu.edu this fall.
To use the Unix SAS servers, it is necessary to obtain a Unix account in addition to your Access Account (see http://www.sas.psu.edu/faq/faq-0.01.shtml for details). For information on various methods of connecting to the Unix SAS servers, please see "Additional Unix and SAS Resources" at http://www.sas.psu.edu/seminars/intro01.html .
Raw data (i.e. plain text) and SAS & SPSS program files can be moved from PSUVM using the ASCII FTP transfer method. However, SAS and SPSS system files must be converted to a moveable format on PSUVM first, before transferring them. See the article, "Moving Files From PSUVM to Your Macintosh or Windows Computer" at http://cac.psu.edu/vmcms/movefiles.html and "Migrating SAS from VM" at http://www.sas.psu.edu/seminars/vm2elsewhere.html . Transport or portable files must be created from SAS and SPSS system files on VM. SAS transport files must then be FTP'd in binary mode, and SPSS files in ASCII mode. EXECs are available on VM that create transport and portable files (PORTSAS and PORTSPSS). It is critical that the system files be handled before VM is discontinued, as these files must be processed on VM to make them transportable.
Other Statistical Programs: LIMDEP is available on the CAC
Solaris (Unix) server, armstrong.cac.psu.edu (see
http://cac.psu.edu/beatnic/biostat).
Other programs like Biomed may be purchased for the PC. Departments can
purchase other statistical programs such as SPLUS or SAS to run on Unix or NT
servers through the ILSD program (see http://www.sas.psu.edu/ilsd.shtml).
The CAC has purchased a 3490E tape drive that can read the various tape cartridges currently used on PSUVM. A 9-track tape drive has also been purchased that will read 1600 and 6250 bpi 9-track tapes. This drive cannot read 800 bpi tapes, but we haven't been able to read this style tape for several years. Both of these tape drives are attached to Unix systems at the CAC and procedures are being developed to provide access to data stored on tape.
DFS (Distributed File System) is a world-wide shared secure filesystem that provides private and/or shared file storage on central servers, and the same files can be accessed from any networked Windows NT or Unix (Solaris, Irix, HPUX, AIX, etc.) computer at Penn State. It is an enhanced replacement for the functionality of the PSUVM mainframe filesystem.
DFS is currently available on CAC Unix lab machines, and is site-licensed for Penn State departments and affiliated individuals. The Windows NT client can be downloaded from http://www.work.psu.edu/access/dce. Those wishing to access DFS from their Unix machines, however, should contact beatnic@cac.psu.edu or root@cac.psu.edu . Initial user allocation is 50MB of personal space. DFS also enables access to public software installed and maintained by the CAC, and facilitates use of the National Computing Grid, Internet2 applications, and collaboration with colleagues at remote campuses and other universities.
If you need assistance, please contact the CAC Help Desk by stopping by
215 Computer Building, by sending e-mail to helpdesk@psu.edu, or by calling (814)
863-2494. If you have questions about your VM/CMS account, contact the Computer
Accounts Office at accounts@psu.edu or
(814) 865-4772.
For more information about Education Technology Services and the
Faculty Technology Initiative,
please visit http://cac.psu.edu/ets, send e-mail toets@psu.edu, or call (814) 863-1654.
Six new Faculty Technology Initiative Projects have been accepted for support by Education Technology Services (ETS) at the Center for Academic Computing (CAC). Each new project idea was selected from proposals submitted to the 1999-2000 Faculty Technology Initiative program. This program encourages instructional effectiveness through the use of innovative teaching and learning technologies. The selected projects reflect the changing nature of general education courses and requirements at Penn State. The emphasis is on active learning that involves more writing, speaking, research and collaboration through the use of innovative technologies.
Course: Cable and New Technologies Administration (COMM 488)
Faculty: Dr. Anne Hoag, College of Communications, Penn State; Delphine Pouget and Dr. Thomas F. Baldwin, College of Communications, Michigan State University, East Lansing
This project will enable student teams from Michigan State and Penn State to work together in a computer environment that merges two Communications courses. By utilizing the E-Classroom (a Web-based, virtual learning community), students will have access to multiple resources and expert perspectives, while working collaboratively to solve telecommunications case problems. Thirteen industry professionals from major communications specialty areas will consult with students and faculty during the project.
Departments: Elementary and Secondary Science Education (Entomology/Engineering)
Faculty: Dr. Carla Zembal-Saul, Dr. Tom Dana, Department of Curriculum and Instruction
This project will enable participants to interact with a wide cross-section of science professionals, as they both develop and use the Virtual Science Education Community (V-SEC), an on-line learning resource for science educators. Recent graduates, science teachers, scientists, and engineers will participate in discussion forums and have the ability to share portfolios of lesson plans in the computer-based V-SEC environment. Participants will also learn to conceptualize lesson plans by utilizing the V-SEC.
Course: Introduction to Augmentative and Alternative Communication (CMDIS 451)
Faculty: Dr. Kathryn Drager, Barbara Roberts, M.S., Dept. of Communication Disorders
Because new, state-of-the-art communication devices are often expensive, Communication Disorder students at Penn State are not always able to gain practical experience with all of the tools used in the field today. The goal of this project is to develop interactive simulations of some of these communication devices, so that students can interact with the systems at their own pace and utilize their own learning styles. The proposed curriculum, therefore, will involve students accessing on-line text, graphics, photographs, and video clips that depict features of computer-based communication systems and demonstrate the use of augmentative and alternative communication devices by individuals with disabilities.
Course: Introduction to General Chemistry Laboratory (CHEM 14/15)
Faculty: Dr. Gita Sathianathan, Dr. Joe Keiser, Dept. of Chemistry
A Web site will be created for use in two introductory general chemistry courses to provide highly visual presentations of laboratory procedures and techniques. Web dissemination of equipment techniques will make the management of the chemistry labs more efficient and cost-effective, by reducing the assistance required to process the course materials and instructions.
Course: Contracts I Core 905
Faculty: Dr. Michael J. Navin, Dickinson School of Law
This project will involve the conceptualization of an on-line resource for first year law students that will help them develop "real world" critical thinking skills. A compilation of legal expertise and information about students' interaction with course materials will be available in the program to offer immediate on-line feedback regarding practical law problems. Through this process, it is believed, students will learn basic reasoning and analytical skills earlier in their legal education.
Penn State Erie, The Behrend College "Improving Cognitive Visualization with a Web-Based Interactive Assessment and Training Program"
Courses: Freshman Experience (PSU007), Mechanical Engineering Tech. (MET), Plastics Engineering Tech. (PLET), Introduction to Graphics and Solid Works (METBD 110), Introduction to Engineering Design (ED&G 100S)
Faculty: Dr. Dawn Blasko, Assistant Professor of Experimental Psychology, School of Humanities and Social Sciences, Kathryn Holliday-Darr, Instructor of Engineering Graphics, School of Engineering and Engineering Technology
The ability to visualize objects and situations in one's mind and to manipulate those images is a cognitive skill vital to many careers, especially visual arts and engineering. Research in the imagery field has shown that spatial skills can be improved by training. This project plans to develop a prototype Web-based tool that uses both empirical and theoretical understanding of human visual cognition to assess and provide training for individual student spatial skills.
The Center for Academic Computing (CAC) provides a large number and variety of training programs for the University community. During the fall semester, the CAC will offer 230 seminars in addition to providing users access to over sixty Web-based tutorials. We encourage faculty, staff, and students to visit the CAC training page on the Web at http://cac.psu.edu/training and become familiar with all of our training options.
The weekend and evening seminars are opportunities for faculty, staff, and students to learn basic topics such as Netscape, Eudora, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Web page design in an informal setting. No registration is required to attend these hands-on seminars. Seminars scheduled during week days require registration and cover a wide variety of computer related topics such as operating systems, databases, statistical analysis, advanced Web courses, technology for the class room, UNIX, video and animation. Weekend and evening open houses allow users to drop in for one-on-one assistance with any of the following topics: Netscape, Eudora, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, or Web pages. No registration is required to participate.
Go to the training Web page listed above to view details on all of the programs mentioned in this article. This site also includes valuable links to other on-line learning resources.
Faculty, staff, and students can hone their computer skills by accessing over sixty Web-based tutorials now available at Penn State. The new tutorials cover a wide variety of computer topics, and are designed to make it possible for users to learn computer skills at their convenience from any location, including office workstations, home computers, or University computer labs. The Web-based courses are self-paced and utilize hands-on exercises and software simulations to create an effective learning experience. Topics include Microsoft Office, Netscape Navigator, Internet Explorer, HTML, Web site development, and Microsoft Windows NT administration.
The on-line tutorials are easy to use and customized to meet individual training needs, according to staff members at the Center for Academic Computing (CAC), the unit responsible for setting up Penn State's access to the programs. These features have been selected to ensure that students, faculty, and staff members will be able to study independently at their own pace and choose topics specific to their educational goals. The CAC expects that many Penn State groups and organizations will make use of the new Internet-based resource.
To use the new Web-based resources, go to http://cac.psu.edu/training/ and click on the "Web-Based Training" link. The "Penn State Quick Tutorials" include topics such as Eudora e-mail and using a listserv. The "In-Depth Licensed Tutorials" include courses on Microsoft Office, HTML, and Windows NT administration.
If you teach at Penn State you may have had an experience that goes something like this: You and your colleagues are discussing some of the innovative techniques that can be used in the classroom to help stimulate student interest. Someone suggests that finding a way for students to feel less inhibited when they're discussing subject material with one another in class, would be a great improvement to the teaching/learning process. You begin to speculate about whether there could be a tool that enables students to anonymously talk with each other in an informal, but instructionally guided space. In this environment you envision language students could practice speaking French, Latin, or Chinese with one another; architecture students could offer tips to fellow classmates; and engineering students could exchange ideas and collaborate on team projects outside of the classroom . . .
Surprisingly, the tool you're imagining already exists and is one of many instructionally supportive technologies offered by WISH (Web Instructional Services Headquarters) at the Center for Academic Computing (CAC). WISH is a suite of services and tools that have been developed by CAC staff to help instructors enhance classroom learning strategies. As its name implies, WISH was created in response to faculty members' requests for hands-on technologies that could be used to stimulate student interest and increase learning in the classroom.
Instructors can find the real-life version of the conversation tool described above (CourseTalk) at http://projects.cac.psu.edu/ct/, thanks to the efforts of WISH staff members, who worked together to introduce the Web-based software last year. According to CAC instructional designer Karen Peters, CourseTalk has been designed to help personalize learning and strengthen students' involvement in class discussions, by making it possible for them to converse in an instructionally guided, computer environment.
In addition, CourseTalk's discussion modes are customized, so they can be used by instructors according to individual pedagogical needs. "Faculty can take advantage of several formats CourseTalk offers," said, Peters, "for instance, a Communications instructor recently used the 'Fishbowl' format to demonstrate to students how posing questions to individuals in different ways will elicit different kinds of responses. Other faculty have used specific electronic conversation modes to encourage group debates, survey their students, and manage team-oriented projects."
CourseTalk's popularity is increasing (67 faculty members and over 3,200 students have used CourseTalk just this semester alone). However, it's only one of the items in the growing collection of technologies available at WISH. Two other tools, CourseWeb and Quiz Wizard, for example, are specifically designed to help faculty save time. CourseWeb (http://www.courses.psu.edu/courseweb), an on-line template instructors can use like a word processor, enables instructors to design home pages for their courses, without having knowledge of HTML. With very little effort, instructors can use CourseWeb to set up class Web pages, on-line syllabi, assignments, policies, schedules, announcements and more. Instructors can also instantly hyper-link their home pages to other course related sites with the CourseWeb software.
Quiz Wizard, alternatively, is an easy-to-use, quizzing tool that makes it possible for instructors to create on-line quizzes (again with no knowledge of HTML). Senior programmer Linda Littleton explains that Quiz Wizard has been developed for instructors who want students to be able to practice in their spare time with "smart," interactive quizzes. "Quiz Wizard can also be used for informal testing in the classroom, depending on the instructor's needs," she notes. Faculty members can create multiple choice, true/false, short answer, check-all-that-apply quizzes, as well as mathematical equation quiz questions with the software. Pictures, digital media and other resources can also be integrated into the quizzes.
You can learn more about the above tools, as well as access information on setting up on-line conferencing, managing newsgroups and obtaining electronic class rosters at the WISH Web site: http://cac.psu.edu/wish/. If you have questions or suggestions, please contact ets@psu.edu.
The Center for Academic Computing will offer numerous seminars designed especially for faculty and teaching assistants during the Winter-Fest 2000 seminar program. Winter-Fest will be held January 3-7, 2000 and the seminar offerings during this week will include the following topics:
Information about the Winter-Fest and Spring 2000 seminars will be available from the CAC Training Services Web page (see http://cac.psu.edu/training).
Penn State faculty can now take advantage of computer and multimedia technology in the classroom. Many classrooms have technology permanently installed, while others are served by portable Thinkpad computers or by mobile technology carts including a computer, peripherals, and an LCD projector. All three types of classrooms have access to the University network and the Internet. Instructors can access World Wide Web servers anywhere, the CAC's computer lab software, computers in faculty offices, UNIX computers, and other Internet services.
Most of these classrooms are a direct outcome of the Penn State Technology Classroom Initiative, which aims to make information technology capabilities a stable and predictable part of the learning environment and to ensure faculty and student access to discipline-appropriate, information-age classrooms. CAC operates collaboratively with Media & Technology Support Services (M&TSS), Office of Telecommunications (OTC), and Office of Physical Plant (OPP), to carry out this mission. The University Committee on Instructional Facilities (UCIF) also provides support.
Technology classrooms offer a wide range of multimedia instructional technology. At University Park both Wintel and Macintosh computers are available in most of the large auditoriums and most technology classrooms with permanently installed equipment for instructor use, while some have only Wintel computers. In addition, all Wintel and Macintosh machines now have UNIX access via Exceed and MacX software.
Technology classrooms are equipped with multimedia computers with internal CD-ROM, ZIP drives,VHS VCR players, sound systems for the media and HELP telephones. Laser disk players may be available by request. For fall 1999, all instructors' teaching station computers have been upgraded. The MACs have G3 processors with at least 266 MHz, 128 MBs of RAM. The Wintel computers are Pentium III, at least 450 MHz, with 128 MBs of RAM. All computers have very large hard drives. Within the multimedia classrooms, the video and computer displays are connected to high resolution ceiling-mounted projectors. Projection resolution is standardized at 800x600, but the more powerful projectors in the auditoria and several classrooms have 1024x768 native resolution and a maximum of 1280x1024. All projectors will handle lower resolution levels such as 640x480.
By mid-fall 1999 semester, the second video-conferencing classroom will become available. The student seating stations in both of these technology classrooms have network ports and power so that students may use their own laptop computers. These are interactive video classrooms with broadcasting and receiving capabilities with remote interactive classroom sites and other appropriately equipped locations. There may be charges associated with the use of video transmissions to locations other than those within the Penn State system on the Penn State integrated backbone. Both videoconferencing technology classrooms also have multimedia Macintosh and Wintel computers for instructional use.
Large-class computer teaching labs have been significantly augmented. Willard room 64 opened in fall of 1998, with seating for 64 students. Two new innovative teaching labs were created in summer 1999: 111 Boucke, which seats 80 students; and 214 Boucke, which seats 82 students. These two labs have Wintel laptops in custom designed tables, plus similar teaching stations. The three teaching labs have ceiling mounted projectors. The Willard lab
Book review by Carol Dwyer
A Guide to Incorporating the World Wide Web in College Instruction
If you're a novice in using technologies, and perhaps conversations about computer use seem like they are in a foreign language, this book can remove the mystique. Writing in straightforward language, the authors clearly and concisely provide explanations of the most commonly used terms and techniques. Although you won't be fully 'wired' after reading it, it's a great first step. But be forewarned that, even though the title contains the word 'instruction,' there is very little in the book about instructional potential of the World Wide Web.
Since the book is a blend of topics history of computing, components of the Internet, how to create web pages, and issues related to distance learning you can choose what is most valuable to you. If you've never created web pages, I recommend that you read Chapters 3 and 4 without actually doing the exercises. After you understand the principles, you can go back and follow the steps. One caution: Although the authors provide clear steps for getting music from a CD and creating video from a videotape, they give no warning about potential copyright infringement.
The book has a companion web site http://www.nyupress.nyu.edu/professor.html/ although at this time, the instructional examples include only a small sampling of real instructional interaction. However, it's worth a few visits for additional tips and especially the live links to the resources mentioned in the book. To complement what you learn at these sources, you should go to a web site such as http://www.whatis.com.
The Wired Professor was written by Anne B. Keating with Joseph Hargitai and is published by New York University Press, 1999, 250 pp. Paperback version is ISBN 0-8147-4725-6 and costs about $25.
Faculty who want some leads about the support provided at Penn State for teaching can go to http://cac.psu.edu/ets/presentations/TeachingResources which has pointers to many local resources that support teaching. For example, you can use the CourseWeb "templates" to create a set of web pages without learning HTML. It's easy;