Office of Educational Technology
February 2019 OET Newsletter
Microsoft Technology Event on May 7
Microsoft, along with OET, the Center for Disabilities Studies, the Office of Disability Support Services, and IT, invite you to a free event on May 7, 2019, from 8:00 a.m. to noon, to explore accessibility features in Microsoft products. Registration is available now.
Join us for a keynote by Rich Langford, Microsoft Director of US Education Strategy, followed by three concurrent sessions offered throughout the morning. In his keynote, entitled Pathway to Equity, Mr. Langford will address accessibility, inclusion, diversity, and equity.
Concurrent Sessions will include the following:
Creating Accessible Documents in Office 365 – Learn about the native and intuitive tools built into Modern Windows and Office Products. You will understand Microsoft’s universal design for learning of all learners, and identify ways to reduce costs from third-party products.
Operating System Accessibility Tools – Learn how to customize your device to support individual learning needs using Windows 10, which brings meaningful innovation to all people, whether you have a disability, a personal preference, or a unique work style. With a robust set of built-in and third-party accessibility features, Windows 10 lets you choose how to interact with your screen, express ideas, and get work done.
7 Steps to Make Learning More Accessible – In today’s multi-ability classroom, a teacher must meet the needs of all students including English Language Learners, students with reading disabilities, and even gifted students. Microsoft’s accessibility options, built into its core products, extend beyond just the ability to provide digital resources for students. In this session, you will experience how free tools like Immersive Reader, Office Lens, Microsoft Translator, and others make it easy to provide learning materials that are accessible for all students.
A continental breakfast will be served. Further information on the conference is available on OET’s site.
macOS Mojave approved for CEHD Macs
If you use a Mac, you can now safely upgrade to macOS Mojave (version 10.14). We had advised clients to wait to upgrade, primarily due to previous incompatibilities with Cylance, required anti-malware for CEHD Macintosh systems. These issues have since been resolved. If you have not updated your other software recently, we recommend that you update all your software, before you upgrade to Mojave. The Mojave upgrade is available for mid-2012 or newer Macintoshes.
The Mojave operating system has additional features beyond the security changes that may interest you, including the following:
- Dark Mode for the entire system, with a darker color palette for all menus and windows
- Dynamic desktop that changes background, according to the time of day
- Desktop Stacks to collate documents stored on the desktop by type, date, or other categories to clean up the used space
- Screenshot markups that allow editing of screenshots before you save them to disk or add them to a document
If you have questions about the update or need installation assistance, contact OET.
Gutenberg is New WordPress Editor
At the end of 2018, WordPress released version, 5.0. The biggest change in this release was a new page editor named Gutenberg. It was adopted as the main editor to provide you with a more modern editing experience. More visual than the old editor, it organizes your page into blocks that you can be further divide into rows and columns. Our most recent themes have used the Toolset group of plugins, to provide a similar editing experience. The Toolset plugin system is fully compatible with WordPress 5.0.
WordPress 5.0 has been out for a few months, and it has received several updates to improve performance and security. We plan to update sites to version 5.0 in March. In order to provide a smoother transition, we will install the classic editor as a plugin and set it to be the default editor. Your day-to-day use of WordPress will appear the same as it always had. You will have the option of switching to the new Gutenberg editor via a simple link on the editing page, if you would like to experiment and get used to the new editor. If you have any questions about WordPress and the new editor, contact OET.
Secure UD Training
The 2019 Secure UD training will become available the week of March 4th and will feature training modules in a new, host-led format. Secure UD offers training modules that prepare you to identify and avoid cybersecurity risks. If you haven’t completed Phase II of the 2018 Secure UD training, you can do so through March 1, 2019.
Supervisors can request Secure UD completion reports for your unit by emailing secadmin@udel.edu.
Avoiding Phishing Threats
During the past two months, several CEHD faculty and staff have received targeted spear phishing email messages. In an effort to protect the University’s cyber resources and your personal information, we are collaborating with UD Information Technologies (UD IT) to increase campus-wide awareness of an emerging cyber threat—phishing emails impersonating University officials.
In this type of cyberattack, scammers send an email that appears to come from a University official, for example, a president, dean, chairperson, or other position, in an attempt to commit fraud by persuading you to purchase gift cards, initiate payments or wire transfers, or divulge sensitive information.
While it is not an absolute guarantee that an email is legitimate, official communications should always come from an email address ending in “@udel.edu.” To verify the legitimacy of any email, contact the alleged sender through a verifiable method such as an @udel.edu email address or by phone.
To avoid these types of phishing scams, please observe the following email best practices:
Always inspect the sender’s email address. Scammers commonly use fake email addresses that look similar to our “@udel.edu” domain or existing UDelNet IDs. Be wary of email messages received from non-University email domains that request money, gift cards, wire transfers or other sensitive information.
Don’t feel pressured by a sense of urgency. Scammers will often ask you to send gift cards or money immediately, stating that they are busy or in a meeting, and cannot do it themselves. Often these phishing emails use phrases like “Are you available?” or “Are you on campus?” or “I need your help on something very important right away”.
Contact the alleged sender through a verifiable method. For example, use the UD Directory to find the sender’s phone number to call and independently verify the request.
Do not click on links or download attachments from senders that you do not recognize. Be especially wary of .zip or other compressed or executable file type attachments.
If you receive a suspicious email, please do not respond. Instead, forward the email to IT’s reportaphish@udel.edu or to OET and we will help you assess its legitimacy.
To learn more about the University’s comprehensive approach to computer and information security, including security awareness and phishing training, visit the Secure UD website.