Office of Educational Technology
September 2016 OET Newsletter
A New Life for Old Computers
Computers destined for the surplus pile have found new life thanks to the work of James Bonds of BoardRoom Presentations. As a result of his free computer challenge program, parents of students in Wilmington’s priority schools, have learned to use the Internet to support their child’s classroom learning.
For the last six months, OET has worked with James to give him computers that are slower by today’s standards or that have minor flaws such as a missing key on the keyboard. These computers could not be reasonably redeployed in the College without the purchase of additional memory or other components; they would otherwise head to University surplus. In turn, James’ technical team rejuvenates these computers that no longer contain any data, installing the operating system and other components.
To receive a computer, parents must complete a pre- and post-assessment survey and complete five 90-minute training sessions followed by a certificate ceremony. The sessions include information on computer hardware and software maintenance, virus protection, search engines, and digital citizenship. In talking with James, you quickly realize the success of the program through James’ many accounts of the empowerment it gives to the dedicated parents who attend.
One parent remarked, “This levels the playing field for everybody. It gives everybody a fair chance to succeed.”
Secure UD Training Phase Three Available Next Week
In preparation of National Cybersecurity Awareness Month this October, IT will release phase three of Secure UD Training. The training consists of a series of short videos on how to protect your data.
You will receive an email from noreply@securingthehuman.org, once phase three of the training becomes available. This also is the email address used to distribute Certificates of Completion for the module.
If you want to access modules one or two after three is released, you may request access by completing the module request form or by contacting the IT Support Center. Otherwise, access to the previous modules will go away.
You can log into the Secure UD website or read the UDaily article for further information. If you have questions, please contact OET.
Are You Smarter than Your College Student?
The Office of Educational Technology will team up with The College School on Saturday, October 8, to present CEHD’s Are You Smarter than Your College Student, a Parents and Family Weekend Trivia Game. Students will pit wits against parents in this faced-paced question and answer game using Kahoot! Questions will focus on the CEHD curriculum and University life. If you have a question you’d like to contribute (and the answer), contact OET.
UDETC Set for March 4
The Office of Educational Technology, the Education Resource Center, and The College School will host the fourth University of Delaware Educational Technology Conference (UDETC) for PreK-20 educators Saturday, March 4, 2017. The keynote for the day is Leslie Fisher, director of Fisher Technologies, and a nationally-known expert in the educational technology field.
To register to present or attend, visit UDETC’s website. Registration is free for presenters. We hope that you will join us in what promises to be a fast-paced day of learning!
Educational App of the Month: EDpuzzle
EDpuzzle is an educational tool that allows you to edit and share videos with your class. Within the app, you can select videos from YouTube, Kahn Academy, National Geographic and more or upload your own. Then you can edit the video’s length, embed questions within it to check student understanding, and record your voice. If you assign your students the video, analytics will show you if it was watched and what score they received on the questions. EDpuzzle is free for teachers and students on the web and is available on iOS for students.
3-D Engineering Task Force
The College of Engineering has announced a 3-D task force on additive manufacturing (3-D printing) and digital design to facilitate education and collaboration on these topics. Organizers anticipate creating strong industrial ties in these areas. If you have an interest in research on 3-D printing or if you are a heavy user of digital techniques in your work, contact Mark Mirotznik, electrical and computer engineering, or Debora Massouda, engineering, for more information.
Change Your Yahoo Password
Yahoo confirmed this week that their systems were breached in 2014, resulting in account information for “at least” 500 million accounts—that’s more than the population of the entire United States. The information taken varies among accounts, but includes passwords for all accounts, and in some cases, birth dates and security questions and answers. It is very important for everyone with a Yahoo account to change all of their login information for this site, but it is also important for everyone affected to change passwords and security questions and answers on other sites where they use the same username and password combination.