Using Google Docs for Collaboration

Google is making word processing, spreadsheet and presentation software available for free on the web. This suite of software is called Google Docs. These products are not as full-featured as products in Microsoft's Office suite, but many times a person does not need the advanced features. Since documents created in Google Docs are stored on a Google server, one may access them from any web browser.

Collaboration
One of the best features of Google Docs is the ability to collaborate with others. Multiple people can work on the same document (including spreadsheets and presentations). They may even work on the document simultaneously. Documents remain private or shared with collaborators as one chooses. Should a person wish to publish a document to the web it is an easy task.

I have had my students use Google Docs for a couple of class projects and it seems to work well. I also used a table to collect information from a group of administrators. To invite others as collaborators one simply sends them an invitation from a form within a document.

Google Docs is part of large number of applications that Google has made available for free. The Educause Learning Initiative wrote an overview of educational uses of these applications in March as part of their "7 Things You Should Know about..." series.

I encourage you to take a look at Google Docs and let me know if you have found them to be useful for any of your projects.

Bring TED Into Your Classroom

Some of you are thinking "If you think I'm going to bring the President (Ted Long) in my classroom, you're crazy!" I'm writing about the website http://ted.com. It is the most stimulating website I have found. According to the site:

“TED stands for Technology, Entertainment, Design. It started out (in 1984) as a conference bringing together people from those three worlds. Since then its scope has become ever broader. The annual conference now brings together the world's most fascinating thinkers and doers, who are challenged to give the talk of their lives (in 18 minutes).

“This site makes the best talks and performances from TED available to the public, for free. Almost 200 talks from our archive are now available, with more added each week. These videos are released under a Creative Commons license, so they can be freely shared and reposted.

“Today, TED is therefore best thought of as a global community. It's a community welcoming people from every discipline and culture who have just two things in common: they seek a deeper understanding of the world, and they hope to turn that understanding into a better future for us all.”

You will find talks like the one given by Sir Ken Robinson: Do schools kill creativity?; or a riveting talk by brain scientist Jill Bolte Taylor: My stroke of insight about how she “studied her own stroke as it happened.”

The talks are organized by themes including “How the Mind Works” or “Is There a God?” or any of these other themes.

This is a fantastic website and faculty will find great videos to stimulate class discussion.

Who Owns TED?

“TED is owned by The Sapling Foundation, a private nonprofit foundation, a 501(c)3 organization under US tax code. It was established in 1996 by Chris Anderson, who was at that time a magazine publishing entrepreneur.

The goal of the foundation is to foster the spread of great ideas. It aims to provide a platform for the world's smartest thinkers, greatest visionaries and most-inspiring teachers, so that millions of people can gain a better understanding of the biggest issues faced by the world, and a desire to help create a better future. Core to this goal is a belief that there is no greater force for changing the world than a powerful idea.”

Take Another Look at Wikipedia

Many people put down Wikipedia without really knowing much about how the articles are written. I encourage faculty and students to learn a little more about how Wikipedia articles are written and I present you with three references to assist you in this journey.

Read this blog post from the Association of College and Research Libraries.

Look at 7 things you should know about Wikipedia from the EDUCAUSE Learning Initiative.

If you are still intrigued I encourage you to view this 20 minute video by Jimmy Wales, the founder of Wikipedia.

Fixing Internet Explorer Heartaches

Surfing the web is undoubtedly the most common use of the Internet, so when your Internet Browser starts acting a little funky, it can be very frustrating. Recently here at Elizabethtown College various people have reported that our new Anti-Spyware Protection, Webroot, is 'breaking' their Internet. It seems to be prevalent mainly amongst Dell users, and I think I know the reason for it, although I will spare you all the techie hoopla. Regardless, the fix for this problem is relatively easy AND can be used for most instances when Internet Explorer runs into other problems, such as a pesky toolbar or relentless Pop-ups. The following steps will return IE7 back to it's original settings:

Step 1: Restart your computer (It really IS our favorite thing to do.)

Step 2: When Windows completely loads, make sure that there are no actively open instances of Internet Explorer 7. Then, go to Start -> Control Panel -> Internet Options.

Step 3: In the Internet Options window, there are a number of Tabs along the top; Select the 'Advanced' Tab.

Step 4: At the bottom of this tab, press the button that reads 'Reset...' A little message box will appear, explaining that it is resetting your IE7 settings back to the defaults.

Step 5: When it is completed, it may ask you to restart IE7, but just for safe measures, let's restart the whole computer again. : )

Congratulations, you just fixed the problem, and about 60% of other issues that you may have, or will have in the future, concerning IE7!!!

ITS Deploying New Anti-Spyware Solution

ITS is currently in the process of rolling out a new Anti-Spyware software solution. This new software will allow a centralized management interface for ITS to monitor and prevent malicious and tracking-based software from being installed on client computers. Spyware is quickly becoming as prevalent and in some ways as unsafe as viruses, so it is important that we take as many proactive steps now to keep this new threat to computing from spreading throughout our network.

The software comes from Webroot, Inc. which has over the years implemented many Anti-Spyware and Anti-Virus solutions. It effectively blocks the launching of malicious executables that install hidden programs that can spy on the user, steal information, or run other viral code (such as the most recent Instant Messenger worm that can potentially control vulnerable machines). Their “Spy Sweeper” product has become “Webroot Anti-Spyware,” of which we will be running the Corporate Edition. For more information on Webroot and their products please visit http://www.webroot.com/.

For college-owned machines, you need to do nothing. It will automatically install the next time you restart your machine. After it is installed you will see this icon in your system tray:

No other interaction is required to install or configure the software. ITS is rolling out this software over the course of several months to different groups of computers and departments. Currently only a small subset of computers will see the software installed.


As always, ITS strives to make the user experience unchanged as much as possible with updates like this. The only noticeable performance difference you might see is if the program runs a background scan while you are working. These scans are scheduled to occur overnight and will only run during the day if your machine is off at night. ITS recommends to leave workstations on overnight during the work week so that updates and scans like this can install and run without any interruption to the user.

Please notify the Client Services department (helpdesk@etown.edu) if you have any questions or concerns.

Blogs for Higher Education Professionals

Are you reading blogs? Do you subscribe to them and read them in a news reader? This is an effiicient method of keeping up with the information that is published each day in our fields. For general news on higher education I would recommend subscribing to some of the blogs being published by the Chronicle of Higher Education. One could also check one of several blogs maintained by Inside Higher Education or subscribe to news feeds from their homepage. (It should be noted that the word "subscribe" is used but there are no charges.)

In addition to these generic higher education blogs, many of the professional organization now have blogs. The American History Association has a blog and the American Mathematical Society has a list of Math Blogs on the Internet.

If you happen to have a newer model cell phone with web services, I recommend getting Google Reader for your cell phone. You can keep up while waiting in line or at other times when you have a few minutes to spare.

Do you have your own blog that you 'd like to share with us? Let us know good blogs that you've found to keep up in your field.

Overlay Outlook 2007 Calendars

If you keep track of several calendars, and I’ve seen people who track 9 calendars besides their own; it would be nice to see all the appointments merged into one calendar. Outlook 2007 can do this, in a manner similar to Google Calendar.
Here’s how:
Change to Calendar view
Select more than one calendar in the list.

All calendars are displayed side by side.

Point and click the teeny arrow next to one of the calendar tabs.

The calendars are overlaid one on top of another.
The calendar that is active (the one you clicked) displays visually highlighted appointments.

Click the teeny arrow icon again to display calendars side by side.