November 2019

Holiday Hours and a Temporary Move

map of Academic Commons to Jonas Clark

Winter break will be a busy time for many departments around Clark, including in the Academic Commons where we’re getting new carpet! As a result, the Help Desk will be making a temporary move over to Media Services on the lower floor of Jonas Clark (as seen in the map.)

We’ll still be here to help though, at the date, times and locations outlined below and at

1-508-793-7745
helpdesk@clarku.edu

ITS hopes that the Winter Break will be as relaxing, or exciting, or productive as you want it to be, and we’re looking forward to continuing to be a trusted partner with you in 2020.

Date	Time	Location
Thursday, December 19th	8am – 5pm	Media Services
Friday, December 20th	8am – 5pm	Media Services
Monday, December 23rd	8am – 5pm	Media Services
Thursday, December 26th	12pm – 5pm	Media Services
Friday, December 27th	12pm – 5pm	Media Services
Monday, December 30th	12pm – 5pm	Media Services
Thursday, January 2nd	9am – 5pm	Academic Commons
Friday, January 3rd	9am – 5pm	Academic Commons
Monday, January 6th – Friday, January 10th	8am – 5pm	Academic Commons
Sunday, January 12th	12pm – 2am	Academic Commons

Get to Know Us, November 2019

ITS Gift Guide – 2019

As Black Friday and gift-giving holidays approach, the ITS team have come together to share our geekiness with the campus!

While you’re looking to find the best technology deals and gifts, we thought we’d highlight the fun techy things, or super-geeky gadgets that we’ve bought this year or have on our holiday Wish Lists.

If you still have questions about your technology purchases after reading through our recommendations, give us a call! Click here to contact us.

Amazon Fire Kids

For the kids, or clumsy people, in your life

Submitted by Joe Kalinowski, Interim CIO

“Little kids love tech too, and we love Amazon Fires for Kids. They’re especially nice because they’re much cheaper than other tablets, they come with a guarantee for two years for uh-oh’s, and they come with a year of FreeTime which is a set of tools that help you manage content your kids can see and time they spend on the device.”

Click here to learn more about the Amazon Fire for Kids

Blackout Buddy

For the Scouts in your life who are always prepared

Submitted by Justin Brooks, Manager of Endpoint Systems

“American Red Cross Blackout Buddy Charge Emergency LED Flashlight, Blackout Alert, Nightlight & Phone Charger is a device which has an internal battery that charges while plugged in; when the power goes out the flashlight turns on to serve as an emergency light and the battery can be used to charge a device via USB for emergency power.”

Click here to learn more about the Blackout Buddy

Ember Smart Mug

For the busy coffee lover in your life

Submitted by Nicholas Blank, Senior Business/Data Analyst with AIS

“My wife got me an Ember Smart Mug and it’s a truly wonderful gadget. It’s a nice looking mug with a heating element in the bottom and a Bluetooth connection to your phone so you can set your coffee to the temperature you like and it actually stays that temperature until the last sip. The charger even looks like a nice matching saucer. If possible, I now look forward to my morning coffee EVEN MORE.”

Click here to learn more about Ember Smart Mugs

Overcooked

For the perfect couples in your life

Submitted by Joanne Dolan, Director for Academic Technology and Client Support

“Overcooked is a couch co-operative game that will test the best of relationships! You need to work together to run a kitchen with lots of moving parts, including moving workspaces, powercuts and fires. When my husband and I play there’s lots of panicking, shouting orders, blaming each other and laughing – but we still like each other at the end! Available on Steam for Windows 10 and Mac, Xbox, PlayStation, and Switch”

Click here to learn more about Overcooked

Fitfort Sunrise Clock

For the Daylight Savings hater in your life

Submitted by Sharon Griffin-Edson, Help Desk Supervisor

“I hate waking up in the dark, so I bought this alarm clock that simulates a natural sunrise, and so far I’m loving it!”

Click here to learn more about Sunrise Alarm Clocks

Dji Spark Drone

For the Big Brother/photographer in your life

Submitted by Becky Frieden, Director of Administrative Information Services

“I bought my husband the Dji Spark Drone last year. He loves it – the camera takes amazing photos.”

Click here to learn more about Dji Spark Drones

Get to Know Us, November 2019

Get to Know Us: Joe Kalinowski

Joe Kalinowski

Joe is currently the Interim CIO & Assistant Vice President for IT. In this role, he ensures that the Clark community has the support they need to best utilize data and technology to accomplish their goals.

He has been at Clark for almost 14 years where he has led initiatives to strengthen the reliability and resilience of our IT infrastructure, minimize our risk around information security, improve user interactions with IT, and has been an adjunct faculty member in GSOM since 2016. Prior to Clark, Joe was at WPI for almost a decade focused on academic technology. Joe has earned his CISSP, a B.S. in Computer Science from WPI, and an MBA from Clark University. In a prior life Joe was also the technical director for a local theater company that produced summer community theater at local high schools and the now closed Foothills Theater (where the Unum building is downtown today).

Talking with students, parents, and the community about Clark is one of Joe’s favorite parts of the job. Hearing a story about the impact of Clark helps put the daily work we do into perspective.

Joe was born and raised in Holden where he still lives today with his wife Tara and two sons, John and Andrew. It wouldn’t be uncommon to find Joe outside of the office coaching Little League baseball, doing something that loosely resembles golfing, or visiting a Disney park. However you will always find Joe at Ocean Beach Park Polka Days at the end of June.

Interested in asking Joe more about how IT can help you meet your department’s goals or his best Polka moves? Click here to find his contact information.

“Get to Know Us” is a recurring column that introduces and highlights ITS staff members.

November 2019, Teaching with Technology, Tips and Tricks

Finals are coming …

As the end of the semester is approaching, technology can either be your friend, or foe. Here are some quick tips for students and faculty on how to ‘tame the tech’.

Students

Backup your work

The last thing you need as finals approach is to lose a semester’s worth of work if your computer has an issue. Backup your work regularly on your favorite cloud provider. Don’t forget that you have access to 1TB of storage in OneDrive with your Clark account.

Check your work and your dates

Using Moodle (if available) and your syllabi, double-check that all of the work that you’ve completed has been correctly submitted and received. Additionally check all your upcoming due dates so that you don’t miss something important.

Don’t leave Technology until the last minute

If your final assignment involves technology, don’t leave it until the last minute. Install and try out any new software now so you can focus on the content in the last couple of weeks instead of working out new tech.

For example, if you’re doing a poster presentation, check out our poster printing guidelines early so that you don’t waste time creating a poster in the wrong dimensions. Or, if you’re doing an in-class presentation, make sure that your presentation software will work well in the classroom.

Faculty

Get a Gradebook Check-up

The Moodle gradebook is great, but it can get complicated. As you start your final grading, feel free to email or call your Academic Technologist so that we can run a quick check on your gradebook. We’ll make sure it’s calculating correctly and you’re comfortable with how the students are viewing grades. We can usually do that in about 10 minutes. Click here to find your Academic Technologist

Submit your Grades

First time submitting grades, or just need a refresher? Check out this handy guide from the Registrar’s Office on how to finalize your courses for the semester.

Think about Spring

While we hope you get to have a relaxing and/or productive Winter Break, remember that ITS staff, including Academic Technologists and the Help Desk are available on campus for much of the break. So as you begin thinking about those Spring courses, please don’t hesitate to reach out to us and let us know how we can help.

Announcement, November 2019

Say Goodbye to Windows 7

Windows 7 Logo

Nothing lasts forever, and Windows 7 is no exception. Microsoft will stop providing critical updates to Windows 7 on January 14th, 2020. Without critical updates, Windows 7 will quickly become a vulnerable target for electronic attack.

To protect the security of your computer and data, and Clark’s shared computing resources, Windows 7 computers should be upgraded to Windows 10 for the start of the Spring Semester (January 13th, 2020).

Students

If you’re still using a personally-owned Windows 7 machine, you should plan on upgrading before returning to campus for the Spring Semester. You should check that your computer can support Windows 10 and then if so, order a single free copy of Windows 10, by visiting and logging into our Software Purchasing page.

Faculty and Staff

If you’re using a campus-provided machine with Windows 7, you should have received communication from the Help Desk on what your options are. If you’re unsure on what those are, give the Help Desk a call at 508-793-7745 or drop us an email at helpdesk@clarku.edu

If you bring a personal Windows 7 machine to campus, you should plan on upgrading before returning to campus for the Spring Semester. You should check that your computer can support Windows 10 and then if so, order a single low-cost Windows 10 download, by visiting and logging into our Software Purchasing page.