Great Tip on Creating a Secure Passphrase

Recently from ITCS

  1. First, make up a sentence you can remember.  For example: My dog, Sylvia, has a birthday January 14.
  2. Next, take the first letter of each word and…
    1. Make 1-2 letters upper case
    2. Make at least one letter a number
    3. Make at least one letter a special character such as, ! @ # $ % ^ & * ( ) = +
  3. The new passphrase:  Md$habJ1 (don’t use this one!).

Hacker programs crack your passphrase by trying every word in the dictionary and other tricks.  Here are a few things to avoid:

  • Never use personal information to create a passphrase.
  • Never use the word, password, as your passphrase.  This includes using numbers or special characters to make the word look different.
  • Never use easily-obtained, personal information such as license plate numbers, telephone numbers, etc., as part of your passphrase.
  • Never use any word contained in a dictionary, spelling list or other word list in any language.
  • Never use transformations such as reversing the spelling, changing upper case to lower case or using all caps.
  • Never select a passphrase that is common to everyone (Go@Pirates!).

For more information on passphrase security, please visit www.ecu.edu/itcs/ithelpdesk/passphrase.cfm.

Some simple things you may or may not know

So how can you control the computer without your mouse? Well firstly, the easiest thing to do is use the ALT key and the ATL + TAB key combo. ALT + TAB lets you switch between programs and just pressing the ALT key on your keyboard focuses onto the menu options, such as File, Edit, etc.

The right-click keyboard shortcut is to hold down SHIFT and then press F10. That’s one of my favorite keyboard shortcuts because it comes in VERY handy and sometimes it’s actually easier to use the keyboard than the mouse.

There are some other handy Windows keyboard shortcuts that you should know in case you are stuck in a bad situation:

CTRL+ESC: Opens the Start menu (then use ARROW keys to select an item)

ALT+DOWN ARROW: Opens a drop-down list box

ALT+F4: Closes the current program window

ALT+ENTER: Open the properties for the selected object

from http://www.online-tech-tips.com/computer-tips/right-click-keyboard-shortcut/ 

 

Think about the Think-In!

Stop by, OET has a poster and see what your colleagues are up to, great ideas to share and investigate!

Think-In 2015 – Joyner Library – March 18th

9:00 am to 12:00 pm

 Student engagement…Universal Design for Learning…active learning

global communities…lecture capture…learning communities…STEM…faculty development…and more

Visit the Think-In 2015 website to view the full program.  We look forward to seeing you on March 18th!

Crash Plan!!! Answer these questions!

Went to the IRCC meeting this morning and one of the speakers was Brent Zimmer who talked about “Crash Plan Backup”.  Take a moment and answer the following questions:

Do you backup your data on a USB stick or external drive?

Do you have more than 50 G of data you need backed up?

Is this data “critical” to your operations?

Is this data on your office computer’s hard drive”

If you answered Yes to any of the above then I suggest you explore “Crash Plan” backup.  Available across platforms, on up to 4 devices and the license is only $79 per year.  Unlimited space available, continuous backup of your device so if you create something in the morning, delete in the afternoon you can recover that evening!  

Want to know more?  Contact OET or click here.

Where was that again?

Here is a tip to share with your students who are viewing Mediasite Recordings if they have a question about something in the lecture they can click on the “ask a question” icon below the content window and it will open a dialog box and time stamp at what point the student is questioning and the student can then send to you with their question

In desktop recordings students can click on the search button and type in a word or phrase and a list of where it appears.  Contact OET for more information.

And Grammie here needs to brag again, welcome Eli born February 7!

IMG_4232

How do you “feedback”

Typing on the paper and submitting it to BB?  Writing on the paper and handing it back to students?  Do they read the comments?  What about sending them “video” feedback.  With MDR (mediasite desktop recorder) you could send feedback that students could watch and listen, check out this article on “video feedback“.

Contact OET to learn more!

Remember clickers?

I haven’t posted about this neat tool for the classroom but was just catching up on some articles and found some good pointers for using them this is from i-clicker blog here are some thoughts on how they can be helpful in your class!

“Increased the chance students did the required reading

  1. Helped the instructor engage all students
  2. Gave students a focused opportunity to share their thinking and to learn from their peers

Another study . . . found the following additional benefits:

  1. The class became more active and vibrant
  2. Students became less passive
  3. Absenteeism was reduced
  4. Students seemed to like the addition of clickers
  5. More students were able to share their ideas with the whole class, promoting an emphasis on explaining and listening to reasoning. Students were also better able to hear their classmates.”

They are just sitting in my office cabinet why not try them out?

Catching Up!

So much going on so many emails.  I even missed sending last week’s blog so will do double duty today!

First here is a neat slide show on Disruptive Technologies 2015-2106 will give you something to think about.

Now if you have missed the recent posts from ECU Learning Technologies Digest let me just highlight some of the postings!

Classroom Selection for Summer and Fall 2015: New Options

As you consider your future classroom technology needs, here is a description of some of the equipment you will find in the classrooms across campus. New options include AirMedia, which allows you to present wirelessly from any device, Desktop Recording with MDR or Tegrity, and Video Conference using Saba or Jabber. Visit the Classroom Technology Database for even more options and to see the complete list of equipment offerings per room.

Read more