Bits -N- Bytes of Fall 2004

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An Orientation to Technology @ Carlow is being used to orient students to the technology resources that are available to them at Carlow. Students are able to view PowerPoint presentations on such topics as Computing Policies, Computer Lab and Printing Resources, and using Web-based Email. Students take a quiz on each topic to demonstrate that they have learned the material in each section of the course.

A Lotus Notes Documentation online course is also available on Blackboard. PowerPoint lessons are available on using the various features of the new Email program on campus, including mail, calendar and to do lists.

A Blackboard Informational session was held on August 24^th. Dr. Mary Lou Bost (Nursing), Denise King (Information Systems Management) and Irene Lietz (English/Professional Writing) each gave a presentation on how they are using Blackboard in three very different ways in their courses. We hope to offer another Blackboard Informational session soon.

The Fall schedule of Blackboard Training Sessions offered for faculty begins in October.

Please contact Nola Coulson, Coordinator for Online Courses, at coulsonna@carlow.edu for more information about using Blackboard.

One of the largest projects of the summer is the switch from GroupWise email to Lotus Notes. In this article, we are going to attempt to address many of the common questions we've received about Lotus and provide some pointers to helpful resources.

Q: Why did Carlow decide to switch from GroupWise to Lotus?
A: Carlow decided to move away from the Novell operating system early this calendar year because it was very expensive, mis-configured, and it is hard to find experienced individuals to work on the system. GroupWise is a product that runs on the Novell operating system and because we are no longer using Novell, it became necessary for us to switch to a new email package. There were also other reasons, like the fact that GroupWise did not support Palm devices. A committee researched, which included faculty and staff, many email products, viewed demonstrations from three vendors, and settled on Lotus due to the extensive set of email features including easily accessible web based email, the calendar, to-do list, and on-line collaboration via chat.

Q: When will everyone be converted to Lotus?
A: Over the summer, all student email accounts were converted to Lotus. Students are able to learn about Lotus from the online blackboard Lotus class as well as the online Blackboard technology orientation class. For faculty and staff, 19 training sessions were held and there were 256 attendees! If you still need trained, you will be able to take the online Blackboard Lotus tutorial and then request to have your email converted. We are hoping to have all email accounts converted by October 15^th. After everyone is converted, some things will become easier, like emailing the large mailing lists. More on next page.