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Category: Communications

Andy Bennett to present “Developing Mobile Apps” at Teaching, Learning, and Technology Showcase March 13

K-State’s free Teaching, Learning, and Technology Showcase is 10 a.m.-1:30 p.m. Tuesday, March 13, in the K-State Student Union Ballroom. All faculty, staff, and administrators are welcome to attend. Pre-registration ends Friday, March 9, at ksushowcase.wordpress.com/registration

This is a Q&A with Andy Bennett, professor, Department of Mathematics.

What will your presentation for the Teaching, Learning, and Technology Showcase titled “Going Mobile: Developing Mobile Apps” cover?

I will discuss how to set up online materials that are mobile-friendly so that students can use them whether using traditional computers or mobile devices. This will include what doesn’t work well with mobile devices and what new tools are available for creating mobile-friendly materials. Most of this will be usable for materials listed on a website, but tools are available to then wrap such materials into an actual “app.”

Continue reading “Andy Bennett to present “Developing Mobile Apps” at Teaching, Learning, and Technology Showcase March 13″

“Communication, collaboration, and publishing” demos at technology showcase March 13

(Author’s note:  This is the fourth in a series about the faculty demonstrations scheduled for K-State’s technology showcase March 13. Information is excerpted from the complete list of faculty demonstrations on the ksushowcase.wordpress.com website.)  

The Teaching, Learning, and Technology Showcase is 10 a.m.-1:30 p.m. Tuesday, March 13, in the K-State Student Union Ballroom. All faculty/staff are invited to attend free and see demos, visit with vendors, and win prizes. Pre-registration is required at ksushowcase.wordpress.com/registration and closes March 9.


Communication, collaboration, and publishing are more important than ever in the age of technology.  These faculty demonstrations March 13 will show tools, techniques, strategies and resources to enhance information sharing and publication.

Using Digital Media for Collaborative Learning — See examples of tools and techniques for bringing the world to the classroom and the classroom to the world. Topics include writing for a global audience, new media literacy, the impact of digital media upon traditional education and the workplace, and online digital ethnographic research.

Using Flexbooks to Supplement/Replace the Traditional Textbook — Open educational resources (OER) provide free or lower cost alternatives to textbooks, where prices are increasing and students are slower to buy. This demo will show K-State’s  Human Nutrition (HN 400) Flexbook (goo.gl/vOAnR) made in Google Docs. Learn what the flexbook is, how it was developed, students’ perceptions of it, and see this recent article.

Continue reading ““Communication, collaboration, and publishing” demos at technology showcase March 13″

Registration open for free Adobe seminar March 12

Adobe representatives will be hosting a free seminar for K-State faculty/staff 2-4 p.m. Monday, March 12, in Room 212 of the K-State Student Union. The seminar is co-sponsored by K-State’s Information Technology Services. Scheduled topics:

  • 2-3 p.m. Adobe Acrobat.  Acrobat is more than just reading PDF files. Collaborate, create forms, record comments, apply security, and assemble documents into a single, branded eportfolio. Through a series of demonstrations and examples you’ll learn how easy it is to extend PDF documents for use in academia, IT, and administration.
  • 3-4 p.m. Going Mobile with Adobe Tools.  Learn how to use your InDesign skills to create content for iPads, Android tablets and epub. Explore Dreamweaver and Flash options for delivering content to multiple mobile devices.

Friday, March 9, is the registration deadline for this free event. Go to “Adobe Day for KSU” and register now to ensure you’re on the attendee list.

How to connect the Kindle Fire to the KSU Wireless network

With the recent rise in sales of Amazon’s Kindle Fire mobile tablet, the IT Help Desk has seen an increase in K-State customers wanting to connect the Fire to the KSU Wireless network.  In response, here’s the following steps to connect.

  1. Open Settings by clicking the gear icon in the upper right of the screen.
  2. Select the Wi-Fi option.
  3. Select KSU Wireless from the listed networks.  Continue reading “How to connect the Kindle Fire to the KSU Wireless network”

PressPausePlay, a documentary exploring creative democracy

Like no other time in history, we as a global society have been given the power to create, disseminate, and digest creative works that have escaped the old methods of creation and distribution. We have started to democratize how we create, share, and consume information and creative works.

The documentary “PressPausePlay” explores this era of democratized creation and explores the new creative landscape that is present and evolving, as well as examines the question of “Does democratized creativity cause ‘true talent’ to get lost in the noise of average?” The documentary can be viewed free via several different delivery methods, all of which are available at www.presspauseplay.com.

Stop! Yammer time!

Do you need a better way to collaborate with your co-workers or others across campus? Do you need a place where you can discuss projects you are working on?  Join this session to learn how Yammer, a free private social network, can help you.  All you need to get started is an @ksu.edu email address. The online 2-week class, sponsored by the Information Technology Assistance Center, begins Monday, Feb. 27. 

Continue reading “Stop! Yammer time!”

Faculty feedback needed on Cardwell 101, Bluemont 101 planned renovations

iTAC and the Division of Facilities are currently in the planning stage for room renovations and technology upgrades in the Bluemont 101 and Cardwell 101 lecture halls. These changes are scheduled (contingent upon funding) for summer 2012. We would like to take this opportunity to hear from faculty who are using or have used these rooms, and get input and feedback on what changes or improvements they would like to see.

We have put together an online survey for each room. These surveys are accessible from Thursday, Feb. 9, through Friday,  Feb. 17. Continue reading “Faculty feedback needed on Cardwell 101, Bluemont 101 planned renovations”

CHECK conference call for proposals extended to Feb. 10

(Editor’s note:  This information is from an email sent by the CHECK 2012 Committee. Members are listed at the bottom of this post.)

The deadline for submitting proposals for the CHECK 2012 conference has been extended to Feb. 10.  This is your chance to play an active role in CHECK 2012 by submitting a proposal on one of the many important IT topics in higher education. Information about proposal submission is below.

This annual Conference on Higher Education Computing in Kansas (CHECK) is scheduled Wednesday-Thursday, May 23-24, at Kansas State University, in the K-State Student Union on the Manhattan campus.

Continue reading “CHECK conference call for proposals extended to Feb. 10”

Audio/video conferencing services move from KRN/TELENET 2 to Information Technology Services

(Editor’s note:  This announcement from the Kansas Regents Network was originally posted in the Dec. 6, 2011, issue of K-State Today. It is reprinted here with slight editing and format changes.)

On Dec. 9, the Kansas Regents Network (KRN)/TELENET 2 will transition to a new organizational model. The Kansas Regents Network audio and video conferencing services, administered by the Division of Continuing Education, will be transferred to Information Technology Services.

  • The audio conferencing system will be run by Computing and Telecommunications Services out of East Stadium.
  • The name of the video conferencing network will change to Telenet/video conference services and will be managed by iTAC in Dole Hall.
  • The phone number to schedule audio and video calls will remain 785-532-5995.

The organizational transition is in response to the retirements of KRN/Telenet director Susan Barton and coordinator Sue White. Assistant Kay Ring is also retiring.

The Kansas Regents Network was established in 1970 as a distance learning network of sites to extend education programs to students across Kansas. Through the Kansas Regents Network, place-bound students, including teachers, librarians, nurses, law enforcement, and other professionals had the opportunity to attend university academic courses closer to their homes, first via audio conferencing, and since 1996, via audio and video conferencing.

“The mission of the Division of Continuing Education — to extend resources to learners who cannot attend classes at one of our campuses—has been fulfilled by these services,” said Sue Maes, the division’s dean. “For these 41 years of distance education delivery services, customer support and communication facilitation have been KRN priorities. The new homes for audio and video conferencing look forward to continuing this same service.”

More about KRN/Telenet services and scheduling can be found online at telenet2.org.

IT News blog starts up on 10-year newsletter anniversary

By Betsy Edwards

Ongoing demand from K-Staters for an IT-only news channel – since the IT newsletter ended July 8 – has given rise to a new IT News blog that officially starts this week. On a related note, this month is the 10-year milestone of the IT news channel that premiered in December 2001 at K-State.

The new blog adheres to K-State’s blog template plus a few design additions. News will be published more frequently, sometimes daily. Readers can once again find IT topics via the easy search box on the IT News homepage  – the blog archive includes all IT articles published since August 2008, including those via K-State Today since May.

Top headlines from the past week include:

IT deadlines will continued to be publicized through K-State Today. For more IT news and happenings, check out the new IT News blog.

(Editor’s note: Reprinted from K-State Today’s article published Dec. 15, 2011.)