IT Services

Lebanon Valley College has made arrangements with Free Geek Penn of Ephrata to accept electronics for recycling at no charge from township residents, college students and employees on Tuesday, April 23, from 10am-1pm. Free Geek Penn's truck will be located on Sheridan Avenue near the Lynch Building. Look for the signs!

Free Geek Penn accepts:

Computer CPUs	Cell phones
Laptops	Stereos
Monitors (CRT & LCD)	LCD TVs
Printers (laser & ink jet)	MP3 players
DVD players	Games & game consoles
Cameras	Camcorders

Free Geek Penn does NOT accept:

Microwaves	Appliances
TVs (CRT)	Batteries

If you have any questions about whether an item is recyclable, please contact Free Geek Penn at 717-721-2494 or info@freegeekpenn.org, or email the college at computer-recycling@lvc.edu.

If you would like additional information about the PA DEP’s Covered Devices Recycling Act click here.

Energy, Computer Purchases and Discounts, Support and Training, Tips, Recycling recycling, employee, energy

Faculty and administrators:

With the start of a new academic year, we would like to remind those of you with laptop computers to take precautions to minimize the risk of loss or theft of the computer or the information it stores.

To safeguard your laptop computer, please follow these guidelines:

Physical Security - Keep the carrying case in hand whenever possible and never let the computer out of your sight when transporting it. When going through a security checkpoint be sure to keep the computer in close proximity to you.

Information Security - Store all college-related files on one of our servers where they are backed up at least once each weekday. If you need to store a college file on your laptop or a USB drive temporarily, be sure to move the file back to the server and delete it from the laptop at the next opportunity.

Confidential Files - College files that contain confidential, sensitive or private information should NEVER be stored on your computer or USB drive unless they are encrypted. Since early 2009, all Windows computers, including desktops, for employees, were delivered with an encrypted hard drive to protect data in the event of a loss or theft. If your computer's hard drive is not already encrypted, you can encrypt individual files using a password in Word and Excel. For more information go to http://www.lvc.edu/it-services/documents/confidential-files.aspx.

If you are unsure if your laptop has an encrypted hard drive, or if you have any questions or otherwise need assistance feel free to call the Help Desk at x6072 or 867-6072.

Sincerely,

IT Services

Remember to check out the IT Services Helpdesk and Solutions Center for technology articles, online resources, and training materials. You can also sign-up to be notified when new items are posted, or suggest a new topic.

Support and Training, Tips security, employees, how to, mobile devices

Lebanon Valley College has made arrangements with Free Geek Penn of Ephrata to accept electronics for recycling at no charge from township residents, college students and employees on Saturday, April 16, from 8am-1pm. Free Geek Penn's truck will be located in the first Red (westernmost) parking lot along Heisey Road before the football stadium. Look for the signs!

Free Geek Penn accepts:

Computer CPUs	Cell phones
Laptops	Stereos
Monitors (CRT & LCD)	LCD TVs
Printers (laser & ink jet)	MP3 players
Phones	Games & game consoles

Free Geek Penn does NOT accept:

Microwaves	Appliances
TVs (CRT)	Batteries

If you have any questions about whether an item is recyclable, please contact Free Geek Penn at 717-721-2494 or info@freegeekpenn.org, or email the college at computer-recycling@lvc.edu.

Energy, Computer Purchases and Discounts, Support and Training, Tips, Recycling recycling, employee, energy

Use Dynamic Data Exchange Dynamic Data Exchange (DDE) is available in Microsoft Windows for transferring data between applications.  It uses shared memory to exchange the data.  If you use other data transfer methods, you run into a problem: Data from the worksheet is transferred in the native format in which Excel stores it rather than with the formatting that you applied in the worksheet cells.

To choose DDE data transfer when you’re connecting to an Excel worksheet during a mail merge, all you have to do is select one check box in Word:

1. In MS Word, click on the File menu, click Options and then in Word Options, under the General section, toward the bottom of the screen, click the Advanced tab. 
2. Check the Confirm File Format Conversion on Open box then click OK.
3. At the step in the mail-merge process when you connect to your data file, after you locate the Excel worksheet, the Confirm Data Source dialog box opens. 
4. Click MS Excel Worksheets via DDE (*xlsx) and then click OK.
5. In the MS Excel dialog box, for Name or cell range, select the cell range or worksheet that contains the information you want to merge, and then click OK. 

The numbers from the Excel spreadsheet will now look exactly the same in your merged documents as they look in the worksheet cells.

Note:  It is probably a good idea to turn off the Confirm conversion at Open option after you finish your mail merge.  Otherwise, you will be prompted to confirm your data source all the time.  

Microsoft Office, Support and Training, Tips mail merge

This tip deals with one of the coolest tools in Microsoft Office 2007 and 2010:  the Format Painter.  The format painter in Word 2010 allows us to copy formatting that is applied to one piece of text and apply it to others. This article from brainstorminc.com makes it easy to learn how to use this handy tool.

http://www.brainstorminc.com/blog/brainstorm-blog/postid/63.aspx

Microsoft Office, Support and Training, Tips

Use an Excel chart to find the trends your're looking for.  The data within the chart is linked to your worksheet, so your chart automatically updates when you make changes to your worksheet. This article from brianstormin.com makes it easy to create a chart:

http://www.brainstorminc.com/blog/brainstorm-blog/postid/74.aspx

Microsoft Office, Support and Training, Tips excel

Susan Harkins

TechRepublic.com

February 28, 2011, 7:01 AM PST

Word offers a powerful sorting feature and it can do more than you might think, even sort paragraphs.Unlike Access and Excel, sorting doesn’t come naturally in Word. Fortunately, Word offers a robust sorting feature that can handle most needs - even the more creative ones! For instance, let’s suppose you have a document of paragraphs and you decide you want to rearrange the paragraphs. You might spend some time using cut and paste to move them around, but would it surprise you to learn that Word can sort them for you? Let’s rearrange the paragraphs in the document below.

First, determine the new order. In this case, I want the paragraphs in the following order: 

• First paragraph will be third.
• Second paragraph will be first.
• Third paragraph will be second.
• Fourth paragraph will be fifth.
• Fifth paragraph (not shown above) will be fourth.

That’s a lot of cutting and pasting and it’s a short document! Imagine how much more work a long document would be. Fortunately, Word’s sort feature can help. By putting a representative number at the beginning of each paragraph and then sorting by paragraph, Word will rearrange the paragraphs. Here’s how:

1.  First, add the representative numbers to the beginning of each paragraph.

2.  Highlight the text you want to sort.
3.  Click the Home tab. Then, click Sort in the Paragraph group.

4.  In the Sort Text dialog box, choose Paragraphs from the Sort By dropdown (it’s the default, you shouldn’t have to change it).

5.  Choose Text from the Type dropdown.

6.  Select an order—Ascending is the default. 

7.  Click OK and Word sorts the paragraphs by their preceding numbers.

After sorting, remove the numbers.

Microsoft Office, Support and Training, Tips

With the recent upgrade to Blackboard 9.1, we have noticed an increase in a problem with downloading files from Blackboard. Please see the information below and feel free to share with your students.

Symptom

In Blackboard, when clicking on a file to download, a new, blank “Starting Download” Internet Explorer (IE) page with a spinning icon pops ups but you do not see the file download begin and it appears the file download has failed.

Problem

A window requesting your credentials (username and password) is hidden by the blank “Starting Download” IE page. (This is referred to as a “pop under” window.)

Solution/Work Around (there are 2 options)

1. Minimize (do not cancel or close the “Starting Download” page;) enter your credentials in the “Windows Security” dialog box and click OK. Your File Download should begin.

2. Download the file by Right-clicking on the file link in Blackboard; choose “Save Target As…” from the pull-down menu; save to your local computer; and open the file.

Please feel free to share this information with your students and contact the Help Desk if you have any questions. (helpdesk@lvc.edu; 717.867.6072)

Blackboard, Support and Training, Tips blackboard, support

Thank you to everyone who participated in the Computer Workshop survey. Based on the results of the survey, prior to the start of the Spring semester, IT Services will be presenting a series of 1 – 2 hour mini-workshops in Lynch 189. This will give you the flexibility to decide what topics are most relevant for you.

Below is a schedule of days, times and topics. Choose to attend as many or as few as your schedule will permit. (Snacks and drinks will be provided throughout the day compliments of Human Resources.)

Tuesday 1/11	Application	Topics	Level
9:00 – 9:45	Outlook	How to Manage Your Email boxes in Outlook	Intro to Intermediate
		Learn how to use folders to organize messages; archive email; reduce the size of your email box; search email to find messages; set reminders
10:00 – 11:15	Outlook	Get Organized with Outlook Learn how to: schedule meetings; check free/busy time on calendars; schedule rooms; work with Distribution Lists; attach a Calendar to an e-mail message; work with Outlook’s workflow features and assign categories and set reminders/”ticklers.”	Intro to Intermediate
Wednesday 1/12	Application	Topics	Level
9:00 – 10:00	Word	10 Things You Should Know about Word 2010’s Mail Merge Tools Learn how to: merge information to create documents, e.g., letters, labels, envelopes, e-mails, etc. with data in an Excel spreadsheet.	Intermediate
10:15 – 11:15	Word	Forget Tabs; Tables are Your Friend in Word 2010 Learn how to: work with Word Tables. Create, format text and cells, e.g., shading, and modifying tables.	Intro to Intermediate
1:00 – 2:00	Word	Using Styles and Formatting Tricks in Word 2010 Learn how to: format text and work with lists, bulleted and numbered lists, tabs and indent. Using Styles and Format Painter to do the formatting for you.	Intro to Intermediate
2:15 – 3:15	Word	The Snipping Tool can Help Make Creating Documentation a Snap Learn how to: create documentation using screen captures and the Windows Snipping Tool.	Intermediate
Thursday 1/13	Application	Topics	Level
1:00 – 2:15	Excel	Excel Basics Learn how to: work with Formulas, Built-in Functions, Create and Revise Charts	Intro to Intermediate
2:30 – 4:00	Excel	Excel Data Analysis Learn how to: work with Pivot Tables to analyze large amounts of data; work with Lists; work with Data Tables and “What If” tools. Demonstration of advanced formulas using logical and search functions.	Intermediate to Advanced
Friday 1/14	Application	Topics	Level
8:30 – 9:30	Blackboard	Blackboard 9.1 – New Features Learn about the new features/tools in Version 9.1; Web 2.0 tools (e.g., Wikis, MashUps, NBC News Archives); organizing and adding content,	Intro to Intermediate
9:45 – 10:45	Blackboard	Blackboard 9.1 – Grade Center Grade Center. SmartViews	Intro to Intermediate
11:00 – 11:30	Blackboard	Turnitin Made Easy Learn how to: use TurnItIn to check the originality of students’ work. Using Assignments and TurnItIn assignments.	Intermediate
1:30 - ??		Computer Tips (aka, Tulli’s Tips) Come meet the experts (Donna, Todd and Nate) to ask any computer-related questions you may have in this open forum. What is malware? What malware scanner should I use? How do I organize my files? How do I set up my mobile device for LVC wireless and mail? And more!	Intro to Intermediate

The workshops will be conducted in Lynch 189. Please drop Donna Brickley (Brickley@lvc.edu) an email message listing the workshops you would like to attend.

Support and Training, Training ms office, training, how to

In the near future, the College will be upgrading to the latest release of Blackboard learning management system, (LMS) 9.1 with many new features and capabilities. If you would like to preview the changes and enhancements, you can get a free preview account by following this link: Blackboard - Upgrade Center: Get Familiar | Preview & Play.

Please feel free to contact me via email, zeigler@lvc.edu, or phone, 717.867.6072, if you have any questions. I would also be interested in your feedback.

Blackboard, Support and Training, Training blackboard, how to, tips