CU, Do You Know?

Google Documents to Google Drive

2012-09-07T08:00:00.000-05:00

If you have a regular Google account, you may have already noticed that your Google docs link now is labeled Google Drive. With the renaming, comes new features! Basically, you can store any file you want in your Google Drive now. Uploads sound recordings, video, pictures, and even Photoshop files.

For a quick overview, you can see the video at http://drive.google.com.

However, that's just the tip of the iceberg. You can also set up a drive on your PC and it will automatically keep files in that drive synced online. Basically, that means you can work on your files in Word or whatever program at home and save them to your Google Drive. Then head to Cameron and in between your classes, you login to Google at https://docs.cameron.edu and your files are already there. No more keeping up with a thumb drive.

Login to your Cameron gmail account, then follow the link at http://drive.google.com and click on the link to try it out. To begin with, your Google docs interface will be renamed to Google Drive. However, you'll also have a link to "Download Google Drive" on the bottom left of your menu.

On your home PC
Click on the link. You will be prompted to Accept and Install Google Drive. Google Drive Installer will run for about a minute before saying "Thanks for installing Google Drive" and you can click Close.

Once you have Google Drive installed on your computer, you will have a My Drive folder inside of your My Documents folder. Any files that you want to keep synced, just save them to this folder. When you first install Google Drive it will sync up any files you had in Google Docs. From this point on, files will exist both on your PC and in the cloud and Google will keep them synced.

Password Reset

2012-08-31T08:00:00.000-05:00

Cameron has implemented a 120 day password expiration policy for students that will go into effect September 10, 2012. On this date, any student passwords that are 120 days or older will expire and students will be required to create a new password. That means the possibility of your forgetting your password just rose incrementally. But no fear, sign up for the password self-service and if (or when) it happens, you'll be able to go there and unlock your account. Even at 2:00 in the morning when you're trying to get to that email your instructor sent about the assignment due in a few hours!

To enroll for password self-service, visit the following URL and login with your current credentials:

http://aggiepass.cameron.edu

If you haven't visited before, you'll be prompted to start the enrollment process. Follow the "click here" link to get started.

Click on "Click Here" to begin the enrollment process.

You’ll then be prompted to create five security questions and answers. The first two will have pre-made questions to pick from. For the other three, you can type in questions like the examples or come up with your own. Here is a website that provides some more security question ideas.

dropdown of pre-made questions for the first two questions

Once you have answers you can remember for your questions, click on enroll to complete the enrollment process. That's it. Now that you're enrolled, if you find you've forgotten your password, you can visit this site and reset it yourself.

Go ahead and click change password now so that it doesn't expire on the September 10 date.

Remember to always login to AggieAccess with your current password. NOTE that changing your password in aggiepass does NOT change your Blackboard password!!! It is a good idea to login to Blackboard and change your password there immediately after changing your other password so that the two will be in sync. After logging into Blackboard, click on Personal Information in the Tools box.

Note regarding AggieAccess: If you received Account Disabled error in AggieAccess, your account has been temporarily disabled in AggieAccess. Each time you try to login with the wrong password, the amount of time the account is disabled is longer. If you don't get it by the second or third try, you will need to reset your password at http://aggiepass.cameron.edu. Wait a few minutes before trying to login to AggieAccess with the new password to make sure your account has been reset. If after a period of time your account is still suspended, you will want to call the helpdesk.

Student Helpdesk: cu_online_help@cameron.edu|, Academic Commons Rooms 135 or 136, 580-581-2829

New to CU?

2012-08-24T08:00:00.000-05:00

Are you new to Cameron and still trying to keep your head above water right now? These are the top technical things I think you should know about. (Veteran CU students, please chime in with a comment about whatever I leave out.)

How to get your schedule and all the great things you can access there - books, faculty info, notes
My assumption is that you've already found this, but just in case you're getting to your classes off a schedule someone printed for you, then you need to login to AggieAccess. Under the My Info tab, there is a link for "View My Schedule." There you will find not only your schedule and any additional notes about your classes, but also other links. If you click on the faculty member's name, you will get his or her full name, email, office location, phone number, and the times for the classes he or she teaches this semester. That should give you an idea of office hours if they have not provided those for you. In addition the schedule gives you a link to the bookstore. Clicking on the book icon will let you know what books you need for that class.

How to get to your email.
Cameron University's policy is to communicate with you using your Cameron provided email. In other words, make sure you're checking this email frequently. To do that, you can go to Cameron's main webpage at http://www.cameron.edu and click on the email link. You can also go there directly at http://gmail.cameron.edu. Use the same login and password that you use for everything else (e.g. AggieAccess and lab computers). Here are some other links you may want to read about your Cameron email:

How to change/reset your password
Starting in September, Cameron is implementing a 120 day password reset policy with students. I'll have more on that next week and you should have already received an email about it. If you want to go ahead and reset your password, you can do so at http://aggiepass.cameron.edu/.

Calendar
You have your syllabus for each class and along with it should be due dates for most or all of your assignments. Put those into your Google calendar and set up a reminder so you won't forget about them. If you want directions on how to do that, see my previous post on the Google calendar.

End of Semester Checklist

2012-04-20T08:00:00.000-05:00

The end of spring starts next week!! Here's a checklist to get you through it.

Finals Week - April 27 & 28, May 1-4
Make sure you know when all of your finals are. Finals start Friday, April 27. HOWEVER, Monday classes on April 30 will meet as normal! The rest of finals week starts Tuesday, May 1. Get the full schedule to find out times for each class by heading to the webpages or AggieAccess.

Webpages: click on the Academic Calendar link from any webpage.

AggieAccess: click on the Finals Schedule link on the Student Tab Quick Links.

Or....just click here for the finals schedule.

Master's Degree Hooding - April 29
Be sure to attend the Hooding Ceremony, which honors our master's degree recipients. Find out all the details on the hooding website.

Commencement - May 4
Either you're walking or sitting and watching. Either way, get all of the details on the Commencement website. Be sure to not leave before it's over or you'll miss the fireworks!

Check Grades - May 9
Grades will be posted by instructors and the grade processor run the evening of May 8. The next morning, you'll be able to see your grades in AggieAccess on the "My Info" tab.

Grades for one semester at a time are posted in the Student Grades channel.

Transcript Request
Once your grades are posted, you may want to request an official transcript. You can request it in person at the Registrar's Office on the second floor of North Shepler, or you can also access the transcript request form from the website and mail or fax in your request. If you just need an unofficial transcript or only want to see your gpa, you can follow the transcript link in AggieAccess on the "My Info" tab.

Holds
If you are worried that your grades may have put you on a hold or expect that your grades took you off a hold, you can check holds on AggieAccess as well. Holds should be updated within five days after grades are posted. Just go to the "My Info" tab and click at the link on the bottom of the Academic Profile channel seen in the figure above.

The end is just the beginning
If this isn't your last semester, then it's never too early to start getting ready for the next semester. If you haven't enrolled already, set up an appointment to meet with your advisor. If you have enrolled, check your schedule and start getting your books now. Summer classes start May 31 and Fall is just a few months later on August 15.

Website Highlights

2012-04-13T08:00:00.000-05:00

Here are some highlights on webpage resources you may not know about!

Paint the Town Black and Gold - Community Discounts
Did you know there are several restaurants and other businesses around town that will offer you a discount when you show your Cameron ID card? We're talking about 3% off on monthly rentals at an apartment, 10-15% off at multiple restaurants, and even discounts on shopping. Check back often as new discounts are added frequently. There have even been special event discounts like when the Harlem Globetrotters were in town.
http://www.cameron.edu/paintthetown

Health and Wellness for Students
Did you know you can get low-cost health insurance as a Cameron student? You can also get acute medical health care and counseling on campus.
http://www.cameron.edu/studentservices/handbook/health-and-wellness-services

Open Work Study Positions
Even though the semester is drawing to a close, offices still need help and many of them need workers during intersession and especially during the summer. Cameron pays its student workers a quarter more an hour than minimum wage jobs. Plus they work around your class schedule. Apply today!
http://www.cameron.edu/personnel/studentemployment

Commencement - May 4, 2012
For you lucky students who are at the end of your student career, you can find all of the information about the upcoming Commencement Ceremonies online. Oklahoma State Regent for Higher Education Toney Stricklin will be the speaker this year.
http://www.cameron.edu/commencement

Career Services
Also for those students who are graduating, you will want to take advantage of the career services opportunities that Cameron offers. They can help you build your resume and there is an online posting of job opportunities that Cameron has received.
http://www.cameron.edu/career_services/students

Google Apps

2012-04-06T08:00:00.000-05:00

It occurs to me that I have never done a post about all the things students and Cameron employees have access to now that we're on Google Apps. While more email storage, mobile access, cheaper, and no servers to maintain on campus certainly played a part in the discussion to move to Gmail, we also were excited with the possibilities that the suite of applications provided our students. One blog post wouldn't be enough room to talk about all of the various apps you can use with your Cameron account!

Even if you're just forwarding your gmail account to another account, you need to look into some of the other applications to which you now have access. Here's a highlight of some of the more important ones.

Google Docs
http://docs.cameron.edu
For me, this is one of the most important ones. Google Docs is web-based word processing. You can edit your documents, spreadsheets, presentations, and other files from anywhere using a browser. With a little setup, you can even work on your files offline and then they are synced the next time you connect to the internet. If you need to print the files, just login to a computer with a printer. If you're using other types of files, you can also upload them to your Google docs and use the area to store them instead of carrying around a flash drive. Google Docs will even convert pdf's to text for you to edit them.

However, one of the greatest features of Google Docs is the ability to share them with anyone else that has a Google account, including your instructor, classmates, and friends. When doing group work, your entire group can access the same document instead of emailing one back and forth or trying to merge several copies into one. You can even be on the same document at the same time with a chat window open as you discuss changes. Merge that with Google+ hangouts and you can video chat, share screens, and draw on a sketchpad all while you also type into the document. How's that for a virtual meeting?

Google Calendar
http://gcal.cameron.edu
Each person with a Google account has access to a personal calendar. You can also set up additional calendars and share them with other people so that multiple people can maintain a calendar and even embed it into a website. After we moved to gmail for students, we converted our webpage calendars to gcals to make it easy for you to click and add events and even entire calendars to your own calendar. The calendars can be set up to send you reminders as well so you won't miss an event. This is a great opportunity for campus organizations to get event information out to their members.

Google Sites
http://sites.cameron.edu
Speaking of organizations and group work, Google Apps for Education also includes Google Sites. These are websites that are created using a simple gui interface. They can include a wiki and can even be set up so that only certain people have access to certain parts of the webpage. Perhaps the organization's advisor has administrative control but then one member maintains a blog while another member keeps the calendar updated and yet another member posts pictures from past events. Google sites makes it easy for multiple people in a class group or organization to work on a joint website.

Google Groups
http://groups.cameron.edu
Think of Google Groups as a group email. You can post messages to it and everyone receives the email. It also archives messages so the group can view them at any time. You can set up your own personal groups based on class groups or friends, or an organization can set one up and add all of their members. Once a group is set up, you can also share your calendar, site, or even documents to the entire group rather than typing individual emails into the share.

Others
Here are just a few others with links to more information:
Google Reader
Google+
iGoogle
Blogger
Picasa Web Albums

Text a CU Librarian

2012-03-30T08:00:00.000-05:00

Need information on the go? You can use your mobile phone to text your question directly to a CU Librarian.

Send your question to the mobile short code 66746. The body of your first text should consist of the keyword CameronLIB, followed by your question. For example, if you want to ask about a book you can send to 66746, "CameronLIB Is the College Algebra textbook available?" Or to ask about hours, you can send to 66746, "CameronLIB How late are you open today?"

Texting a librarian

By including the keyword CameronLIB in your first text to 66746, all of your future texts will be automatically directed to a CU librarian and the keyword will no longer be required for future texts. To save time when texting in the future, you can save the mobile short code 66746 as CameronLIB in your phone's contacts. All texts are anonymous and standard messaging/data rates may apply.

Increase the Font Size in Your Browser

2012-03-23T10:14:00.000-05:00

I hope you're enjoying your Spring Break. Enrollment starts next week for Summer and Fall! Here's the schedule:

Graduate Students and Seniors: March 27
Juniors: March 28
Sophomores: March 29
Freshmen: March 30
Open Enrollment continues through the beginning of classes which start May 31 for Summer and August 15 for Fall.

Full Academic Calendar
Enrollment Schedule Information

PC Browser Zoom In
And now for my quick tip. If you're having difficulty reading information in a PC browser because it's too small, hold down the control key and press + or - to increase and decrease the zoom. Press ctrl and zero to return to the page's default settings.

Dropbox Review

2012-03-16T10:07:00.000-05:00

Thank you to Chad Hunte, one of the ITS Student Workers, for providing this post about one of his favorite sites for class productivity.

Dropbox
We all have jump drives or thumb drives, but what happens if it gets misplaced or lost? How often do you backup your data on your portable storage? Why not use the cloud and access your data from anywhere?

Dropbox is an online storage service. You can download the application and create a free account by going to www.dropbox.com and clicking on the Sign in link. The 2GB of free storage is more than enough to store that English paper you are working on or that Excel spreadsheet you have for tomorrow's class. There is no limit to the file types that you are able to store on Dropbox.

Desktop Sync
One of the greatest advantages of Dropbox is desktop synchronization which enables you to work from the Dropbox folder on your PC and it will automatically be saved to the cloud. You can create folders and index your files from your device or from the web based interface.

Folder Synchronization

The Dropbox application is available for Windows, Mac, Linux, IPhone IOS, Blackberry, and Android. It's also integrated into many apps in the appstore as well as the android market. This means you can access the power points you have saved straight from your tablet or smartphone.

Folder Sharing and Public Links

You are able to share folders with anyone with a Dropbox account. This is great for group work, especially for large projects. Also you have access to a public folder.

Public and Group Folders

A URL can be generated and sent to someone for any file in this folder to be downloaded. When files are too big to email, you can just upload them to your Dropbox account and email the link. This can be done by simply right clicking on the file you want, selecting Dropbox, then "copy public link."

Right click a file, choose dropbox, and copy public link for a URL to email to your group.

Version Tracking

Another great feature is that Dropbox keeps version history. With this you can go retrieve older versions on files and also know who made the changes if it was a shared folder. Let’s say you accidentally overwrote a paper you were working on. You can always go back and get the previous version where the changes have not been made.

Right click the file on Dropbox and choose Previous Versions

Then select the version of the file you want to access.

These are just some of the features, but just enough for you to never worry about how you're going to get that assignment you did at home. With Dropbox, you can access it from anywhere.

Cameron Email Addresses

2012-03-09T08:00:00.000-06:00

Today's post answers some of the most common questions we get asked about Cameron student email.

Where do I login for email?

From the university webpage at http://www.cameron.edu, you can click on the link for Student Email.
You can also click on the email icon at the top right when you're logged into AggieAccess.
Or you can go directly to the link by typing in http://gmail.cameron.edu.

What is my email address?
Typically your email address is going to be Firstname.Lastname@cameron.edu. However, sometimes students have the same name and that address is already taken. Subsequent email addresses have digits added to them in order to have different email addresses. There are two places that you can see if your address has a digit at the end.

AggieAccess
Click on the My Info tab.
Click on "Update E-mail Addresses" under the My Personal Info channel.
Your email address will be listed under CU Student Email.

Gmail
Click on the gear icon at the top right and choose Mail Settings.
Click on the Accounts tab.
You should see your full name reply-to address set as the default.

The Reply-to address should be your fullname email address.

Why do I see my initials+ID@cameron.edu?
Your gmail account is set up so that you can login with the same account information that you login to AggieAccess and campus computers. Your initials+ID is actually the account name. However, since that's not what you would want other people to see or send you email to, we have an alias set up that uses your full name email address and we set that as the default reply-to address when your account is created.

Downloading E-Books from the CU Library

2012-03-02T08:00:00.000-06:00

Thanks Mandi Smith for providing today's post with news from the library!

Hopefully, you already know that you can access over 80,000 Cameron University Library e-books from home, or anywhere with an internet connection, but do you know that you can also "checkout" and download almost 60,000 e-books to your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch? (For all of you Android users out there, an Android app is currently in development with a scheduled release date of Summer 2012.)

Once downloaded, e-books are available for viewing without an internet connection . . . so no more running around trying to find a Wi-Fi hotspot or worrying about your mobile data usage/bill. Best of all, once the application has been successfully installed, you can download a book directly to your device with the single touch of a button.

Installation/Account Creation

There are three steps involved to install and configure the necessary application for downloading Cameron University Library e-books. The process takes approximately two to five minutes to complete.

1. Register for an ebrary account.
Ebrary is the vendor that supplies us with our downloadable e-books. If you already have an ebrary account then you can move forward to the next step. If you do not have an ebrary account then you need to register and create one. Visit http://ezproxy.cameron.edu/login?url=http://site.ebrary.com.ezproxy.cameron.edu/lib/cameron/newAccount.action to complete the registration.

creating an ebrary account

2. Download the free ebrary app from Apple's app store.
To download the ebrary app, go to http://itunes.apple.com/app/ebrary/id493652464 with your device's browser. Of course, you could also just search for the term "ebrary" in the app store.

ebrary application

3. Sign In

When you first open the ebrary app it will ask you to sign into your ebrary account. After signing in to your ebrary account it will ask you to enter your Adobe ID. If you do not have one, a link will be provided so you can create an Adobe ID.

ebrary login and entering adobe ID

Signing in with your Adobe ID is necessary as it manages your "checkouts." You are allowed to download up to ten e-books for up to fourteen days.

Once you are completely signed in, you can begin searching for and downloading e-books. If at any time you need help, please feel free to ask your always-friendly and always-helpful Cameron University librarians.

Using email web links with Firefox and Chrome

2012-02-24T16:40:00.000-06:00

It's always annoyed me when I'm on my home PC and I accidentally click on an email link in a webpage. Up pops a message trying to get me to install or configure outlook. I don't use Outlook. I use gmail! However, I've learned that in Firefox and Chrome you can change this setting!! Here's how.

Firefox
Click on Tools and select Options
Click on Applications.
Scroll down to "mailto."
Click on whatever application is currently set for mailto to get a dropdown of other options.
Select "use Gmail."
Click OK

Changing mailto application to use Gmail in Firefox

Chrome
Chrome offers an extension that you can install by going to https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/pgphcomnlaojlmmcjmiddhdapjpbgeoc.

Update 2/28/2012: This was posted on the Google apps blog today:
Starting today, thanks to the magic of HTML5 things are getting simpler. Now, when you go to Gmail in Chrome, you will be asked if you want Gmail to open all email links. Say yes, and clicking on email links in any application on your computer will open a fresh Gmail compose window.

For internet Explorer, they suggest installing the Google Toolbar application then following these directions that allows Google Toolbar to open up Gmail for email links.

Google Sharing

2012-02-17T08:00:00.000-06:00

Almost as soon as we were born, our parents told us we were supposed to share. Google makes that easy. You can share almost anything. You can share documents, calendars, blogs, and even share editing for an entire website. Sharing documents among students opens up a whole new world of possibilities. Think class group work. Think organizations. Think sharing with your professor for comments or a virtual office visit. Once a document is shared, all members can edit it at the same time. You can also turn chat on and suggest information back and forth through that medium. I'll do some screenshots below, but you can also view a quick video and watch it in action on the HackCollege blog where he shares his ideas for collaborating with your class friends by taking notes together on the same document.

Create any type of document - document, spreadsheet, presentation, etc - by clicking on Create and choosing from the drop down menu.

Within the document, click on the Share button in the top right.

Click on the text box below "Add people" and type in an email address. (Note that you can also share the document with a Google group. Organizations, are you getting ideas yet?) To the right, you can choose if the person can edit, make comments, or just view. Then you can choose to let the person receive an email that the document has been shared with them and even add your own message. Click "Share & save" and you're done. Let the group edits begin.

Calendar Notifications

2012-02-10T08:00:00.000-06:00

Okay, so classes are going pretty strong now. You probably have a few assignments and tests coming up. You could continuously check your paper syllabus, or......you could set up a Google calendar and send yourself notifications for all of your dates. Notifications work for both personal calendars or other calendars you have added (like the Cameron University event calendars.)

Setting up notifications is quick and simple. You can choose to receive a daily agenda, set reminders for specified time intervals, or both.

Hover over the calendar name to make the drop down arrow appear to the right of it. Click on the arrow and select Notifications.

Select notifications from the calendar drop down.

SMS Notifications
If you want to receive a text message instead of email, you'll need to click on "Set up your mobile phone to receive notifications first. Put in your phone number and click on send verification code. When you receive the verification code on your phone, enter that in and click finish setup. This will add SMS to the drop down for reminders and allow you to check SMS for other notifications.

Daily Agendas
Google can send you an email message with a compiled listing of all your events for the day. Just check the box for Daily Agenda and click "Save."

Check the box for Daily Agenda in the calendar notifications screen.

You'll need to do this for each calendar that you want included. Then each day you will have an email listing the events for the day or an email saying you have no events for the day.

Example daily agenda email

Reminders
While daily agendas are good, sometimes you may need more advance notice. For example, if you have a test or assignment due, it would be more helpful to get a reminder a few days earlier rather than the day of the event! On the same notification screen for a calendar, you can click on "Add a reminder" near the top of the page. Then you can add as many reminders as you want. You might add an email reminder for a week out, then a few days later have a text message sent to you. Then add a popup for the day of the event as a final reminder. (Note, popups only work if you are logged into Google calendar.) Just keep clicking on "Add a reminder" to add another one. Click "Save" and your done.

Click Add a reminder to add additional reminders.

If you chose by email, then at the appropriate time before the event, you'll get an email that includes all of the information about the event:

That's it. No more excuses for saying you forgot about an event or an assignment!

New Calendars

2012-02-03T08:00:00.000-06:00

Cameron has added additional calendars since my post about how to add CU calendars to your personal Google calendar. Go through the process again to select and add the new calendars to your own Google calendar. Here are all the calendar categories we have right now:

CU Events Calendar - Organizational meetings, bake sales, and activities.
CU Special Events Calendar - Overall university sponsored events that often also involve the public such as the Afghanistan Festival events, commencement, and convocation.
CU Academic Calendar - Class related dates such as enrollment opening, last day to withdraw, and finals.
CU Liberal Arts Calendar - Music, theatre, and art performances and seminars
Student Activities - Student wide events sponsored by PAC or Student Activities such as movie nights, entertainment, dances, homecoming, welcome week, and Rolling with the Aggies to away games.
CU Athletics Home Games - All of the home games for CU Athletics.
Student Wellness Center - Workshops and classes offered by the Wellness Center such as dealing with depression, post-traumatic stress, ADHD, or even when the massage therapist will be available.
Wellness and Fitness Calendar - Times that special fitness classes are offered such as aerobics or weight lifting as well as special activities such as the Healthy Life Style Group meetings that are sponsored jointly by the Wellness Center and Fitness Center to help you get in shape.
Student Development - Workshops to help you find a job, explore majors, or become a better student.

By separating them into different calendars, you now have the ability to turn on and off the ones that interest you the most. You can do this both on your Google calendar and also on the webpages and AggieAccess to help you zero in on your interests.

Google Calendar
If a calendar has a colored box to the left of it, then its events are currently being displayed. Clicking once on the calendar will hide it (the colored box will go white). If you hover over a calendar name with your mouse, then an arrow will appear to the right of the calendar name. Click on the arrow and you can choose to display only that calendar. This is especially helpful to quickly turn on just your personal calendar or when you're looking for a particular type of event. You can also change the color for that calendar.

Google calendar screenshot

Webpages and AggieAccess
If you're looking at the calendar on AggieAccess or on the Cameron Events webpage, there is a down arrow at the top right of both calendars that activates a dropdown for narrowing the events. Click on the arrow and then check and uncheck the boxes to see the calendars for which you are interested.

AggieAccess Channel showing Calendar select dropdown

University webpage showing Calendar select dropdown

iCameron - Mobile App

2012-01-27T08:00:00.000-06:00

Cameron has launched iCameron, a free mobile application that enables you to stay connected to Cameron via Android, BlackBerry, iPhone, IPod touch and iPad. Here are some of the features.

Blackboard's Mobile Learn - login to Blackboard to access your course content on the go.

Library - mobile access to Cameron's library

Directory - Contact information for Cameron faculty and staff

News - Includes links to university media releases, Cameron Athletics, and AggieCentral for CUTV and the Collegian.

Events - Cameron events as well as the academic calendar

AggieAccess - quick link into AggieAccess webpages

Other icons include a maps icon, an image library, emergency contact information, and Aggie traditions.

To download the free application, go to the iPhone/iPad App Store, the Android Market or the BlackBerry App Store and search for "iCameron" or use the links below.

iPhone/iPad: http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/icameron/id449767538?mt=8

Android Market: https://market.android.com/details?id=com.blackboard.android.central.cameron

BlackBerry: http://appworld.blackberry.com/webstore/content/61249/?lang=en

Customizing AggieAccess

2012-01-20T08:00:00.000-06:00

AggieAccess is Cameron University's portal. In other words, it should be the door that you go through to get most or all of your Cameron related material done. You can go there for links to blackboard or email, see what events are going on, check your grades, print out your schedule, or see what money you owe or will be receiving. Having said that, AggieAccess is meant to be for you. There are many things you can do with AggieAccess to make it your own.

Delete Announcements
The announcements can become overwhelming. AggieAccess displays seven at a time, but often there are more that sometimes get buried. Did you know you can delete the announcements that don't interest you or you've already read? From the Campus Announcements channel on the Home tab, click on an announcement title to read the information about it. You can click on the other titles and read the rest of the announcements here as well. When you're finished reading, if you want to delete one or more, click in the box next to the announcement title to add a check and click delete. Click OK on the popup confirmation and you won't have to read or sort through those announcements again. Delete the ones you've read and keep the ones that have details you want to remember closer to the event.

Check the announcement, then click Delete.

Move Channels around

Click on Content Layout to get started.

While a committee decided a default layout of where everything should be in AggieAccess, that doesn't mean that it's the way you necessarily want it. You can move a lot of things around so that it fits your needs. In the upper left hand, click on Content Layout.

Things you can do:

Move the tabs around by clicking on the left/right arrows on the tabs.
Move channels to different columns or up and down. You can also delete some channels. Note that if a channel does not have the arrows or delete button activated then that channel is set in a permanent spot on the tab or you can't delete it because it's considered information you need to know.
Add new channels by clicking on the New Channel button. Perhaps you want a bookmarks channel on the My Info tab, or the AggieCentral feed on your Home Tab, or you want to add the Ole Kim Tweets channel.

Start Clicking and Get Creative

What happens if I change my mind????

Delete something you wish you had back? Don't like your configuration and just want to start over? Click on Revert to default layout and you'll be back to the delivered design.

Change the Pandora Tab
Pandora is really just a place holder to give you an idea of what you can do. You can change it to any site you wish. Click on the Content Layout link at the top left. Then click on the Pandora Tab. You can change it by giving it a different name and clicking rename or by putting in a different URL and clicking change. Note that Pandora is just a web link. You can access it outside of AggieAccess too.

Change the Pandora Tab by giving it a new name and URL.

Try These

Add a new channel, select News as the category and choose My Headlines to create a channel with your own RSS feed.
Modify the bookmark channel by clicking on the plus and minus icons at the bottom of that channel. For more information, click on "Managing My Bookmarks" in the channel.
Click on "Add Tab," choose traditional as the type, give it a name and click submit. Click on your new tab and add a few columns. Click on "New Channel" links to add various channels that you look at most in AggieAccess for an even more One Stop experience.
Click on "Add Tab," choose Framed as the type and make a tab for Cameron University's website: http://www.cameron.edu.

Blackboard Notifications

2012-01-13T08:00:00.000-06:00

If you've been in a course that uses Blackboard, you are used to receiving announcements in your email from the courses. However, if you're like me, I was constantly logging in just to see if an assignment had been graded or if the instructor had added the new content he or she talked about in class. Emails of the announcements for the class are automatically turned on, but you can also have Blackboard send you email about so many more things. It takes less than two minutes and will save yourself lots of time in the future!

1. From within Blackboard, click on "My Places" at the very top of the web page:

2. Select Edit Notification Settings from the My Places menu:

3. Click on Courses I am taking from the Bulk Edit Notification Settings on the right.

4. In the email column (ignore the mobile column as that is not enabled), check the boxes for things you want to receive notifications about. You can choose everything but be realistic about your choices. Do you really want to get an email every time someone posts to the message board? I personally choose to get notifications for Assignment Available, Content Item Available, Test Available, and Item Graded. Then when my instructor grades my assignment, I get an email and can immediately login to Blackboard to see how well I did.

Be sure to take a look at the email address that notifications are being sent to. It should be going to your Cameron University email. If you're not reading that email, you might want to look into setting up your Cameron University email to forward to an email account that you are reading.

5. Click on the submit button at the top or bottom right of the page and click OK if it tells you you're overwriting all of your course notification settings.

6. You can edit individual course settings by selecting the course on the next screen if, for example, you did want to know that new message board entries had been made in one class but not the rest of your classes.

Finals and Grades

2011-12-09T08:00:00.000-06:00

Can you believe the end of Fall 2011 is already here? It's time for finals and checking grades. (It's also time for the Finals Breakfast when you can take a time out from studying and head over to the Shepler Cafeteria from 10-11pm on Tuesday, December 13, for some tasty treats!)

Where can I find the Finals Schedule?

On Your Google Calendar: The finals schedule is part of the Academic Calendar. If you added the Academic Calendar to your Google Calendar, then you can click on the details for the Finals Week entry and find the link to the pdf there.

On your Google Calendar if you've added the CU Academic Calendar

AggieAccess: Links to both the Academic Calendar and the Finals Schedule are in the My Info Quick Links on AggieAccess.

AggieAccess My Info Quick Links

Cameron Webpages: Click on Academics on the brown dropdown menu from any of the CU webpages and select the Academic Calendar to get to the finals schedule.

The Finals Schedule is part of the Academic Calendar linked from any CU webpage.

Where do I see my grades?
When finals are finally over, you can go back to the Academic Calendar (either from your own calendar, AggieAccess, or the webpages - your choice) to see when the faculty have to have grades in. For example, this semester's grades are due by 4:00 pm on December 20. All of the grade processes are run that evening and your grades will be available for you to see the next morning.

To see your grades online, login to AggieAccess after December 20, click on the My Info tab and your grades will appear under the Student Grades channel. Please note that even if your instructor has turned in the grades several days ago, you will not be able to see them until the grade processor has been run. You can also see semesters since Fall 2010 in this channel. To see your grades from earlier semesters, click on the transcript link in the Academic Profile channel.

Grades will show in the Student Grades channel after the grade processor is run the evening of December 20.

Spring classes start back up January 6. See the full academic calendar. Be sure to print out your schedule and get your books soon. Have a wonderful Christmas and enjoy the break!

Contacts in Google

2011-12-02T08:15:00.000-06:00

Google has updated their Contacts API library to allow us to show contact information for Cameron employees now. Anywhere that you are filling out a "To" field, you will see employee emails popup as options now. This should make it easier for those of you who need to email your professor. Just start typing the first or last name of your professor and names will appear from which to choose.

Typing a name in the gmail composer brings up a list of Cameron employee emails.

This also works in other Google apps such as when adding guests to an event on the calendar, sharing documents, or giving permissions to other people to edit pages in Google sites.

When you send email to other people in a Google app, they are automatically added to your contacts and appear on this list too.

What is Blackboard IM and why should I use it?

2011-11-18T08:00:00.010-06:00

Blackboard IM is an instant messaging tool specifically designed to advance and promote learning. It enables you to instantly connect with classmates and instructors in all your Online, ITV, and any Face to Face courses that are enhance through Blackboard.
What are the benefits of using it?

Quickly connect with classmates and instructors.
Desktop video conferencing and audio. (Participate in a study group from the comfort of your room.)
An integrated whiteboard can be used for real-time collaboration.
Application sharing provides unique abilities to work with peers. (Great tool for group projects.)

Getting Started

Blackboard IM is software that must be downloaded before it can be used.

Go to Blackboard

http://blackboard.cameron.eduorhttp://cameron.blackboard.com

Enter your login information. Click here for Username Construction.
Select your course. Your course will most likely open to the Course Announcement page or Home Page.
Click on Tools, found on your left hand side in the menu.
Click on Blackboard IM.
Click Blackboard IM (Create your account and download Blackboard IM)
Create your Blackboard IM account. (Please remember to be professional inappropriate account names will be removed.)

After you create your Blackboard IM ID, you can download and install the Blackboard IM client. You may perform this step either immediately after creating your account, or at a later time.
Once you have downloaded and installed Backboard IM use the Blackboard IM ID and password that you chose when you created your account.

Whenever you launch Blackboard IM, the login window appears.
You can set Blackboard IM to remember your Blackboard IM ID and password by checking the remember me box. If you do this, anyone with access to your computer can access your Blackboard IM account.
You can also set Blackboard IM to automatically sign you in when you launch the program by checking the sign in automatically box. This setting can be changed in the Preferences window.

For more information see BbIM_GettingStarted

What is SafeAssign? Where do I find it? How do I use it?

2011-11-11T08:00:00.001-06:00

SafeAssign is plagiarism prevention software integrated into Blackboard. It checks all submitted papers against various databases to detect unoriginal text.

To submit your assignment you must first login to your Blackboard account and access your course. You can find the login page by clicking on the blackboard link from the CU home page or at http://blackboard.cameron.edu.
Your username and password is the same as for your email and AggieAccess.

Once you have logged into Blackboard and accessed your course, you will click Assignments on the left side of the screen.

Once in the Assignment screen you will see your Safe Assignment.
It will have this icon next to the assignment .

Now click on the link View/Complete.

You are now in the Upload SafeAssignment screen. Here is where you will upload your paper. To upload the file, click on the browse button. You will now need to search for the paper you created and saved on your computer. Once you locate the file you will need to attach it. This is similar to attaching a file in email. Once you locate the file, highlight it and click open or double click on the file.

Your file is now attached. You can also write any comments to your instructor within the comment text box. You will also need to click the box next to I agree to submit my paper to the Global Reference Database. Once you have done all of these steps you can click the submit button.

CU Calendars

2011-11-04T09:50:00.000-05:00

Adding Cameron's Event Calendars and Academic Calendar to your own calendar just became easier. Our university web calendar has been changed to use a Google calendar. For you as students, this means that you can add a Cameron event - or the entire calendar - to your own Google calendar with a few quick clicks. Here's how:

Login to Google
Login to your personal calendar by either starting at https://gcal.cameron.edu or clicking on "Calendar" at the top left of any of the Google apps such as gmail or docs that you're already logged into. You can also skip this step and wait to be prompted to login to your calendar when you try to add the events.

Add a single Event

Go to CU's event calendar at http://www.cameron.edu/eventcalendar or scroll through the events in AggieAccess on the Home tab.
Click on event titles to bring up more information on it.
When you see one that you're interested in attending, click on "copy to my calendar."
(Login to Google if you're prompted at this point.)
You'll be presented a screen with all of the information from the original. Since you're copying this event to your calendar you have the option to modify the title, choose which calendar you want to add the event to, and set up notification reminders. Make any changes and then click on Save.

Selecting "copy to my calendar" from AggieAccess

Selecting "copy to my calendar" from the CU Web

Add the Entire Calendar
The event calendar includes information from the main campus calendar as well as the academic calendar and specific liberal arts events. With copy event, you're only getting a copy of the event that is no longer tied to the original. If the original event is updated, you will not see the updates. However, you can add the entire CU event calendar alongside your calendar and you will see all updates. Unfortunately, you won't be able to modify events or set up reminders as you can when you copy a single event. To add the entire calendar, click on the Google Calendar icon at the bottom of the calendar on the webpage or in AggieAccess.

Click Google Calendar to add the entire calendar

(If you haven't already logged into Google, you will be prompted to do so at this point.)
Depending on your browser, you may be prompted to choose which of the calendars you want to add or it may automatically add all of them.

Once added, the calendars appear under "Other calendars." You may need to click on the arrow next to "Other Calendars" so that it is pointing down and shows all of the calendars. Turn the calendars on and off by clicking on their names. You can even change the color by hovering over the calendar name and clicking on the down arrow that appears to the right of the calendar.

CU's calendars now show up on your personal Google calendar

Schedule Info All Together

2011-10-28T08:00:00.000-05:00

Hopefully you have already enrolled or at least made an appointment with your advisor. Next on the to-do list is to check your schedule on AggieAccess where you can find information about what books are needed for your class as well as instructor contact information.

Login to AggieAccess: https://aggieaccess.cameron.edu
Click on the My Info tab.
Click on View My Schedule in the Class Information channel.

Class Information Channel in AggieAccess

If you're looking for spring information, you may need to change the term and click Go.

Select the term and click Go

Take just a minute and verify that your address, phone, and major information displayed is correct. If it's not, you'll want to drop by the Registrar's Office in North Shepler room 205 and get that information updated or go back to the My Info tab and change your address and phone in the My Personal Info channel.

Besides the regular schedule information such as time, dates, and location, you can also find out information about your instructor and books from this one screen. Clicking on your instructor's name will bring up his or her contact information and current semester's courses to give you an idea of what his or her office hours might be.

Popup information for Instructor found in Student Schedule on AggieAccess

There is also a little book icon at the end of each line on your schedule. Clicking on that icon brings up the information the Bookstore has for this class regarding what books are required as well as the price they charge. If you want to order the book from Fowlett, you can click on Check Availability and order it from their web pages. The ISBN for the book is also displayed giving you the option to shop around at other sites as well.

Resulting Popup after clicking on the Books Icon

If you haven't enrolled in classes yet but are wondering about what books might be required for the classes you may enroll in, the books icon is also located on the university course schedule listing.

Spring 2012 Enrollment Information

2011-10-19T10:05:00.000-05:00

As you get ready to head out the door for an enjoyable Fall Break, take a few minutes to prepare for next week. Spring 2012 enrollment starts October 25. Contact your advisor and make an appointment to get enrolled next week. Here's the schedule:

Graduate Students and Seniors: October 25
Juniors: October 26
Sophomores: October 27
Freshmen: October 28
Open Enrollment continues through the beginning of classes which start January 6, 2012.

Full Academic Calendar
Enrollment Schedule Information

In our web survey, many of you expressed frustration over finding information about the enrollment schedules. You can find the list of classes with a link from any of our web pages under the Academic drop down or the Quick Links.

Link from Academic dropdown

Link from Quick Links

Apparently these links are not where or what you are looking for. Would you take a minute to help us out and let us know where you would expect to find these links from the homepage and also how it should be labeled? You'll notice we have one as Enrollment Schedule and the other as Courses Offered, but I noticed some people said they were looking for class schedule or various other terms. Let us know what you call it. Post a comment below to leave your answers by clicking on the comments link or email me at julied@cameron.edu. We would really appreciate your feedback.