Publications CITations #43

CITations

February 23, 2001
No. 43

CITations is a report featuring information technology-related news of interest to UNC-Chapel Hill faculty members, graduate instructors and the staff who support them. CITations, published twice a month, is an electronic service of the ITS Center for Instructional Technology.

Online Quiz and Survey Tools Update
Lecture on Internet Research and Everyday Life
Last Carolina Computing Initiative Deployment
Digital Library Presentation
March 2001 ATN Computer Training Class Schedule
ITRC Tip: Adding Fake Text to a Word Document
ITRC Tip: Lock Your Computer with a Desktop Shortcut
CITations Tips Archive
Conference Announcements
2001 CITations Publication Schedule
How to Subscribe or Unsubscribe to CITations

ONLINE QUIZ AND SURVEY TOOLS UPDATE

ATN's Center for Instructional Technology and Instructional Technology Development Group have been engaged in investigating and testing quiz/survey tools since 1999. Last summer, we identified Question Mark Perception as the best commercial option for a combination quiz and survey tool. At that time, we discussed Question Mark with a group of faculty and staff, and we embarked on a final round of internal testing of the product. This past fall we helped develop two major survey projects with the use of Question Mark. We found that although Question Mark is a powerful tool, it has a very steep learning curve, a reporting tool that is slow, and the lack of a quick method to export final data. After this testing, we have decided not to purchase a long-term central license for general use of Question Mark.

We do recognize, however, that current quiz and survey tools on campus are not altogether adequate. We are most concerned that the campus does not have a web-based survey tool that (1) allows anonymous or identified responses and (2) centrally collects a full view of each individual's responses. (As many of you know, Blackboard's CourseInfo only allows for anonymous responses and aggregated data.) To meet this immediate need, the Instructional Technology Development group will be building an easy-to-use survey tool that will be ready for faculty testing this June. We will be announcing more meetings regarding this tool in the next month or two.

In addition, for a fully-featured and powerful commercial option for a quiz and survey tool, we will continue monitoring Question Mark's product as it matures, and we will push for improvements in Blackboard's CourseInfo assessment module.

If you are interested in Question Mark Perception's pricing and its features, see http://www.questionmark.com/

To see a summary of our evaluation of Question Mark Perception, see http://www.unc.edu/cit/qmsummary.html

If you have any questions or concerns about central resources for quiz and survey tools, contact Lori Mathis at 962-8256 or mathis@email.unc.edu

LECTURE ON INTERNET RESEARCH AND EVERYDAY LIFE

In March the Scholarly Communication Working Group and the Internet Impact on Social Sciences Research Working Group will jointly sponsor a lecture by Steve Jones, head of the Department of Communication at the University of Illinois at Chicago. The title of Jones' talk is "Internet Research and Everyday Life: Method, Ethics and Findings." The lecture and related events are open to all members of the university community.

Time and Place: Friday, March 30, 2:30 p.m. - 3:45 p.m. in 1301 McGavran-Greenberg Hall

Other related events:
Reception and informal discussions with Dr. Steve Jones
3:45 p.m. in Room 1301 McGavran-Greenberg Hall

Examples of UNC-Chapel Hill Internet Research Projects
1:30 p.m. - 2:30 p.m. in Rosenau Hall

For more information contact Gary Marchionini; email: march@ils.unc.edu

LAST CAROLINA COMPUTING INITIATIVE DEPLOYMENT

The Carolina Computing Initiative (CCI) reached a milestone on February 14, the day the last of the first wave of CCI machines for faculty and staff were installed in the College of Arts and Sciences. Since November 1998, some 1,900 machines have been deployed. Every faculty and staff member in the college's 62 departments, programs, and curricula now has a new CCI machine. Under CCI, College of Arts and Sciences faculty and staff will get new computers every three years, with the next deployment wave beginning in Fall 2001.

-- Linwood Futrelle, Director, ATN Distributed Support

DIGITAL LIBRARY PRESENTATION

The UNC-Chapel Hill Scholarly Communication Working Group's March brown bag lunch will feature an update on the UNC-Chapel Hill Digital Library project. Hugh Cayless and Bob Henshaw will update us on what has taken place over the past year. The meeting will be on Tuesday, March 13 from noon to 1:00 p.m. in the Davis Library Conference Rooms on the 2nd Floor of Davis Library. All faculty, staff, and students are welcome to attend.

For more information about the Scholarly Communication Working Group link to http://ils.unc.edu/schol-com/

MARCH 2001 ATN COMPUTER TRAINING CLASS SCHEDULE

The March 2001 ATN Computer Training Class Schedule is now available. ATN's computer classes are open to all UNC-Chapel Hill faculty, staff, undergraduates, and graduate students. To register, call 962-1160. Complete schedules and registration information are available at http://help.unc.edu/training/schedule/schedule.html

New classes offered:

Excel 2000: Macros
Prerequisite: Excel Introduction II or equivalent experience.
Monday, March 26; 9 a.m. - 11 a.m.; Course #XL32-002

SAS/IntrNet
Prerequisite: Must have Onyen and StatApps accounts.
Wednesday, March 21; 12 noon - 2 p.m.; Course #SA26-002

Introduction to the SAS Macro Language
Wednesday, March 21; 9 a.m. - 11 a.m.; Course #SA27-001

ITRC TIP: ADDING FAKE TEXT TO A WORD DOCUMENT

Microsoft Word has a built-in function to make troubleshooting layout and design problems easier. The function generates a quick document with fake text so that you don't have to type out fake text just to troubleshoot a design or layout issue. To generate the text, type (without quotes):

"=rand(4,5)"

then hit the Enter key

The first parameter (4) specifies the number of paragraphs of text to be generated. The second parameter specifies the number of sentences per paragraph. The parameters of the function let you specify whatever number of paragraphs and sentences per paragraph you want to create.

The same sentence is printed repeatedly: "The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog."

ITRC TIP: LOCK YOUR COMPUTER WITH A DESKTOP SHORTCUT

One of the benefits of Microsoft Windows 2000 is its increased security. If you are working on sensitive documents, you can lock your workstation when you leave your desk. A locked workstation requires the logged-in user's password to regain access to the desktop and the active documents. You can create a desktop shortcut that lets you lock your workstation with a quick double-click:

1. Right click on the desktop. Choose "New --> Shortcut"
2. On your hard drive, browse to \WINNT\System32\rundll32.exe
3. After locating and selecting the file, click on "OK"
4. Click on the Next button
5. Name the shortcut (e.g., "Lock Workstation")
6. Click the Finish button
7. Right click on the shortcut
8. Select "Properties"
9. Modify the "Target" so it reads: C:\WINNT\system32\rundll32.exe user32.dll, LockWorkStation
10. Click "OK" to save the changes

When you double-click the shortcut, Windows 2000 will lock your workstation.

If you have any questions about ITRC tips, contact Brian Ayers in the ITRC at 962-HELP.

For more computing assistance, contact the Information Technology Response Center, Wilson Library, Suite 300
Walk-in Hrs: 7:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Phone: 962-HELP - 24 hours
Email: help@unc.edu

CITATIONS TIPS ARCHIVE

The ITRC, CBT, and Lyris tips published in CITations are archived on the Web so you can locate tips without having to search through all the back issues. The tips archive is at http://www.unc.edu/cit/citations/tips.html

CONFERENCE ANNOUNCEMENTS

Keep informed about technology conferences with the CIT's "Education Technology and Computer-Related Conferences" at http://www.unc.edu/cit/guides/irg-37.html and "Calendar of World-Wide Educational Technology-Related Conferences, Seminars, and Other Events." The calendar is on the Web at http://confcal.unc.edu:8086/

2001 CITATIONS PUBLICATION SCHEDULE

March 9 & 23
April 6 & 20
May 11 & 25

CITations welcomes announcements from all UNC-Chapel Hill campus organizations involved in instructional and research technology. To have an announcement considered for publication in CITations, send email to Carolyn Kotlas, kotlas@email.unc.edu or call 962-9287. The deadline for submissions is noon the day before the publication date.

HOW TO SUBSCRIBE OR UNSUBSCRIBE TO CITATIONS

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