Publications CITations #9

CITations

September 24, 1999
No. 9

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.

CIT Makes "House Calls" in Academic Departments
Technology in Context Consortium October Workshops
October 1999 ATN Computer Training Classes
New Issue of CIT WebCT Bulletin
CBT Tip: Microsoft Office 2000: Putting Excel Spreadsheets on the Web
ITRC Tip: Tiling Monitors in Windows 98
CIT Information Resource Guides Updated
Conference Announcements
1999 CITations Publication Schedule
How to Subscribe or Unsubscribe to CITations

CIT MAKES "HOUSE CALLS" IN ACADEMIC DEPARTMENTS

As instructors begin to explore ways to integrate technology into their courses or research, the Center for Instructional Technology is here to help them meet their instructional technology needs and interests. As a new service, the CIT has begun making "house calls" to individual departments. Based on survey data gathered when the new CCI computers are delivered, house calls can be customized to give faculty and teaching assistants an orientation geared to their interests.

Our first house call was in the English Department. There the CIT staff set up consultation areas in one of the English Department lounges where staff members could talk with English department instructors on a drop-in basis.

The second house call was in Germanic Languages where CIT staff presented an overview of available technologies and tools including: electronic communication tools, web-page building, courseware packages, finding resources on the Web, and internet-based multimedia. The presentation was followed by a general question and answer period and time for one-to-one conversations and consultations.

The CIT staff welcomes the opportunity to meet and talk with instructors in your department about how technology can be uses in your courses or research. If you would like to schedule a customized house call, please contact Kathy Thomas at 962-6042 or kathy_thomas@unc.edu

TECHNOLOGY IN CONTEXT CONSORTIUM OCTOBER WORKSHOPS

As part of the TICC workshops, Tom Nixon (Davis Library) is offering "Internet Resources in the Humanities" on Wednesday, October 6, 1999, 9-11 a.m. in 405 Hanes. Course #6R407.

To register for this workshop, call 962-1160.
For more information about TICC, go to http://www.unc.edu/faculty/tic/

OCTOBER 1999 ATN COMPUTER TRAINING CLASSES

The schedule for ATN Training's October classes is online at http://help.unc.edu/training/schedule/schedule.html
These classes are offered free to UNC-Chapel Hill staff, faculty, and current students. Workshops are typically two hours long and scheduled throughout the day from 9 a.m. to 7:30 p.m.

New for October is "Microsoft Office 2000: Features." This demonstration and discussion class will provide users with information on the differences between the Office 97 suite and the new Office 2000 suite.
Wednesday, October 27, 1999, 3-5 p.m.
Course #3N303

To register for this or any other workshops, call 962-1160.

NEW ISSUE OF CIT WEBCT BULLETIN

The latest issue of CIT WebCT Bulletin has just been published and is on the Web at http://www.unc.edu/cit/webct/webctnews5.html
CIT WebCT Bulletin is a monthly publication designed to share resources among WebCT designers and instructors at UNC-Chapel Hill.

Contents of this month's issue include:

UNC-Chapel Hill Feature: E-mentoring Program in Biomolecular Sciences
Idea: Create a Template for Your Department's Courses
Resource: WebCT Listserv and Mailing List Archive
News: Universal Learning Technologies Postpones New WebCT Version

Back issues are available on the Web at http://www.unc.edu/cit/webct/webctnews.html

If you would like to receive CIT WebCT Bulletin by email, contact the editor, Lori Mathis at mathis@email.unc.edu

CBT TIP: MICROSOFT OFFICE 2000: PUTTING EXCEL SPREADSHEETS ON THE WEB

The tip below can be found in the "Microsoft Office 2000: New Features for Power Users online CBT course." To access this CBT course, link to http://help.unc.edu/cbt/curicula/courses/msof02e/msof02e.htm

As with other Microsoft Office 2000 applications, Microsoft Excel supports HTML as a native file format, allowing you to publish documents on the Web. Excel 2000 incorporates Office Web Components to allow for interactivity with online information. (The Office Web Components are a collection of Component Object Model (COM) controls that are used for publishing spreadsheets, charts, and databases to the Web.) You can use a browser to interact with an Excel document that has been published on the Web with Web Components.

In order to place a spreadsheet on the Web and interact with it you must:

1. Enter all the relevant data into the spreadsheet in Excel and include embedded formulas where necessary.

2. Save the document as a web page under the file menu.

3. Click the "Publish" button to save the spreadsheet as an interactive web page.

4. Select the "Add interactivity with" checkbox and choose "Spreadsheet functionality" from the drop-down list that appears in the Viewing options section of the Publish as a Web Page dialog box, in order to allow for spreadsheet interactivity.

5. Click Publish.

6. The Excel spreadsheet will now be visible to a browser that connects to the saving location (However, the Web browser must be Microsoft Internet Explorer version 4.01 or later).

7. A range of interactive tools is now available to the user to modify the web page including: changing data cells which will automatically update information where embedded formulas were used, arranging lists in alphabetical order, and adding figures in a column using the AutoSum button.

8. Click the "Export back to Excel" button to open the document in Excel, where you can work with the same information.

You can find out about all the CBT courses available at UNC-Chapel Hill by visiting http://cbt.unc.edu/

Thanks to Sari Schwartz for making this information available to CITations readers.

ITRC TIP: TILING MONITORS IN WINDOWS 98

Windows 98 allows users to "tile" two adjacent monitors, creating one large Windows desktop. Tiling monitors helps anybody who constantly switches between applications.

This procedure has been tested on an IBM Thinkpad 600E with a NeoMagic MagicMedia 256AV video adapter. However, the process is similar for any Windows 98 machine with a capable video adapter. Just follow these instructions:

(1) Go to START --> Control Panel --> Display.

(2) Choose SETTINGS tab and click on ADVANCED Button.

(3) Choose NeoMagic tab and check the "Set Dual Display" box.

The rest is simply tweaking the settings in order to get the monitors to display the way you want. Tiling is a function of Win 98 support as well as the video adapter.

Thanks to Bryan Ayers in the Information Technology Response Center for making ITRC Tips available to CITations readers.

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

CIT INFORMATION RESOURCE GUIDES UPDATED

The following documents in the CIT Information Resource Guides collection have been updated.

English Literature and Composition Resources on the Internet: Selected Sites
http://www.unc.edu/cit/guides/irg-30.html

Spanish Language Resources on the Internet: Selected Sites
http://www.unc.edu/cit/guides/irg-53.html

For a complete list of all the resource guides, see:
Title Listing
http://www.unc.edu/cit/guides/guides.html
or
Subject Listing
http://www.unc.edu/cit/guides/subjects.html

CONFERENCE ANNOUNCEMENTS

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

1999 CITATIONS PUBLICATION SCHEDULE

October 8
October 22
November 5
November 19
December 3
December 17

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 11:00 a.m. the day before the publication date.

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