Latest News

To keep using Zoom, upgrade to new version before May 30

UC Davis faculty, students, and staff need to upgrade to version 5.0 of Zoom before May 30 in order to continue participating in classes or other online sessions that use the videoconferencing tool.

Zoom released version 5.0 on April 27, and will not allow older versions of the tool to be used starting May 30. The new version, a major upgrade, includes security improvements and other enhancements.

IT Express is fully open and ready to help, wherever you land

The coronavirus is disrupting campus services, but the IT Express Service Desk is keeping a steady beat.

The campus tech service desk, with its analysts working remotely, continues to answer questions and requests for assistance on weekdays from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. It will also observe those hours during spring break.

You don’t need to be on campus to enlist their help. If you’re a UC Davis faculty member, student, or employee, they’re open for you.

New this week: Webinars for faculty on using Canvas, other tools, to teach online

The campus is presenting four webinars for faculty daily today through Friday, March 13, on how to use Canvas to hold quizzes or exams online, communicate with students, or distribute video lectures.

Each webinar, presented by an instructional technologist in Information and Educational Technology, lasts one hour. The topics:

Cybersecurity offers careers to students of science, arts, culture—and it pays well

For cybersecurity to keep pace with the fast spread of technology, the field needs students of every interest to think of it as a good potential career. This includes students from computer science, art, sociology, the economy, culture, ethics—you name it. Cybersecurity needs them.

A lunchtime get-together for UC Davis students this winter helped put that point across, and might even have inspired a new career path or two.

It improves clarity, saves time: Faculty list varied reasons for using Gradescope

UC Davis faculty curious about new approaches to grading might want to read this recent post in The Wheel. In it, instructors from different fields explain why they use Gradescope, a relatively new grading app on campus. Their answers are positive and varied.

One says Gradescope’s rubrics “allow for quick, clear grading” for questions “ranging from a few sentences to a full page of writing.” Another uses the app to “evaluate and improve my exam questions and structure.”

‘Future of cybersecurity’ event is for arts and STEM students alike

The campus and IBM are inviting students to a free lunchtime event on the future of cybersecurity, and students of the liberal arts or engineering are just as welcome as future computer scientists.

As are future economists, communicators, psychologists—you get the idea. Cybersecurity will require contributions from people with a sweeping range of interests, and leaders in the field are throwing open the doors.

It’s time to stop using Windows 7

It’s time to remove Windows 7 operating system (OS) software from any computer you use, especially at UC Davis.

On Jan. 14, 2020, Microsoft will stop supplying updates and security patches for the 10-year-old software, which will render Windows 7 too risky to use. Unsupported software is a prime target for hackers. By policy, unsupported OS and apps must not be used on computers or other devices that connect to the UC Davis network.

Campus publishes new Software and Service Catalog

Information and Educational Technology has created a new software catalog that makes it easier for students, staff, and faculty to obtain software available through campus agreements. The catalog also represents the next step forward in providing improved customer service from IET.