TechNews

California needs its youth to thrive. But how do we know if they are?

Researchers, advocates and organizers who want to foster healthy families and communities in the Golden State require accurate, compelling and actionable data about the condition of youth. A collaborative interactive data website that originated at UC Davis, called Putting Youth on the Map, helps meet that need.

If you own a project site in SmartSite and need ideas for replacing it now that SmartSite is ending, check out the new survey tool at smartsiteprojects.ucdavis.edu. It suggests alternatives based on what you want to accomplish.

Many of the alternatives are collaboration services that didn’t exist when SmartSite debuted in 2006, and are a better fit for certain purposes than SmartSite is.

See if this would be useful to you: a day of workshops, talks and sessions about teaching and technology, customized for UC Davis faculty, and led by a campus colleague or expert. UC Davis has recently adopted Canvas as its main learning management system, so exploring Canvas should be a theme.

And the event should be free, conveniently located, and, what the heck, include a complimentary lunch.

If you teach with UC Davis Canvas, this news should interest you: Instructure is adding features and making improvements to DocViewer, the new annotation tool that has replaced Crocodoc in Canvas.

Instructors use annotation tools to comment on students’ coursework, typically as part of grading. (The Canvas grading tool is SpeedGrader.)

If you can’t get internet access on campus beginning this Thursday, check the wi-fi setting on your device. If it’s still trying to use moobilenetx, that will likely be the problem. Moobilenetx won’t be working anymore.

On Thursday, June 22, the campus is retiring moobilenetx in favor of eduroam, a secure wireless service that can also be used at thousands of universities, airports, and other public sites worldwide.

The campus is retiring moobilenetx on June 22, so it’s time to switch to eduroam.

An email version of this message from the IT Express Service Desk is being distributed to the campus on May 10.

A few recent phishing scams aimed at UC Davis have looked more convincing than usual, so please be alert.

A few recent phishing scams aimed at UC Davis have looked more convincing than usual, so please be alert.

Before students say goodbye to SmartSite at the end of spring quarter 2017, there’s one more thing they should do: Save copies of any coursework stored in SmartSite that they want to keep from their previous classes.

They can retrieve copies until July 14 (see instructions). After spring quarter wraps up, UC Davis will stop using SmartSite for instruction, and students will not have access to anything stored in old SmartSite course sites.

Two experts in advanced cybersecurity will speak at UC Davis this June. Admission is free, and everyone is welcome.

In the first talk, a security expert at one of the world’s top technology companies will discuss trends that involve cybersecurity and “cognitive computing”—roughly speaking, technology that attempts to mimic the human brain.

In the second presentation, the chief security and trust officer at a California company that makes security software and uses machine learning techniques will address “The Promises and Perils of Emerging Technologies for Cybersecurity.”

Now that its renovations are nearly complete, the Memorial Union will soon be home to an open-access computer lab for the first time in two years. Anyone connected to UC Davis can use it.

The lab is scheduled to open May 1 in 246 MU. It will be open 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on weekdays, then expand its hours starting this fall. The room will have 22 computers, including seven Macs and six stand-up stations, plus both B&W and color printers.

You’ve heard of spring cleaning? There’s a digital equivalent, and it’s as important as any scrubbing you do around the house or office.

Like cleaning your home, the work might not be much fun, but you won’t have to haul out any mops or sponges to do it and you’ll likely feel better when you’re done. You’ll improve your security, and your devices will probably run faster.

Here are a few tips for refreshing and renewing your cyber life:

1. Review your online accounts

It’s really happening. The instructional use of SmartSite will end when spring term concludes in June.

“As planned, SmartSite will no longer be an active learning management system once spring quarter ends, without exceptions,” said David Levin, director of Academic Technology Services (ATS) in Information and Educational Technology.

“We want everyone to know this is a firm deadline,” he said. “About 85 percent of instructors are already using its replacement, UC Davis Canvas, and we don’t want the final 15 percent to be left behind.”

SiteFarm, UC Davis’ modern web publishing platform, will be available campuswide starting April 17.

Campus website developers and communicators can use SiteFarm to build and manage websites. SiteFarm is a central service available at no cost to campus units, and includes cloud hosting; you can take it for a spin on the demo site.

This message is for the 28,500 UC Davis faculty, staff and student employees who received an email in January advising them to take their UC cybersecurity awareness training.

To the nearly 83 percent who have finished the training: Thank you!

To the 17 percent who haven’t yet: You’re overdue—and remember, completing the training is now a pre-requisite for receiving a “Fully Achieved Expectations” rating on your annual job evaluation. Please complete the training soon. Also, deans and vice chancellors have received lists of people in their areas who are overdue for finishing the training, or whose deadline is close.