ITaP: ITaP Newsroom

Assistive technology helps mother enjoy spring commencement, son graduate

itap@purdue.edu — Thu, 16 May 2013 00:00:00 EDT

The cooperative effort of multiple Purdue departments, including the Disabilities Resource Center and ITaP, allowed a mother with profound hearing loss to better enjoy commencement – and helped her son earn his degree – both with an assist from assistive technology.

Revamped course engages students through active learning, technology

itap@purdue.edu — Tue, 14 May 2013 00:00:00 EDT

By incorporating real-world skill development and instructional technology into their industrial supply chain management classes, Assistant Professor Regena Scott and graduate assistant Christine Witt transformed a lecture course to create enhanced, active learning opportunities, such as interactive gaming and competitive simulations.

Research computing coffee consultations offer benefits for would-be, new and experienced users

itap@purdue.edu — Wed, 08 May 2013 00:00:00 EDT

Weekly “Coffee Break Consultations” with ITaP Research Computing (RCAC) staff are informal meetups with benefits for new and experienced high-performance computing users or faculty, staff and students just thinking about adding the tool to their research toolbox.

Guru to replace Sage and Mentor academic login servers

itap@purdue.edu — Thu, 02 May 2013 00:00:00 EDT

Faculty who teach courses using UNIX systems will be affected by a scheduled server upgrade this summer. Academic login servers Sage and Mentor, which support UNIX-based classes, will be shut off on June 10 and replaced with a new server, Guru.

Career account storage limit will rise to 5GB after directory migration in early May

itap@purdue.edu — Wed, 01 May 2013 00:00:00 EDT

ITaP is increasing the amount of career account storage available to students, staff and faculty to 5 gigabytes, up from the 500 megabytes currently allotted. To accommodate the increase, ITaP will move all career account home directories to an expandable storage system over three separate migrations from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. on May 7, 8 and 9.

Blackboard Learn resources facilitate grade submission, end-of-semester tasks

itap@purdue.edu — Mon, 22 Apr 2013 00:00:00 EDT

As the spring semester concludes, faculty can get help with completing end-of-semester tasks such as grade submission, updating a master course and retrieving course materials by visiting ITaP’s online Blackboard Learn resources.

Web conferencing survey will help inform campus strategy

itap@purdue.edu — Tue, 16 Apr 2013 00:00:00 EDT

Purdue is conducting a campus-wide survey to gain a better understanding of Web conferencing practices and needs of faculty and staff. Information gathered from the survey will be used to inform a new campus strategy on video conferencing resources.

BoilerBackpack gives researchers 100 gigabytes of storage, removes file limits

itap@purdue.edu — Mon, 15 Apr 2013 00:00:00 EDT

The latest offering in Purdue’s BoilerBackpack storage suite, researchBackpack, offers researchers 100 gigabytes of file storage and eliminates limits on the number of files that can be stored. Before this service offering, users of ITaP’s research cluster supercomputers were limited to 5 GB of home directory storage. Not a research cluster user? BoilerBackpack offers 100 GB of free space to all faculty, students and staff, too.

Blackboard Learn upgrade to bring improved features, user experience to faculty and students

itap@purdue.edu — Mon, 15 Apr 2013 00:00:00 EDT

New features, along with an improved content editor and expanded assessment analytics, and what should be a better user experience are coming to the Blackboard course management system at Purdue as part of a planned upgrade of Blackboard Learn.

Confluence upgrade allows Purdue wikis to be open to the public

itap@purdue.edu — Fri, 12 Apr 2013 00:00:00 EDT

Confluence, Purdue’s Web-based wiki software, will be undergoing a scheduled upgrade from May 11 to May 13. The service will be unavailable during this time. The upgrade to Confluence 4.2.8 will give users the option to open Purdue wikis to the public.

April’s SecurePurdue newsletter features phishing defenses, security training info

itap@purdue.edu — Fri, 05 Apr 2013 00:00:00 EDT

April’s edition of the quarterly SecurePurdue newsletter includes advice on how Purdue faculty, staff and students can protect themselves against phishing messages and information on security training.

Engineering professor uses streaming video to teach students sustainable skills

itap@purdue.edu — Thu, 07 Mar 2013 00:00:00 EDT

With the proliferation of video technology and a shift in the way students prefer to learn, Civil Engineering Professor Larry Nies is incorporating instructor- and student-produced online video into his courses on engineering environmental sustainability. ITaP can help with a variety of applications available for video production by faculty and students.

Research demonstration, advanced tips to be shared at Qualtrics spring break workshop

itap@purdue.edu — Wed, 27 Feb 2013 00:00:00 EDT

A demonstration of research applications for the online survey tool Qualtrics, in addition to advanced tips, is scheduled 10-11:30 a.m. Friday, March 15 as part of ITaP’s series of spring break workshops. Interested faculty and staff may reserve a seat by visiting the ITaP training calendar.

Virtual environment makes Purdue’s real-life accessible biology wet lab available worldwide

itap@purdue.edu — Tue, 05 Feb 2013 00:00:00 EDT

Purdue’s specially designed accessible biology wet lab can now be accessed by the world in a Web-enabled, 3-D virtual version created by a partnership between faculty members with the Institute for Accessible Science and ITaP’s Envision Center for Data Perceptualization.

Professor uses in-class i>clicker feedback to help guide instruction

itap@purdue.edu — Mon, 28 Jan 2013 00:00:00 EDT

Speech, Language and Hearing Sciences Professor Alex Francis is turning to i>clicker, a student-response system, to provide feedback he needs to gauge his students’ comprehension and help guide his instruction. ITaP and the Center for Instructional Excellence (CIE) are hosting a Feb. 6 workshop on clickers for other faculty interested in taking advantage of the technology.

ITaP shares Blackboard Learn tips, offers resources

itap@purdue.edu — Wed, 23 Jan 2013 00:00:00 EDT

As instructors continue to familiarize themselves with Blackboard Learn, ITaP technologists are offering tips and resources to help manage courses, including using Student View and creating a non-academic course.

ITaP resources provide answers to common IT questions

itap@purdue.edu — Thu, 17 Jan 2013 00:00:00 EDT

Information Technology at Purdue (ITaP) provides several resources that help students find answers to their IT questions.

Students can save money on computers and peripherals

itap@purdue.edu — Thu, 17 Jan 2013 00:00:00 EDT

With their Purdue affiliation, students can save money on purchases of hardware and peripherals offered by Apple, Dell and HP.

Purdue researchers using R tool, access to thousands of processors to get results

itap@purdue.edu — Thu, 17 Jan 2013 00:00:00 EDT

Purdue researchers are getting results from a graphical Web-based tool for running the R open source statistical computing software, available to faculty and their students through Purdue’s DiaGrid hub.

Purdue becomes AT&T Wi-Fi hotspot for use by visitors

itap@purdue.edu — Tue, 15 Jan 2013 00:00:00 EDT

Thanks to a new University agreement, prospective students, parents, athletic event attendees and other visitors can now access AT&T’s Wi-Fi service and connect to the Internet from their mobile devices and laptops while on Purdue’s campus.

Course Signals now available in Blackboard Learn

itap@purdue.edu — Fri, 11 Jan 2013 00:00:00 EDT

Course Signals, a Purdue-developed early warning system for students’ academic progress, is now available to use as a tool in Blackboard Learn for spring semester 2013. Recent statistics show the intervention program improves student success in classes employing it, as well as retention and graduation rates.

Monthly videos offer free cyber security advice to help staff protect data

itap@purdue.edu — Mon, 07 Jan 2013 00:00:00 EDT

ITaP is promoting a free monthly series of cyber security awareness videos designed to educate individuals about behavior changes that can make an entire organization, including Purdue, more secure and compliant with security best practices.

PURR provides a campus hub for research data management

itap@purdue.edu — Mon, 07 Jan 2013 00:00:00 EDT

The Purdue University Research Repository (PURR) helps researchers meet the requirements of funding agencies for data management plans by giving Purdue faculty, graduate students and staff an online hub they can use for collaborating on research and publishing and archiving datasets.

Passport's badge-based platform guides students toward learning outcomes

itap@purdue.edu — Wed, 02 Jan 2013 00:00:00 EDT

Passport, a new badge-based learning system developed by ITaP, is helping Bart Collins measure his students’ hands-on projects while making grading quicker and easier. Using the tool, Collins’ students are able to demonstrate mastery of Web development concepts beyond the classroom.

Students gain new perspectives on supercomputing, breakfast, mattresses

itap@purdue.edu — Thu, 15 Nov 2012 00:00:00 EDT

Six Purdue undergraduates with their own supercomputer gained a new perspective on their futures — and ours — by competing in the Cluster Challenge, the student supercomputing competition at SC12, the world’s largest supercomputing conference. ITaP and HP sponsored the team.

Purdue student supercomputing team has had its coffee and is off and running

itap@purdue.edu — Mon, 12 Nov 2012 00:00:00 EDT

Six Purdue undergraduates with their own supercomputer are crunching data — and their caffeine consumption — in the Cluster Challenge, the student supercomputing competition at SC12, the world’s largest supercomputing conference. ITaP and HP are sponsoring the team.

Hotseat helps boost engagement in large-enrollment courses

itap@purdue.edu — Fri, 09 Nov 2012 00:00:00 EDT

Getting students to engage with course content can be challenging, especially in classes with large enrollments. But Hotseat, a Twitter-like discussion tool developed at Purdue, has provided continuing lecturer David Bos the means to identify which concepts his students understand, as well as topics needing additional coverage or demonstrations in class.

ITaP’s assistive technology specialists help enable remote classroom captioning

itap@purdue.edu — Thu, 08 Nov 2012 00:00:00 EDT

Purdue can now provide students who are deaf or hard-of-hearing real-time captioning of their classes on student-owned iPads through the University’s communication access real-time translation (CART) service, the result of a project by the Disability Resource Center and ITaP assistive technology specialists.

Get help using ITaP services in Windows 8

itap@purdue.edu — Thu, 08 Nov 2012 00:00:00 EDT

Learning a new operating system like Windows 8 can be like navigating a new town without GPS — a series of guesses, some of them unfortunate.

Fall into ITaP Shopping to test drive the latest laptops from Dell

itap@purdue.edu — Thu, 25 Oct 2012 00:00:00 EDT

ITaP Shopping Offline, a vendor showcase located in Stewart Center, Room G65, is now featuring three new Dell laptops for you to test drive.

Biology instructor transforms his lecture course one new technology tool at a time

itap@purdue.edu — Fri, 07 Sep 2012 00:00:00 EDT

By integrating a new course enhancement every year or so, biology instructor David Bos is using a cadre of educational technology tools to stimulate the level of student engagement he couldn’t achieve with just lecturing, while he is also helping students develop critical analysis and problem-solving skills.

New HUBzero version has extensive research team coordination, collaboration features

itap@purdue.edu — Fri, 31 Aug 2012 00:00:00 EDT

A new version of Purdue’s HUBzero platform for creating online research and education communities includes extensive project coordination and collaboration features, including a file repository with version tracking. The new HUBzero will be released at the HUBbub 2012 conference Sept. 24-25.

Workshop highlights free, fast BLAST processing with friendly interface for faculty and their students

itap@purdue.edu — Mon, 13 Aug 2012 00:00:00 EDT

An easy-to-use, Web-based tool for BLAST searches and Purdue’s DiaGrid distributed computing system are available at no cost to Purdue faculty and their students. The BLASTer tool on DiaGrid can apply thousands of processors at once to BLAST jobs and radically reduce time to results. Faculty, research staff and graduate students are invited to try BLASTer at a workshop and luncheon on Wednesday, Sept. 19.

Faculty, staff invited to test new service and receive 100 gigabytes of free space

itap@purdue.edu — Mon, 13 Aug 2012 00:00:00 EDT

Staff, faculty and students are invited to try Purdue’s new file storage system with 100 gigabytes of free individual space for storing and retrieving digital belongings. The first service available as part of the new storage platform, called BoilerBackpack, lets users work with stored files from anywhere.

Let ITaP help guide your computer purchases

itap@purdue.edu — Mon, 30 Jul 2012 00:00:00 EDT

Choosing a new computer for your college student can be a daunting task as the choice of vendor, specifications and accessories can seem endless. Whether you chose to buy a new computer or bring one from home, ITaP has a few guidelines to help you.

Pegasus project leader, White House advanced manufacturing adviser to speak at HUBzero conference

itap@purdue.edu — Fri, 27 Jul 2012 00:00:00 EDT

The chief White House adviser on advanced manufacturing science and technology, the United Kingdom’s director for digital social research and the leader of the Pegasus project, which makes it easier for researchers to work with high-performance, grid and cloud computing resources, are among the speakers set for HUBbub 2012. The annual conference focuses on HUBzero, the Purdue-developed ready-made cyberinfrastructure for research and education.

ITaP’s Customer Service Center moves to more convenient location in Stewart center library space

itap@purdue.edu — Thu, 26 Jul 2012 00:00:00 EDT

ITaP’s Customer Service Center (CSC) walk-in help desk has moved to a more convenient location on the main floor of the Humanities, Social Science & Education (HSSE) Library, located in the Stewart Center. The CSC moved Aug. 6.

Course redesign experience highlights Blackboard Learn advantages for faculty, graduate students

itap@purdue.edu — Thu, 26 Jul 2012 00:00:00 EDT

Graduate students in learning design and technology who assisted faculty in redesigning courses in Blackboard Learn found that the new system takes some getting used to but offers many advantages for faculty and their students. Resources for transitioning to Learn are readily available to faculty, who need to rebuild courses in Blackboard Learn before Dec. 31, 2012, after which courses will no longer be displayed to students in Blackboard Vista.

Purdue early warning system Course Signals wins national award for student retention

itap@purdue.edu — Thu, 19 Jul 2012 00:00:00 EDT

Purdue’s Course Signals — a real-time, very early intervention system providing students with concrete steps toward improvement in classes where they may be in danger of failing — is being honored as one of the nation’s most innovative campus retention programs. Course Signals won a 2012 Noel-Levitz Retention Excellence Award highlighting programs designed to encourage students to succeed and persevere through graduation.

Follow these password quidelines to keep your data and Purdue's systems secure

itap@purdue.edu — Fri, 13 Jul 2012 00:00:00 EDT

To keep personal data and Purdue’s systems secure, employees are required to change their career account passwords on a regular basis. Here are some frequently asked questions individuals can refer to that will ease the process.

Disabling devices during password resets can prevent career account lockouts

itap@purdue.edu — Fri, 13 Jul 2012 00:00:00 EDT

Individuals who remember to change their Purdue career account password but forget to disable their mobile devices before doing so may find themselves locked out of their career account. Follow these four simple steps to avoid being locked out of your account.

Returning Wi-Fi users asked to update settings to prevent service disruption

itap@purdue.edu — Mon, 25 Jun 2012 00:00:00 EDT

A change that occurred this summer in the security certificate for the Purdue Wi-Fi service, Purdue Air Link (PAL), should help better protect users against phishing attempts from individuals trying to collect username and password information from an unauthorized wireless access point. Some PAL users may need to update settings on their wireless devices to account for the security change in the system.

Luncheon to focus on new Purdue supercomputer’s ability to accelerate and enhance research

itap@purdue.edu — Mon, 11 Jun 2012 00:00:00 EDT

Purdue’s new Carter community cluster supercomputer and its ability to speed up and enhance research results will be the focus of an informational luncheon for faculty, staff and graduate students, set for 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. Tuesday, June 26, in the Envision Center for Data Perceptualization.

Magazine picks Hotseat, DoubleTake and Mixable as top innovations for 2012

itap@purdue.edu — Fri, 01 Jun 2012 00:00:00 EDT

Campus Technology Magazine is recognizing Purdue as an international campus technology innovator for Hotseat, Mixable and DoubleTake, three mobile applications that bolster engagement inside and outside the classroom using technology already integral to students. Purdue has won six of the awards since 2006, all for technologies developed by Purdue’s IT staff.

Software Remote offers free access to more than 200 software applications

itap@purdue.edu — Fri, 01 Jun 2012 00:00:00 EDT

With the variety of classes offered on Purdue’s West Lafayette campus, it can be difficult for students to determine what software is required for those classes. But through Software Remote, students always have access to the most commonly used software on campus from the convenience of their laptops or PCs.

Faculty use, student downloads increasing demand for class recordings

itap@purdue.edu — Tue, 22 May 2012 00:00:00 EDT

Impressive increases in the number of faculty making recordings of classes available and the number of students downloading these recordings have ITaP gearing up for more course recording requests during the upcoming school year.

Students: One last chance to buy Microsoft products

itap@purdue.edu — Fri, 27 Apr 2012 00:00:00 EDT

Students have a last chance to get the Purdue discount on Microsoft software due to leftover inventory of some Microsoft Select titles.

Blackboard Learn’s tools facilitate students’ writing and online presentations

itap@purdue.edu — Thu, 26 Apr 2012 00:00:00 EDT

Blackboard Learn pilot participant Karen Yehle found the most satisfaction in using Learn’s improved discussion board tool. Blackboard has enhanced its new system in ways that fit the nursing professor’s use of online discussions, writing assignments and student collaboration on group projects. ITaP encourages faculty to register for Blackboard Learn workshops in May and June to get ready for the transition to Learn this fall.

Purdue’s new top-ranked research supercomputer getting good grades from faculty

itap@purdue.edu — Mon, 23 Apr 2012 00:00:00 EDT

Purdue faculty researchers using the Carter community cluster report that the University’s latest research supercomputer can significantly speed up time to results for many research applications and enable more complex simulations. Capacity in the Carter cluster is still available.

Professor, ITaP seek faculty to collaborate on new learning technology

itap@purdue.edu — Mon, 23 Apr 2012 00:00:00 EDT

Professor Bill Watson wants to move toward an educational system that is learner-centered, engaging and focused on mastering skills as opposed to transferring knowledge delivered through lectures. Watson is partnering with ITaP to develop a new instructional technology that could help make this idea reality and they’re encouraging other faculty members to get involved.

OLS professor and students in Blackboard Learn pilot give positive mid-semester appraisal

itap@purdue.edu — Mon, 26 Mar 2012 00:00:00 EDT

Organizational leadership and supervision Professor Dan Lybrook wanted a system easier to manipulate than Blackboard Vista with fewer steps in developing a course, and his students wanted fewer technical glitches. With help from ITaP educational technologists, the new Blackboard Learn course management system is meeting both needs. ITaP will offer Blackboard Learn workshops during April and over summer break for faculty who have not yet begun rebuilding their courses for fall semester.

New Blackboard Learn tools elicit greater interaction among online students in pilot

itap@purdue.edu — Mon, 26 Mar 2012 00:00:00 EDT

Undergraduate students in Basic Public Health Studies, an online course in the Blackboard Learn pilot this semester, are benefiting from tools their peers in other sections of the course in Blackboard Vista do not have. Students in all online sections have similar required assignments, but those in the pilot communicate more often and with more detail, capitalizing on opportunities available in the new platform. Roseann Lyle attributes the difference to Learn’s enhanced collaboration tools.

Last chance for students to purchase Microsoft products, March 31

itap@purdue.edu — Thu, 15 Mar 2012 00:00:00 EDT

he last chance for students to purchase Microsoft software on campus is March 31, 2012.

Mixable aids in online ‘treasure hunt’ for statistical references

itap@purdue.edu — Mon, 12 Mar 2012 00:00:00 EDT

One goal for continuing lecturer Ellen Gundlach’s Statistics 113 class is to help students become savvy statistics consumers by the end of each semester. Since incorporating Mixable into her curriculum, Gundlach has been better able to track student activity toward that end and provide feedback outside of regular class time.

Nursing professor customizes upper-level courses with Blackboard Learn’s options

itap@purdue.edu — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 00:00:00 EDT

Professor Janet Thorlton puts Blackboard Learn’s communication tools and online course features to good use in her upper-level nursing courses. Her online students enjoy synchronous conferencing sessions, and her on-campus students prefer a traditional lecture to taking the course online. She can customize each of her courses with the many options Blackboard Learn provides.

New PAL 3.0 offers faster, denser, safer Wi-Fi coverage

itap@purdue.edu — Wed, 15 Feb 2012 00:00:00 EDT

Purdue Air Link 3.0, the newest wireless network deployed as part of ITaP’s campus-wide initiative to offer faster, denser and safer Wi-Fi service, should make for fewer “dead” or hard-to-reach Wi-Fi spots in campus buildings and minimize device compatibility issues for those who have had trouble in the past. Roughly 50 percent of the University’s buildings already have been upgraded, with the remaining buildings expected to be upgraded by the end of 2012.

New Windows-based cluster supercomputer now available to Purdue researchers

itap@purdue.edu — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 00:00:00 EDT

A new cluster supercomputer running on Microsoft’s Windows HPC system makes high-performance computing even more accessible for Purdue faculty researchers and their students, while also making Windows-only research software available.

JetPack serves as textbook alternative in new computer science course

itap@purdue.edu — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 00:00:00 EDT

After a frustrating search for appropriate and affordable course materials for a new computer science class, Professor Jennifer Neville was surprised to learn that the solution she was looking for was right in her backyard. JetPack, a publishing platform developed by ITaP’s Informatics group, is a textbook alternative designed like an e-reader to store text, videos, audio and other course materials at no cost to students or instructors.

Moving research to energy efficient community cluster saves time and money

itap@purdue.edu — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 00:00:00 EDT

When electrical engineering Professor Scott Sudhoff moved his lab’s research from his own aging high-performance computing system to a community cluster built in a partnership among faculty members and ITaP, it gave him a more reliable, more powerful tool for his work — and it saved Purdue money on power and cooling.

Professor enjoyed redesigning aviation technology course for online delivery

itap@purdue.edu — Mon, 19 Dec 2011 00:00:00 EDT

Professor John P. Young worked with ITaP’s skilled instructional technology professionals to redesign a master’s level aviation technology course for full online delivery as part of the College of Technology’s ProSTAR program, which offers graduate level degrees, certificates, courses and workshops to professionals in business and technology fields.

Computer repair options for students

itap@purdue.edu — Tue, 08 Nov 2011 00:00:00 EDT

Just like your car, a computer needs routine maintenance and occasional repairs. For students encountering computer problems while they are away at college, however, finding a qualified and affordable computer repair shop can be challenging. ITaP has some suggestions to ease the process.

Follow these tips to keep your Facebook account secure

itap@purdue.edu — Tue, 11 Oct 2011 00:00:00 EDT

In celebration of October National Cybersecurity Awareness Month, ITaP offers the following tips on keeping your Facebook account and other social media sites secure.

Using clickers and active-learning methods helps engage students in engineering design course

itap@purdue.edu — Wed, 28 Sep 2011 00:00:00 EDT

Engineering instructor Mark Johnson has used classroom-response technology to engage students and promote discussion in his lectures for an integrated circuit design project course since 2005. During spring semester 2011, he piloted the new i>clicker2 and found it to be a good fit for his teaching methods and the kinds of questions he poses to students.

New Hansen research supercomputer activated, capacity still available to faculty

itap@purdue.edu — Mon, 19 Sep 2011 00:00:00 EDT

Purdue’s latest supercomputer, called Hansen, is ready to run jobs from faculty researchers studying topics ranging from the spread of contaminants on airliners to the spread of warmer temperatures on the Earth. Capacity in the Hansen cluster is still available to interested faculty.

Professor finds BoilerCast lecture-capture system boosts student learning

itap@purdue.edu — Fri, 26 Aug 2011 00:00:00 EDT

After using BoilerCast, ITaP’s lecture-capture technology, for two years, agricultural economics Professor Larry DeBoer saw his students perform better in a course with historically poor attendance and low enough grades to consistently warrant a curve. Capturing his classes was also appealing as a permanent record of his work as well as a portable, easily accessible source of course content for his students.

Mixable application engages students in nontraditional ways

itap@purdue.edu — Fri, 12 Aug 2011 00:00:00 EDT

Mixable, a new ITaP-developed technology to help drive student engagement, is available for use by any faculty member or student this semester. Mixable is an easy-to-use collaboration tool that integrates with students’ use of Facebook, Twitter and other social media applications to enable discussion of course materials, study groups, team projects, and more.

Students aren’t alone in saving money on hardware through ITaP shopping

itap@purdue.edu — Thu, 11 Aug 2011 00:00:00 EDT

Faculty and staff, as well as students, can save money by taking advantage of their Purdue affiliation on purchases of hardware and peripherals offered by Apple, Dell and HP.

Purdue research computing resources for faculty among best in the nation

itap@purdue.edu — Thu, 04 Aug 2011 00:00:00 EDT

Purdue now ranks fourth among U.S. academic institutions with systems on the TOP500 supercomputers list and is tops in the Big Ten. Faculty partners and ITaP already are working on another shared community cluster supercomputer, which is expected to become operational in September 2011 and should make the next TOP500 list.

Interactive applications help agronomy students learn about feeding the world’s population

itap@purdue.edu — Sun, 24 Jul 2011 00:00:00 EDT

Agronomy professor Lori Unruh Snyder is enthusiastic about how her Purdue crop science students are learning the intricacies of food supply and sustainable agriculture — in part by using engaging game and simulation technology she developed with ITaP. CropView and iFarm help first-year students better learn introductory crop science course content.

Get to myMail faster by updating your bookmark

itap@purdue.edu — Thu, 21 Jul 2011 00:00:00 EDT

myMail users should update their bookmarks from webmail.purdue.edu to mymail.purdue.edu by Sept. 1, 2011 as a final step in the transition to myMail—Purdue’s email, calendaring and collaboration service. On that date, anyone who attempts to go to webmail.purdue.edu will receive a Page Not Found error.

Virtual ICU created by faculty, ITaP partnership supports research and training

itap@purdue.edu — Wed, 20 Apr 2011 00:00:00 EDT

When a physician is treating a patient in an intensive care unit, nurses are more than partners. They’re also human safety checklists. Are the right medicines and equipment on hand? Has the patient consented to the procedure? Did the doctor wash his hands? Purdue nursing students are testing a new way to learn that role — a virtual intensive care unit, or ICU, an immersive 3-D environment created at ITaP’s Envision Center for Data Perceptualization.

Integrating technology in agronomy courses enhances the learning environment

itap@purdue.edu — Fri, 15 Apr 2011 00:00:00 EDT

Since his teaching career began, technology has captivated agronomy Professor George Van Scoyoc. A 1979 Radio Shack TRS 80, Model I computer was the first of many technologies he's adapted for instruction. Today, he’s mastered Adobe Connect and Skype to facilitate discussions between his Purdue students in West Lafayette and those in Kenya and South Africa. Van Scoyoc also uses Connect, Web conferencing software for real-time meetings and virtual classes, to hold periodic virtual help sessions.

Blackboard online assessments help first-year Spanish students speak more fluently

itap@purdue.edu — Tue, 22 Mar 2011 00:00:00 EDT

As director of Purdue’s Spanish basic language instruction program, Maria Cooks has been challenged to develop multiple ways for students in her Spanish 101 and 102 courses to practice pronouncing and conversing. She has always looked to instructional technologies to assist her.

Future athletic rivals, Nebraska and Purdue are teammates in research computing

itap@purdue.edu — Mon, 28 Feb 2011 00:00:00 EDT

Nebraska may not feel like an official member of the Big Ten Conference until football season, but Purdue and its future rival already are models of good sportsmanship in the field of research computing. They’re partners in the Purdue-led DiaGrid distributed computing project, which makes thousands of computer processors readily available for use by Purdue and Nebraska researchers.

Maximize your use of Microsoft Office with GoldAnswers tips

itap@purdue.edu — Tue, 22 Feb 2011 00:00:00 EDT

ITaP’s GoldAnswers — a Purdue-specific knowledge base — assists the Purdue community with tips and tutorials on maximizing the use of Microsoft Office.

Faculty, ITaP partnership looks at making 3-D projection a classroom staple

itap@purdue.edu — Wed, 16 Feb 2011 00:00:00 EDT

Aeronautics and astronautics Professor Kathleen Howell has tried a variety of methods for illustrating the 3-D rotation of an object in space, a problem beyond her students' earthly experiences. Now, a classroom with 3-D stereoscopic projection capability resulting from collaboration between faculty members and ITaP is making it easier for Howell’s students to get the picture.

FootPrints software forges campus-wide path for IT incident management

itap@purdue.edu — Mon, 07 Feb 2011 00:00:00 EDT

Numara FootPrints — a suite of shared processes to manage IT requests, incidents, problems, changes and service-level management — is set to make its mark across campus this spring following its use in two individual departments.

ITaP, faculty partnership looks at Lake Michigan in depth — without anybody getting wet

itap@purdue.edu — Wed, 26 Jan 2011 00:00:00 EDT

ITaP data visualization specialists are helping provide some illuminating 3-D animations of environmental fluid mechanics processes affecting the Great Lakes. The project is an example of what ITaP's Envision Center for Data Perceptualization and audio-visual services unit can do for Purdue faculty, both for research and teaching.

BoilerCast turns up the volume on learning through lectures

itap@purdue.edu — Fri, 14 Jan 2011 00:00:00 EDT

An ITaP service available in 280 West Lafayette-campus classrooms, BoilerCast allows instructors to post audio and screen-captured recordings of their lectures online, as well as supplemental content. Students can use these audiovisual enhancements to prepare for homework, lab projects, exam reviews and more.

GoldAnswers offers tips and tutorials for myMail access and more via smartphone

itap@purdue.edu — Thu, 02 Dec 2010 00:00:00 EDT

ITaP's GoldAnswers — a Purdue-specific knowledge base — can assist the Purdue community with tips and tutorials to get the most out of smartphones.

Colder temperatures, hotter technology: ITaP introduces fall innovations, improvements

itap@purdue.edu — Thu, 28 Oct 2010 00:00:00 EDT

With a new academic year fully underway, the Purdue community is enjoying the benefits of newly introduced or recently updated ITaP services and programs. Take a look at what’s current in ITaP technology this fall.

ITaP simulation gives preservice special-education teachers practice with classroom decisions

itap@purdue.edu — Wed, 13 Oct 2010 00:00:00 EDT

To engage undergraduate students in her special-education methods courses, assistant professor Emily Bouck collaborated with ITaP’s instructional services unit for technical help in developing an educational game she named TeachLive.“I had seen such simulations at the K-12 level, but nothing like what I envisioned for college students,” Bouck says. “I knew what classroom scenarios I wanted my students to experience, but the game definitely was abstract in my mind and hard to articulate.”

ITaP project assists faculty with expert help in converting courses for distance learning

itap@purdue.edu — Fri, 24 Sep 2010 00:00:00 EDT

Crime scene investigation is more than just the subject of the popular "CSI" series of television programs. It also is the subject of a wildly popular Purdue course — Entomology 218, Introduction to Forensic Science. Now, thanks to an ITaP project to retool courses for distance learning, this fall students can get Entomology 218 in their own homes just like the "CSI" TV shows — or anywhere else with a computer and Web access.

GoldAnswers offers tips and tutorials for course email lists

itap@purdue.edu — Wed, 22 Sep 2010 00:00:00 EDT

ITaP's GoldAnswers — a Purdue-specific knowledge base — can assist Purdue University faculty with tips and tutorials about using course email lists in their classes.

Renovated ITaP instructional computing lab promotes collaboration, mobility

itap@purdue.edu — Thu, 26 Aug 2010 00:00:00 EDT

Making themselves at home doesn’t usually come to mind for students studying in a computer lab. But few labs are designed to promote rearranging furniture, sitting in rocking floor chairs and making a little noise while working with peers - as is the case with the renovated ITaP instructional computing lab in Room G073 of Stanley Coulter Hall.

GoldAnswers helps faculty bring out best of Blackboard for students

itap@purdue.edu — Mon, 23 Aug 2010 00:00:00 EDT

ITaP's GoldAnswers — a Purdue-specific knowledge base — can aid University faculty in diversifying their use of Blackboard Vista, an online course environment for assignments, grading and additional amenities.

Mainframe decommissioning project months ahead of schedule

itap@purdue.edu — Thu, 24 Jun 2010 00:00:00 EDT

Drop more than 8,000 pounds and keep it off. That’s a weight-loss claim ITaP can support with evidence, as its project to decommission a mainframe that houses sensitive business data is far ahead of schedule.

ITaP gets animated over cybersecurity training

itap@purdue.edu — Fri, 11 Jun 2010 00:00:00 EDT

Sharing is the bedrock of any healthy romance, but drawing the line when it comes to passwords is wise, too. It’s also smart to sidestep suspicious characters trying to infiltrate your inbox and stir up trouble.

Global warming could eventually make half the Earth’s population centers too hot to handle

itap@purdue.edu — Wed, 05 May 2010 00:00:00 EDT

A study looking at global warming in terms of heat stress on humans — which also has application to other mammals, like pets and livestock — says half the world’s population centers could become dangerously hot within the next few centuries if the warming trend continues.

NASA, Purdue study offers recipe for global warming-free industrial materials

itap@purdue.edu — Tue, 04 May 2010 00:00:00 EDT

Let a bunch of fluorine atoms get together in the molecules of a chemical compound and they’re like a heavy metal band at a chamber music festival. They tend to dominate the proceedings and not always for the better. That’s particularly true where the global-warming potential of the chemicals is concerned, says a new study by NASA and Purdue University researchers.

HUBzero open source release is a hub-in-a-box, without the box

itap@purdue.edu — Wed, 14 Apr 2010 00:00:00 EDT

When Purdue Professor Ashlie Martini wants to explain how force variations cause ribbon-like protein molecules to change shape, which governs their myriad functions in the body, she can bring up the Web site nanoHUB.org and a web-based application called Forced Protein Unfolding. Now the tool is available to anyone.

Maximize your use of SharePoint with GoldAnswers tips

itap@purdue.edu — Mon, 05 Apr 2010 00:00:00 EDT

ITaP's GoldAnswers — a global knowledge base with Purdue-specific information — can help you get the most out of SharePoint, a web-based collaboration platform from Microsoft in wide use at Purdue.

ITaP makes connecting to VPN service easier

itap@purdue.edu — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 00:00:00 EDT

Accessing Purdue campus resources from home just got easier.

Students: Hang up your coat, use Software Remote for lab software

itap@purdue.edu — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 00:00:00 EDT

When needing to complete a project at 2 a.m., it’s not appealing to see yourself trekking across campus to visit an ITaP instructional lab. Using ITaP’s Software Remote service, Purdue students can access about 140 software programs available in instructional labs from the comfort of their room at no additional cost.

GoldAnswers tips help you work when away from the office

itap@purdue.edu — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 00:00:00 EDT

ITaP's GoldAnswers — a global knowledge base with Purdue-specific information — equips you with tutorials on work productivity even when you're not in the office.

Toll-free dialup service discontinuing May 30

itap@purdue.edu — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 00:00:00 EDT

Over the past few months, ITaP has reviewed the viability of continuing its toll-free dialup service with several campus committees. As a result of general recognition that Internet access is both readily available in many locations and by many commercial providers, the decision was made to discontinue toll-free dialup services on May 30, 2010. This time frame is intended to provide users with ample time to plan the transition.

Purdue policy allows forwarding of purdue.edu messages to third-party email clients

itap@purdue.edu — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 00:00:00 EDT

Purdue's official email policy states, "Users may forward their Purdue University email to another email address, but any User who does so expressly assumes all responsibility for delivery beyond the purdue.edu domain." This means purdue.edu email addresses can be forwarded to third-party email addresses such as those from Gmail, Hotmail or Yahoo.

Madagascar’s unique animal population probably floated there to start

itap@purdue.edu — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 00:00:00 EDT

The origin, as well as the unique composition, of Madagascar’s land animals has puzzled naturalists for more than two centuries. Now, data from a Purdue professor’s three-year computer simulation on ITaP’s Pete cluster appears to provide an answer: The animals floated there.

ITaP offers option for additional email storage space

itap@purdue.edu — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 00:00:00 EDT

When ITaP upgraded its Exchange service in October, each user’s default mailbox-storage quota increased from 500 megabytes to 1 gigabyte. Now, ITaP also can provide additional storage to Purdue faculty and staff who routinely require more than 1 gigabyte of mailbox storage on ITaP’s Exchange servers.

Purdue, NASA research provides blueprint for molecular basis of global warming

itap@purdue.edu — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 00:00:00 EDT

A new study indicates that major chemicals most often cited as leading causes of climate change, such as carbon dioxide and methane, are outclassed in their warming potential by compounds receiving less attention.

Manage your email — moving messages and attachments to portable storage

itap@purdue.edu — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 00:00:00 EDT

Portable storage devices conveniently put schoolwork or business data in the palms of people on the go. Moving your Purdue email to devices such as thumb drives allows you to access messages anytime and anywhere, frees space on Exchange servers and optimizes performance of your email software.

Apple releases update to address wireless issues

itap@purdue.edu — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 00:00:00 EDT

After working with ITaP to troubleshoot wireless issues for Mac users, Apple released an update believed to allow those affected to once again use PAL, Purdue’s wireless network.

DiaGrid: Purdue puts SC09 supercomputing conference computers to work on science

itap@purdue.edu — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 00:00:00 EDT

Ken Newton uses computer simulations of ions (charged atoms) to optimize techniques used in studying their structure. Enter DiaGrid, a Purdue system for harnessing idle computers in offices, student computer labs, supercomputing centers and, in November 2009, on the show floor at the world’s largest supercomputing conference.

Purdue research-computing grid is no 'Toy Story,' but a new animated video about it is close

itap@purdue.edu — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 00:00:00 EDT

If Purdue University computer-graphics technology student Micah Bojrab gets his dream job with a Hollywood animation studio, a system for harnessing unused computers to do cutting-edge research will have played a part. The DiaGrid system developed by Purdue inspired a video combining computer animation and real-life scenes that would make Pixar proud.

Study gives clearer picture of how land-use changes affect U.S. climate

itap@purdue.edu — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 00:00:00 EDT

Researchers affiliated with ITaP’s Purdue Terrestrial Observatory program say regional surface temperatures can be affected by land use, suggesting that local and regional strategies — such as creating green spaces and buffer zones in and around urban areas — could be a tool in addressing climate change.

It's always polite to share, and SharePoint makes it easier

itap@purdue.edu — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 00:00:00 EDT

Sharing information on, and off, Purdue University’s campus has become easier, thanks to a new enhancement to ITaP’s SharePoint service – one of ITaP’s fastest-growing services.

Completion of Exchange migration brings new features, added space

itap@purdue.edu — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 00:00:00 EDT

ITaP has completed the migration of mailboxes to the new Exchange 2007 email environment. Each Exchange account now has a default storage-limit quota of 1 GB – up from the previous 500 MB. The new web-access interface also is more intuitively user-friendly and boasts several useful new features.

Voice and data plan discounts offered to Purdue community

itap@purdue.edu — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 00:00:00 EDT

Don’t pay more than needed for AT&T mobility services.

Apple machines added to SMARTcomputing program

itap@purdue.edu — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 00:00:00 EDT

Apple desktops and laptops are now available through SMARTcomputing – Purdue’s institutional-computer purchasing program that emphasizes savings, support, community and security.

Purdue researchers propose method to image electron wavefunctions

itap@purdue.edu — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 00:00:00 EDT

Researchers at Purdue University and the University of Melbourne, Australia, are proposing a novel way to accomplish something normally impossible to do — 3-D mapping of electron wavefunction, which is the probability that an electron will be in a given position around an atom in a solid.

Research suggests urban sprawl, wet falls and winter affect severe weather

itap@purdue.edu — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 00:00:00 EDT

Previously rare big city storms — like an August 2009 tornado that downed trees and ripped off roofs in downtown Minneapolis and the powerful thunderstorms in New York City a day earlier — may not be so unusual anymore.

SMARTcomputing saves money, lends support and strengthens security

itap@purdue.edu — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 00:00:00 EDT

Purdue departments are having an accelerated learning experience with SMARTcomputing — an institutional-computer purchasing program approaching its four-year goal of selling 5,000 institutional desktops and laptops. SMARTcomputing is a joint project of distributed departmental IT and ITaP.

Data-management demonstration available in video format

itap@purdue.edu — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 00:00:00 EDT

For those who were unable to attend ITaP’s demonstration of data-management tips in September 2009, or would like a refresher, a video of the demonstration is available that will open in Windows Media Player.

Purdue email storage limit increases and owa.purdue.edu replaces exchange.purdue.edu

itap@purdue.edu — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 00:00:00 EDT

Users of ITaP’s Exchange services have seen some changes when it comes to email this fall. A new Web interface with a different address, http://owa.purdue.edu, now provides access to Exchange services in place of http://exchange.purdue.edu. Also, an increase in default storage-limit quotas from 500 MB to 1 GB, as well as other upgrades, took effect after ITaP migrated Exchange email accounts to different servers.

Manage your email — use self-discipline with self-storage of data

itap@purdue.edu — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 00:00:00 EDT

ITaP has created a series of data-management tips to help establish regular email upkeep habits for all users.

Manage your email — delete items a second time

itap@purdue.edu — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 00:00:00 EDT

ITaP has created a series of data-management tips to help establish regular email upkeep habits for all users.

Encore to ITaP’s first supercomputer barn-raising is even better than the original

itap@purdue.edu — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 00:00:00 EDT

Last year, ITaP staff and a small army of volunteers had the Steele supercomputer built by noon. The anticipation was that the new Coates cluster would take longer.

Manage your email — don't get too attached to large files

itap@purdue.edu — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 00:00:00 EDT

ITaP has created a series of data-management tips to help establish regular email upkeep habits for all users.

GoldAnswers knowledge base shines new light on self-support tech service

itap@purdue.edu — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 00:00:00 EDT

Whether you’re seven hours into a term paper or halfway through creating a course syllabus, there’s never an opportune time to need tech support. But troubleshooting on your own is a speedy way to resolve computer issues, and ITaP offers helpful do-it-yourself resources.

Manage your email — advanced archiving increases access and success

itap@purdue.edu — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 00:00:00 EDT

ITaP has created a series of data-management tips to help establish regular email upkeep habits for all users.

Before calling tech support ... try this!

itap@purdue.edu — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 00:00:00 EDT

Computer manufacturers and software developers operate customer-support call centers to respond to users’ inquiries and troubleshoot problems. But a few bars of hold music go a long way, and the end result could wallop your wallet. Here are some tips offered by ITaP, from which perhaps even the simplest adjustments can get your computer back to business as usual.

Learning any time, anywhere with ITaP services

itap@purdue.edu — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 00:00:00 EDT

Shoot HD video. Share work online for a team project. Build and maintain a Web site … from your couch.

Manage your email — archive to retain, delete without refrain

itap@purdue.edu — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 00:00:00 EDT

ITaP has created a series of data-management tips to help establish regular email upkeep habits for all users.

Patient safety focus of immersive virtual environment for training pharmacists

itap@purdue.edu — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 00:00:00 EDT

A Purdue project makes it easier for students to train in proper clean-room procedures using a flight simulator-like virtual version. The 3-D immersive environment — think the holodeck from the Starship Enterprise — was created from hundreds of digital photos of actual hospital clean rooms and even includes ambient sound recorded in those facilities.

Virtual clean room to enhance training for pharmacy students

itap@purdue.edu — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 00:00:00 EDT

Hard-to-come-by training time in a pharmacy clean room is about to become a lot easier for Purdue pharmacy students to get, eventually as easy as turning on their laptop computers. View a fly-through animation of a standard hospital clean room from this story.

iPhone software connects with Exchange servers

itap@purdue.edu — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 00:00:00 EDT

iPhone 2.0 software released by Apple in July 2008 enabled Purdue faculty and staff iPhone devices to connect to the Exchange servers.