UPbeat

News for and about University of Portland faculty and staff.

Information Services

Moodle Upgrades and Downtime (May 8-12)

A Moodle upgrade is scheduled for May 8. Moodle will be unavailable from Wednesday, May 8 through Sunday, May 12. This upgrade will see an updated user interface and some major improvements in several key features.

Included in the upgrade:

  • An improved calendar and upcoming events timeline.
  • Easier to find courses. Course lists are now searchable and make all courses more visible.
  • Easier gradebook navigation.

The office of ATSI will post scheduled Summer Moodle workshop dates in the coming weeks.

Please contact atsi@up.edu with any questions. Thank you!

Tired of Changing Your Network Password Every 4 Months?

Information Services is pleased to announce all faculty and staff will be moved to a two-year password expiration with the completion of the 2022 Cyber Security Training and registration into the Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) program. 

2022 Cyber Security Training is now available for all Faculty and Staff through Moodle (https://learning.up.edu). This is a required annual training program focused on changing user behaviors and reducing cyber risk to the university. 

Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) is an authentication method that requires the user to provide two or more verification factors to gain access to a resource such as email, Moodle, SelfServe, Banner, etc. Currently you enter your username and password, but when you enroll in MFA you will be prompted for a second form of authentication. For more details on how to register, along with a brief video tutorial, see: https://uphelp.service-now.com/kb_view.do?sysparm_article=KB0011910 

Once we achieve 90% completion of the training and MFA enrollment across all faculty/staff you will be migrated from the existing four-month password expiration to a two-year expiration.

If you have any questions or concerns, please reach out to the Help Desk at 503.943.7000 or help@up.edu.

Software Request Reminder

Please do not forget to place your classroom software requests for Spring 2022 by November 30, 2021. Note: if the software you need was available during Fall 2021, it will remain available for Spring, so only new items need to be submitted at this time. To make your request, please complete our survey. 

If you would like to request software for your office, please call the Help Desk at ext. 7000, or email help@up.edu. 

Welcome Ryan Ingersoll, New Director of ATSI

Information services is pleased to welcome Ryan Ingersoll as director of academic technology and innovation. In this position he will oversee development of classroom and on-line academic technology, with an eye on innovation and digital literacy among our faculty. In addition, post COVID he will have the opportunity to re-imagine the student-run On The Bluff Studio.

Ryan comes to us from George Fox University where he led several Ed Tech projects. He holds a master in education from Seattle Pacific in digital education leadership. Please join the information services team in congratulating and welcoming Ryan to our community.

Reminder: Please Complete “Cyber Security Core 2020” Course

Information services provides online cybersecurity awareness training for all current staff and faculty. Faculty and staff who completed the training last year do not need to complete the training again. Check your completion status in Moodle under the “Badges” menu and look for the issuance of the “Cyber Security Training 2020” badge.

In this course you will be introduced to the social engineering methods that attackers use to fool you into providing unauthorized access. By taking a few simple steps and avoiding certain actions you can help prevent cyber-attacks and data theft. In addition, users are provided instructions on multi-factor authentication registration.

The course, “Cyber Security Core 2020”, is accessible from the ‘Course Overview’ in Moodle (https://learning.up.edu). Current staff and faculty have been auto enrolled. Users will need to sort the overview to either “All” or “In Progress” in order to locate the course.

We also invite users to view a brief presentation that seeks to answer the question ‘Why is annual cybersecurity training required?’ The answers may surprise you! 

If you have any questions or concerns regarding this training, please contact the Technology Help Desk (x7000, help@up.edu).

Please Request Software for Classrooms by April 9

Please complete this survey to request software for the standard teaching classrooms and computer classrooms for summer and fall terms 2021. The software you request will also be available for students working online via the Student Kiosk at desktop.up.edu.

This software request form will be available to you until April 9, 2021. Please click this link to access the form.

If you would like to request software for your office, please call the Help Desk at ext. 7000, or email help@up.edu.

Please contact the UP Help Desk with any questions. We can be reached at help@up.edu or by calling 503.943.7000 M-F 7:30 a.m. – 5 p.m.

Please Request Software for Classrooms by Nov. 20

Please request software for Spring 2021 classrooms by November 20, 2020. As we know, classes will continue online for Spring term, however we will add or update software as needed in the classrooms and to the student shared virtual build. Software will remain the same unless otherwise requested.

You may copy and paste this link into your browser to make your request.

If you would like to request software for your office, please call the Help Desk at ext. 7000, or email help@up.edu.

It’s Cybersecurity Awareness Month: Cyber Security Core 2020 Course is Live!

Information services provides online cybersecurity awareness training for current staff and faculty. This year’s course includes 10 core topics. A new feature allows users to take a pre-test and test out of course modules based on their results. In addition, users are provided instructions on multi-factor authentication registration. In this course you will be introduced to the social engineering methods that attackers use to fool you into providing unauthorized access. By taking a few simple steps and avoiding certain actions you can help prevent cyber attacks and data theft.

The course, “Cyber Security Core 2020″, is accessible from the ‘Custom Course Menu’ in Moodle (https://learning.up.edu). Current staff and faculty have been auto-enrolled.  We also invite users to view a brief presentation that seeks to answer the question “Why is annual cybersecurity training required?” The answers may surprise you!

If you have any questions or concerns regarding this training, please contact the Technology Help Desk (x7000, help@up.edu).

WordPress Downtime: 8-10 p.m., Oct. 29

Academic technology services and innovation (ATSI) will be performing maintenance on its WordPress platform to ensure best function and security. To enable technicians to complete this maintenance, pages on sites.up.edu will be unavailable from 8 p.m. to 10 p.m. on Thursday, October 29.

Please contact ATSI with any questions.

Ben Kahn, Information Services: Say It Isn’t So!

According to information services CIO Curt Pederson, Ben Kahn (pictured) from academic technology services and innovations will be leaving his position at UP on October 8. “Ben will be extremely missed at UP,” says Pederson. “He has done a fantastic job during his time here in both his prior Moodle role and as interim director of ATSI. Please join me in wishing Ben well as he starts a new chapter in his career.”

For more information, please email pedersoc@up.edu.