Information Services

Contributed by Emily Riggs, ITAP Communication Consultant

This is the second year that a Hewlett-Packard Tablet PC has been available as an option in DePauw’s student laptop program, and nearly 90 First-Year students purchased one this fall. Those students and the sophomores who bought a Tablet PC last year are finding an assortment of programs and functions that they can utilize for the writable screen on their laptops.

Tablet PCs are valuable tools for all majors and departments at DePauw in a variety of ways. For example, with the program PDF Annotator you can use the pen to highlight key quotes and take written notes in the margins of a PDF article right on the screen. With note-taking software such as DyKnow and OneNote handwritten notes can be easily accessed through handwriting recognition technology and converted into text for easier reading. Despite a student’s major or interest, the Tablet PC can make any reading, writing, or lab assignment easier through the writable screen.

To view the impact Tablet PCs have in classrooms at DePauw University, take a look at the following clip: Teaching with Tablets. For more information about the Tablet PCs log onto: http://www.depauw.edu/univ/fits/TabletPCs/index.asp.

To show students some useful tips and suggestions of what you can do with a Tablet, Michael Gough, Instructional Technologist and Coordinator of Student Technology Support, recently led a workshop on Tablet PCs.  Topics he addressed included functions of the pen tool in software such as OneNote, DyKnow, Windows Journal, PDF Annotator, and MS Office Word documents and presentations. This first workshop was a basic tutorial of the variety of functions and programs of Tablet PCs. Depending upon interest, Gough can schedule more workshops in the future that will focus on more advanced techniques and specific programs.

If you are interested in a workshop, but do not yet own a Tablet PC, do not fear. A few Tablet PCs are available for participants to use during a workshop. For more information about Tablet PCs or future workshops, contact Michael Gough at  michaelgough at depauw.edu. If you are interested in purchasing a Tablet PC through the DePauw laptop program, you can find that information on the DePauw Laptop website.

In partnership with the Registrar’s office, the Application Services Team recently rolled out a Third-Party Access system for students.

Third-Party Access is a convenient and secure system that enables students to share selected academic records with third parties (parents, employers, graduate schools, etc.) via a personalized online portal. In DePauw’s system, items that can be shared with a third party include the advising transcript, class schedules, billing statements, financial aid awards, and grade reports.

A student accesses the Third-Party Access portal by selecting the Third-Party Access link in e-Services. Within the Third-Party Access portal, you can create new accounts, view the access logs of existing accounts, update or deactivate existing accounts. To create a new account, you simply create a username and password for the account, identify the items that account should have access to, and then share the username, password, and account login page address ( https://www.depauw.edu/e/thirdparty) with your selected “third party.”

More info about Third-Party access is available at http://www.depauw.edu/admin/registrar/thirdparty.asp.

Contributed by Caroline Gilson, Coordinator of the Prevo Science Library
and Carol Smith, CIO

The University now has a site license for EndNote for all DePauw students, faculty members and staff. EndNote is a program which stores and organizes citations and also enables you to import citations directly into a Word document. It works on both Macintosh and Windows platforms.

Two versions of EndNote are available:

The EndNote client, called EndNote X, is installed on your desktop or laptop computer and offers customizable features for working with saved citations. Faculty and staff members can pick up a copy of EndNote X on CDROM from the HelpDesk or can request for a technician to install it for them by contacting the HelpDesk (x4294, helpdesk@depauw.edu). Students can purchase a copy of EndNote X on CDROM from the HelpDesk for a discounted price of $40.

EndNote Web (www.myendnoteweb.com) is web-based and does not require you to install any software on your computer. It is available for use at no charge to all students, faculty members and staff.

To create your EndNote Web account:

1. Connect to www.myendnoteweb.com from a computer on the DePauw network.
2. Click the “Sign Up for an account” link.

Once you have created your account, you can log in from anywhere, both on and off campus, to access the citations you have collected in your account. To keep your account active, you just need to login from a computer connected to the DePauw network at least once every twelve months.

Which version should you use?
Librarians have been testing both versions of the software and recommend that faculty members, Juniors and Seniors consider using EndNote X. You may want to try both versions to see which one meets your needs.

Librarians are happy to meet with any faculty member to discuss both versions and offer demonstrations.

Where can you find more information about EndNote?

A LibGuide is available via the DePauw Libraries web site with more information, links to handouts, and tips on how to download citations from selected databases at : http://libguides.depauw.edu/endnote. Or contact any librarian for assistance or if you have questions.

contributed by Courtney Hime, ITAP Communication Consultant

 
Zoho writer and presentation allow users to import documents from Microsoft Word or PowerPoint to be edited or shared, and a plug-in is available to work with Excel as well.

Like the Microsoft Office suite, all of Zoho’s tools integrate and work better together. Unlike Office, Zoho allows multiple users to share and edit documents simultaneously from any computer with Internet access.

In addition to integrating with each other, all Zoho applications can be integrated with Facebook, an increasingly helpful feature for college students, faculty and staff.