Drake Online Design Dialogues will recommence March 11 at 11:30 a.m. and continue every other Thursday. The sessions have been added to the University calendar. The sessions will be led by the instructional designers and technologists from Drake Online and Continuing Education and will focus on Blackboard Learn Ultra.

Visit the links below to learn more about each session and to register. All sessions will be recorded and uploaded to the Drake Online and Continuing Education Faculty Resources website. Here is the schedule of topics:

March 11:  Ultra Base Navigation (UBN) and Transition Preparation
March 25: Copying Courses in Ultra
April 8: Build and Organize Content in Ultra
April 22: Assignments and Rubrics in Ultra
May 6: Communicating with Students in Ultra
May 20: Groups in Ultra
June 3: Assessments in Ultra
June 17: The Ultra Gradebook

— Christina Trombley, Drake Online and Continuing Education

We’re excited to announce that faculty and staff are welcome to dine-in at Hubbell Dining Hall beginning Wednesday, March 3. We do ask that everyone be respectful of fellow diners by sitting in smaller groups and observing the COVID-19 safety guidelines put forth by Drake University while dining at The Hubb.

Due to continued seating capacity restrictions, we will not resume the $5 Wednesday lunches until further notice. These dining arrangements are subject to change at any time.

If you have questions or comments, please send us a message at dining@drake.edu.

— Casey Morgan, Dining Services

The days of foreign princes wanting to give us millions of dollars via email are gone. Today, large, organized, international criminal syndicates make massive investments in methods to trick us into believing that we should click on links in innocent seeming email messages. This is called social engineering—using deception to manipulate individuals into divulging confidential and/or personal information. Fortunately, some basic steps can help us avoid social engineering traps.

Following these three basic rules for reading email messages will dramatically reduce your risk of unknowingly falling victim to a social engineering trap.

Slow down – Take the time to determine if the message makes sense. At first glance, a message saying you need to reset your Facebook password (for example) may seem very reasonable. But pause to think before clicking, opening attachments, or entering confidential information. Does the request make sense? Has something changed that requires an action? If it doesn’t make sense, report the message or ignore it.

Pay attention to the details – Look at the message specifics. Does the sender’s email address match the purpose of the message? Be careful–sometimes the differences are subtle, like facebook.com vs. ffacebook.com. Do the links point to a site that makes sense within the context of the message? Do you know and trust the sender?

When in doubt, check it out – If you have any reason to question the message, take the time to verify before responding. Reach out directly to the sender or visit the site rather than clicking the link in the message. Not sure? You can always report the message by emailing informationsecurity@drake.edu and ITS will review it for you. The bottom line is, if you have any doubts, don’t respond directly or open links or attachments.

If we all follow these practices, we can protect ourselves and others and prevent social engineering attacks from succeeding.

ITS will be continuing phishing education this month using emails that mimic real attacks. A short training lesson will be assigned to any faculty and staff who repeatedly click links or open attachments in phishing emails, simulated or not.

— Information Technology Services

Out-of-State Work Policy FAQs
The following FAQs have been developed in response to the excellent feedback provided by the campus community regarding the newly published Out-of-State Work Policy establishing a mandatory University-wide process for securing approval for employee out-of-state work arrangements.

Does this policy apply to temporary out-of-state work arrangements? 
No, the Out-of-State Work Policy does not apply to short-term, temporary out-of-state work arrangements such as arrangements that are made to attend a conference or to allow an employee with an approved remote work arrangement to temporarily work from an out-of-state location on a short-term basis. If an employee is working more than twenty-five (25) consecutive days outside the state, the work arrangement should be evaluated to see if the policy applies.

What prompted the University to adopt this new policy? 
The University has adopted this new policy to address the increase in requests for out-of-state work arrangements in connection with remote work arrangements that have been adopted across the University in response to COVID-19.  Because long-term and/or permanent out-of-state work arrangements may require the University to comply with additional or conflicting out-of-state laws and regulations (including state employment, labor and/or taxation rules), it is necessary for the University to be aware of, and explicitly agree to, long-term out-of-state work arrangements with its employees.  

Why does the new Out-of-State Work Policy require a 60-day notice period? 
As previously mentioned, long-term out-of-state work arrangements may require the University to comply with additional or conflicting out-of-state laws and regulations put in place by the state in which the employee will be working.  In many cases, the University must file with the Secretary of State and is subject to the filing timelines of each state. Although the University will make every effort to accommodate a request for a shorter approval period for an out-of-state work arrangement, the requirements of other states may not make it possible to comply with all legal requirements if we have less than sixty (60) days to do so.

New Capital Projects Policy
Drake University has formalized a new policy for the identification, prioritization, approval, development, and delivery of Capital Projects at Drake University.  All interested members of the Drake community are encouraged to review and comment on these policy revisions by March 15, 2021.

After the switch to Teams calling, old phone handsets are no longer needed for individual extensions. Boxes are being placed in all campus buildings to collect these phones and recycle them.

Look for a cardboard box near your building’s mailboxes marked PHONE E-WASTE and recycle your phone handset before March 12.

If you’re not going to be on campus before then, please work with your building manager or a colleague to ensure your phone handset is recycled properly.

—Chris Mielke, ITS

Each month, a faculty member, nominated by their dean, is recognized for their efforts to integrate innovative technology into their classroom. February’s digital faculty member of the month is Cris Wildermuth, associate professor, School of Education, Department of Leadership and Counseling. Read an interview with Cris:

• What course do you use this technology in? I started using this technology this January term, when I taught a course called Ethics, Leadership, and the Game of Thrones.
• What type of technology (hardware/software) do you use? The site is called https://flippity.net/. It’s a free site that helps you create games and activities using Google Sheets.
• In what context do you use this technology (assessment/lecture/group work/etc.)? So far, I used two interactive activities from Flippity.net: flash cards and the “random name picker.” I used the flash cards in an online board game I created called “Game of Morals” (see the game instructions and links here: https://tinyurl.com/savingned). In that game, students solved various moral dilemmas as they traveled (i.e., moved through the board) from Winterfell (the home of the Starks, main characters in the Game of Thrones series) to the capital. I used the flash cards to house the game questions and the name picker as a “Seven Gods Wheel” to determine game moves (see the wheel at https://tinyurl.com/7godswheel).
• How does this type of technology align with your teaching pedagogy? I love incorporating games and interactive activities in my teaching. I limit lecturing to what I feel is truly necessary, and when possible, “flip the classroom” by creating e-learning modules and recorded lecturettes. The games keep students engaged while still practicing key class concepts or having interesting discussions.
• Where did you get the inspiration to make a change (colleague/seminar/administration/etc.)? During the Pandemic, I joined a couple of Facebook groups for faculty, hoping to find inspiration and support. Someone mentioned Flippity.net in one of the Facebook postings.
• How long did it take for you to implement this technology?net is very easy to use. Once I understood what to do (simple instructions are provided for each template), I simply entered my questions in the Google Spreadsheet template, published the main sheet, and picked the link from the second sheet (more at https://flippity.net/Flashcards.htm). Creating the cards is easy but coming up with more elaborate games such as the “Game of Morals” takes me quite a bit of time. Seeing the students’ enjoyment and participation, however, makes it all worthwhile.
• Since transitioning to remote teaching, how has your use of this technology changed, if at all? Well, I just started using this technology last month. I would say that in general, I have used far more technology since the Pandemic started. For example, cards that I would normally print for face-to-face classes now need to be shared virtually.
• Since transitioning to remote teaching, have you started using any new technology in your teaching? If so, what tools and how are you using them? Other than this one, I have incorporated multiple technologies in my teaching. The simplest one is Google Slides; I use it not only as “slides” but as a source of card games, board games, and group activities. Think of Google Slides as an easy to edit series of boards that can be shared with student groups. See an example here: https://tinyurl.com/capitolassault. I also love the following technologies:

1. Miro white board (https://miro.com/) – It accommodates pretty much anything. Professors can request a free educator account.
2. Trello (https://trello.com/) – While normally a time or project management tool, I use Trello to accommodate discussions and classification exercises (for example – https://trello.com/b/NKJeGTZT/the-sidekicks).
3. Weebly web builder (https://www.weebly.com/) – I use Weebly for student blogs and more elaborate games. One example is the Escape Game I created for the FYS “Hunger Games” class: https://leadershipandthehungergames.weebly.com/the-escape-room.html.

• Overall, what lessons (if any) do you think you have learned while transitioning to remote teaching? Like most of my colleagues, I can’t wait to see my students face-to-face again. However, I have learned that with some creativity we can move online many of the interactive exercises we could previously only conceive in a classroom – and our students will appreciate the effort. For example, my “Hunger Games Bomb” leadership exercise was inspired by a simulation I ran in class using Legos. I did not like the electronic Lego software I found, so I used graphic images on Google Slides instead. Another example was a “telephone” exercise used in a Global Leadership class. When the course was moved online, we created a series of “Miro Boards” where students had to quickly draw their understanding of the previous colleague’s message.
• Both before and during this transition, did Drake ITS assist you in implementing any of these technologies? If so, how? The Drake ITS colleagues are very helpful when I face problems on the Drake-supported technologies such as Blackboard or Panopto (a big thank you to Karly Good and James McNab!). Most of the tools I use, however, are not supported by Drake. The good news is that I’m pretty comfortable with technology and enjoy finding new tools. When I have problems, Google is my best friend since someone out there has probably faced them already.

Are you interested in trying out new technology in your classroom? Want help from ITS? Schedule a technology adoption consultation.

Learn more about learning technology tools supported by Drake ITS at www.drake.edu/fsdo/cte/learntech/

—Jon Hurdelbrink, CPHS, and Carla Herling, ITS