In the School of Arts and Sciences at the University of Pennsylvania, we use the open-source python-based Mailman mailing list software. There are many options that can be configured on a per-list basis. The information in this post contains general notes, how to's, and best practices for listserv management -- some aspects, including the list default settings, are specific to our use case at the Center for Programs in Contemporary Writing.
Notebook / Blog
Rather than a blog, I like to think of this space as a personal notebook that is open and available for all to see. If I'm already keeping notes for my own various uses, why not share them publicly and hopefully provide value to others as well?
Many staff and faculty at the University of Pennsylyvania enjoy having the Academic Calendar visible on their O365 Outlook Calendar. To add the Penn Academic Calendar to your Office365 Web Calendar (OWA), follow these instructions.
At the University of Pennsylvania, our Office365 users suddenly lost "edit" access to the shared calendars they had previously set up in their O365 calendars. The calendars still appeared, they just weren't modifiable. This is a huge deal, because we schedule many public spaces and manage staff schedules through shared calendars.
St. Peters Village forest is a remarkable, ever changing treasure trove of seek-and-find art. It's a thought-provoking, living art exhibit, showcasing many emotions and experiences of the lives we share. True art happens among this forest canvas.
Some printers (and their drivers) default to two-sided printing, which many people do not prefer as the default option. Luckily, this can easily be disabled via the CUPS web interface. There are probably other ways to accomplish this, too, but I found this to be quick and painless. At the time of this post, this is tested and working on Mac OS 10.14 Mojave.
This is the process I used to copy a user's MacOS Contacts into their O365 address book (a.k.a. "People"):
1.) Open the user's Apple Contacts application on their computer.
2.) Select all of the contacts and dragged them into a blank Apple Numbers spreadsheet (there's no way to export direct to CSV from Apple Contacts).
3.) Export a sample CSV file from OWA to figure out the column structure. Clear out all of the entries, leaving only the column headers.
At the Kelly Writers House at the University of Pennsylvania, we've been live streaming events on a near daily basis for years. We are really excited to be completely upgrading and overhauling our Arts Cafe performance space and technology for the first time in many years. Here's what our new live streaming setup will look like.
My favorite notes, ideas and thoughts from the Telestream "Guide to Streaming to Facebook Live 2018" white paper on the Streaming Media website. You'll find some obvious and not-so-obvious ideas and thoughts in here.
The 2018 Coursera Partner's Conference at Arizona State University in Tempe, AZ, highlighted Coursera's steps towards new paid credential options. In addition to the free MOOCs the platform has traditionally offered, students now have the option to pay for certificates (in individual courses), specializations (a collection of courses in a particular subject area), and even full degrees through a growing number of colleges and institutions on the platform. Coursera believes this tiered model of options offers students an affordable, flexible and valuable way to engage in life-long learning.
Online video has completed changed how people learn. With just a few clicks, it’s now possible to access and learn from an incredible variety of experts, innovators and thought-leaders from across the globe. As a result, it's no surprise that online video has been embraced by educational institutions as an incredibly valuable tool.