REMINDER: Attention Faculty & Staff - University Directory Update – Your Action Required!

In the past several days all Delta State employees received a directory questionnaire containing your information as it will be published in the online and campus phone directories. These directory services reflect the information that is contained in the Banner system. In order to ensure this data is accurate, it is critical that you complete the questionnaire and return it to the OIT Telecommunications group. From there, the directory project team will work to ensure your data is updated based on your preferences. Failure to return the information will result in directory information being inaccurate for the upcoming publications. We encourage you to complete the document as quickly as possible so that all changes may be incorporated into the Banner system and be reflected accurately in the fall directory.

Blackboard/WebCT Campus Edition 6.0 goes Live for Intersession Courses

Delta State students and faculty will be using CE 6.0 for intersession classes! This exciting change will offer many new benefits to students and faculty. Those new features include automatic course enrollment when students register for a class, automatic course shell creation, grades can be entered directly into CE 6.0 and automatically populate into Banner, and you will use the same username and password to log in to CE 6.0 as you use for DSU Online Services. Look for more information next week, as well as updates to the Delta State website. Faculty members who need assistance with course development can contact the Help Desk at @4444 and Kelly Kirkland will be glad to work with you in getting your course migrated.


Email Etiquette:
Do's and Don'ts


(from Tech Soup)

Today, most people use email as a primary communication tool. Email can often be a great communication tool, but sometimes it creates more challenges. The following tips are recommended by Tech Soup.

When You're the Sender

  1. Make sure that email is the right communication tool for the job.
  2. Get to the point right away.
  3. When asking a question, be sure to ask the question.
  4. Specify who should respond.
  5. Be clear about when you need a response.
  6. Provide context to frame your message.
  7. Don't forget the rules of grammar and punctuation.
  8. One message, one topic.
  9. Provide a summary when you forward an "FYI" email.

When You're the Recipient

  1. Don't make any assumptions about the sender's emotional state.
  2. Don't escalate a conflict by sending an emotionally charged response.
  3. Ask for clarification.
  4. Use your email software's built-in tools to help organize messages.
  5. Remember: You don't have to respond to every message right away.
Issue No. 79 - April 20, 2007


Tech News

(from News Factor )


Technology Term of the Week


(from Webopedia )

SAN - Storage Area Network (SAN) is a high-speed subnetwork of shared storage devices. A storage device is a machine that contains nothing but a disk or disks for storing data.

Prevent your email from being flagged as SPAM

(for more tips see Media Connection)

Most enterprises use some sort of SPAM filtering to manage the massive amounts of email coming in to the enterprise. This process generally uses a Bayesian formula to exam incoming messages and rates those messages on a scoring scale. Once messages reach a certain point on the scale, they are prevented from being delivered to your inbox. Sometimes senders include information in their email messages that prevent delivery to your inbox and your email to them may be blocked. To prevent your email from being blocked as SPAM here are a few tips.

  • Send your message as plan text rather than HTML
  • Avoid background images and
  • Use a specific descriptive subject in the subject line
  • Avoid the use of hyperlinks in your email message or signature
  • Remove any moving images from your message
  • Avoid the use of large fonts, colored fonts, or ALL CAPS in your signature file.
  • Don't sent to a large distribution group at one time
March Statistics at a Glance:
  • Over an 18 month period, there have been 26,852,845 incoming mail messages sent to DSU Faculty & Staff. 
  • During March, 82% of incoming mail was flagged as SPAM
  • The largest volume of SPAM to DSU came from optonline.com
The Office of Information Technology
DSU Box 3123 • Bailey 114
Tel: 662.846.4444
Fax: 662.843.4032
http://oit.deltastate.edu
Go to DSU Website
Go to Sungard Collegis website
Questions or comments ~ feel free to contact Glenn Trammel at 662-846-4840 or email at gtrammel@deltastate.edu