Tech eNews 3-2-2011

Topics in this edition of WSD Tech eNews for March 2, 2011

1. Need a video camera, check one out
2. Digital Collages 3-10-2011
3. Out of the office and want to check your e-mail?
4. Phishing? But I don't own a tackle box!
5. Wish you had Word/Excel/PowerPoint/Inspiration/Anti-Virus at home?
6. Millions from the Nigerian Lottery? I didn’t even buy a ticket!
7. New homefolder servers for Gause, Canyon Creek, and Jemtegaard rolled out
8. Still getting a pop-up about Sophos needing an update?
9. Need help? Please ask!


1. Need a video camera? Check one out from Les Brown
WSD Tech purchased a set of 5 HD video cameras for use by teachers. You can check out one, or the entire set if you’re doing a movie-making project with your students. Contact Les Brown to make arrangements. There are tripods available for all of the cameras, too.


2. Digital Collages Class 3-10-2011 by Ali Miller and Les Brown
Les Brown and Excelsior High School teacher Ali Miller are putting together a class on creating digital collages with students. This is a great way to integrate visual literacy into any classroom topic or unit. Photoshop is a powerful way for students to create posters to illustrate their understanding of a topic with others. This will be a fun, hands-on class, from 4-7 PM in the Excelsior High School computer lab. Pre-registration with Rebecca Miner is required.


3. Out of the office and want to check your e-mail?
All WSD employees have access to web-based e-mail which can be accessed anywhere you have an Internet connection. Simply go to the WSD Website (you can search Google for Washougal to find us, or type in http://www.washougal.k12.wa.us ) and then click on the “For District Employees” link. The e-mail server is listed in the left hand sidebar toward the top.


4. Phishing? But I don't own a tackle box!
A recent e-mail with the subject line "Deactivation of Your Email Address" went out to many district staff. This is a good example of a "phishing" (pronounced fishing) e-mail. Phishing is a social engineering technique that computer hackers and spammers use to try to get your personal information. While the link in this particular e-mail was blocked, which kept our users from accidentally divulging their username and password, it's worth being aware that these types of scams are going around. To help spot these type of phishing attempts, be a cautious end-user: Look at the sender name and e-mail address the message came from. Watch for obvious spelling or other grammatical errors that indicate the message wasn't written by a district staff person. After you click a link in an e-mail, look at the web address it takes you to, in the address bar at the top of the Internet browser, it should exactly match the name of the site you're supposed to be using. When in doubt, close it out, and type in the address yourself.


5. Wish you had Excel/PowerPoint/Word/Inspiration/Anti-Virus at home?
Some of the software products that WSD licenses are available for district staff to use at home. Microsoft Office (the same version as on your work computer) is available for use on work-related projects at home. Inspiration, a graphic organizing and visual concept mapping software, is available for use at home with no work-related restrictions. Sophos Anti-Virus is available for use on your home computers for free. To get any of these applications, please download the Take Home Rights Agreement form on the District’s Technology webpage, and send it to Les after filling it out. Make sure you note which application you’re after. (WHS Only - WHS staff can also request Adobe's Creative Suite 4 - which includes Photoshop, InDesign, Dreamweaver, the full version of Adobe Reader, Illustrator, Flash, and Fireworks. These applications are available for use with work-related projects.)


6. Millions from the Nigerian Lottery for me? I didn’t even buy a ticket!
Keep in mind the saying that if something sounds too good to be true, it probably is! When looking through your e-mail, you may find messages from people claiming that you’ve won the lottery in another country, even though you didn’t enter it. All you have to do is send them a “down payment” and you could have millions! There are many, many schemes going on to try to get access to your bank account, e-mail accounts, and your hard earned cash. Be a wary web surfer, and keep an eye out for offers that sound unbelievable, they probably are.

You should also watch out for fraudulent messages from banking or other financial sources, many would be identity thieves are trying to get you to click links in e-mail to get your username/password so they can empty out your bank account! It is far safer to type in the address for your bank or other financial sites (into the address bar) than to click links in e-mail to get there.


7. New homefolder servers for Gause, Canyon Creek, and Jemtegaard rolled out
WSD Tech staff have been busy over the past month setting up new home folder servers at Jemtegaard, Canyon Creek, and Gause. For Jemtegaard and Canyon Creek, the new servers will house student home folders, moving them off a server shared with staff. At Gause, the new home folder server replaces a server that's now 5 years old and ready to be retired.


8. Still getting a pop-up about Sophos needing an update?
Sophos, the Anti-Virus software WSD Tech licenses for your computers, recently released a major upgrade. If you are getting daily pop-up messages that the software needs to be upgraded, please make sure you've recently restarted your computer. If you've done that, please let your building tech person know. They will install the update, which will make the message go away.

9. And Finally - If You Need Help? Please ask!
Sean Elkinton, Anthony Collver, and Les Brown are all available to answer tech questions via schooldude, e-mail, or the phone from 8:00 - 4:30. Even if Sean and Anthony are not in your building, you can get help from them over the phone or via e-mail. Les is available to do screen-sharing if you’re on a Mac, too! If possible, please use the School Dude system to track your request. You can find a link to it on the District website, under “For District Employees.” Click on the link in the left hand sidebar to get started. Ask your building's tech support staff person, or Les Brown, if you need the submittal password.