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Library Information > Digital Services and Resources for Faculty
Digital Services and Resources for Faculty: A Guide for the Perplexed
Introduction to OU Resources
These are frequently used OU acronyms. The entities referred to below all have an important role in technology-based resources and/or services to assist you in your teaching and research:
- CSITS: Classroom Support and Instructional Technical Services, the entity that installs and maintains technology in the classrooms, as well as providing video and other multimedia production and conversion services.
- e-LIS: e-Learning and Instructional Support, the entity that primarily supports online courses and pedagogical online development.
- KL: Kresge Library, besides housing physical collections of books, journals, documents, sound and video recordings and the like, also offers electronic access to reserve items, and thousands of e-journals, e-books, and other e-documents.
- STC: Student Technology Center, in the Oakland Center, loans digital equipment to students, provides peer mentoring, and will provide customized instruction for classes at faculty request.
- UC&M: University Communications & Marketing, the entity that oversees the university’s online presence and any OU Web site that is accessible to the general public.
- UTS: University Technology Services, the entity that provides the computing infrastructure of the University, including servers, networking, desktop computing support, security and related functions.
Most of the services and resources listed below are oriented towards your activities teaching Oakland University students or doing your research. However, it is important to note that any online communication (Web page, podcast, video, etc.) that is accessible to the general public and not intended strictly for classroom use, except personal Web pages, must be reviewed and approved by UC&M before it is made public.
Saving, Posting, Linking, and Delivering Content to Students
Besides the KL's course reserves for hard copy books, DVDs, and other physical objects, there are a variety of ways for OU faculty members to use digital resources to support their teaching and research. Here follows a brief summary first of ways to save and to serve up various types of content to your students:
- E-reserves at Kresge Library will scan hard copy text to .pdf and create streaming audio files from CDs. These items are posted under your course number, and students need to log in to use them from the E-reserves page. For assistance contact Maurini Strub, mrjohn@oakland.edu, (248)370-2470, at KL's circulation desk.
- Moodle, OU's course management system, permits you to upload directly to your course space a variety of file types including .pdf documents, .mp3 sound files, .mov movie files and the like. Any file that can go on the internet can be put into Moodle. The following are common filetypes used in Moodle:
*Art and Art History faculty have access to images stored on their department's MDID server and do not need to load their images into Moodle. Other faculty using images need to upload them directly into their Moodle coursespace.Common File Types Description Student Access .txt Plain text Plain text can be read by all word-processors or Wordpad or Notepad. .html* Hypertext Markup Language All web browsers can read html, the native language of the internet. .doc Microsoft Word Document Students must have either the full version of Microsoft Word on their computers or the free, downloadable Word Reader .pdf
Adobe Portable Document File Students must have Acrobat Reader on their computer. It is free and downloadable. This is not a flexible file type for editing, but has the advantage of retaining its exact format over the internet. .ppt PowerPoint Students must have either the full version of Microsoft PowerPoint on their computers or the free, downloadable PowerPoint Reader. The file size must be smaller than the maximum file upload size in Moodle. PowerPoints can be compressed with a program, called Impatica, located in e-LIS, 207 Varner Hall. .zip Zip (compressed) files Zip together files into one compressed package to easily upload them at one time to Moodle, using either the XP desktop or a separate program like Winzip or Zipit. .jpeg or .gif Image file types* Most browsers can read these compressed image types, as long as the Show Images properties is turned on. .mp3 or .wma Audio file types Students need speakers for any audio file and Play Sounds to be turned on in the browser. mp3 is the best audio compression for audio files and widely accessible. .mov or.wmv Video file types mov (Quicktime) files work on MacIntosh and wmv (Windows Media Video) works best on PCs, although there is some crossover depending on the software on each type of computer.
**ePortfolio is a separate instance of Moodle created for hosting student career ePortfolios. All OU students automatically get a space. Faculty also have career ePortfolio space available.
Video files smaller than 5 Meg may be stored on the Moodle server; larger video files are stored on a separate server and linked from Moodle. For further information about uploading and managing files in your Moodle coursespace, please see http://www2.oakland.edu/webct/traindocs/Moodle/MoodleIV/MoodleIV.htm. For personal assistance with Moodle please call e-LIS at (248)370-4566. - Elluminate provides a real-time, video-conferencing classroom environment. It has one main webpage with faculty and student audio, text-chat, an interactive whiteboard for displaying files or webpages, faculty and student video, and moderator tools. For assistance with this service, contact e-LIS at (248)370-4566. To request use of Elluminate in a class, use the form at http://www2.oakland.edu/elis/elluminateschedule.cfm.
- Personalwebs is used by members of the OU community to create their own personal web pages. Faculty may use their own web space on Personalwebs to create content for their students. For assistance with Personalwebs, see http://www2.oakland.edu/oucommunity/directory.cfm?page=students. For further assistance, contact the UTS Help Desk at (248) 370-HELP or helpdesk@oakland.edu.
- Secure storage of files on the web: OakShare enables you to save securely, access and share your files and directories on OU's Xythos Digital Locker service, from whence you will be able to access them from any computer with an Internet connection and a web browser. Your files will be on servers that are backed up regularly; ergo, an available copy of your work will always be online for collaborating and sharing files with others or for yourself. Contact information: UTS Technical Services Help Desk, (248) 370-HELP or helpdesk@oakland.edu.
- RefWorks is bibliographic citation management software offered by KL which is accessed through the Internet. All Oakland faculty, staff and students may create accounts and folders. Faculty may create shared folders for access by their students, or for access by colleagues in collaborative research projects. Contact information: Kresge Library reference desk, (248) 370-4426, ref@oakland.edu, IM: kresgeref on Yahoo Messenger, MSN Messenger, AIM, or google talk.
Video, Multimedia, Web Development and Training Services
- Podcasts: For help contact e-LIS (online@oakland.edu or (248)370-4566). For information on what a podcast is, see the RSS page on OU's site for explanations and examples: http://www2.oakland.edu/rss/index.cfm?Type=POD. Faculty will need to generate either an MP3 sound file or an MP4 video file on a regular basis, such as once a week or once every other week so that the podcast is regularly updated; otherwise, for a few static files online, you may use other means such as Moodle, E-Reserves or your personalwebs space.
e-LIS will help the faculty create the actual XML which becomes the podcast at no charge. The faculty/staff will be given access to an online manager where they can upload their files whenever they choose. A link to the podcast is automatically for them. They can do many things with the link at that point, such as put it on a website, email it out, place it in the RSS feed reader in Moodle. Google also offers a free RSS reader which will read podcasts. As well, the new versions of the popular browsers such as Firefox and Internet Explorer have a built in podcast reader. NB: e-LIS does not help create the actual audio or video file. For help with creating video and audio content, see below.
- The Multimedia Services Center (part of CSITS, contact: Matthew Mangold,
200C Elliott Hall,
(248) 370-2130, mmangold@oakland.edu) offers a variety of services for copying, converting and creating diverse media:
- Media Duplication: CD (Audio or Data), DVD (NTSC Only), VHS (NTSC, SECAM, or PAL to NTSC)
- Disk Printing (using printable-face CDs and DVDs)
- Media Clip Creation: Audio, Video (most file formats supported, eg: .rm, .mpg, .mpeg, .avi, .mov, .rm, .wmv, .flv)
- Media Shifting: DVD to VHS, VHS to DVD, Audio Cassette to CD, 12"/LP to CD, file to hard copy, etc.)
- Audio Restoration (remove pop/click/hiss from LP/Cassette)
- Document Scanning: (including image and OCR scanning)
- Large-format printing (ie: posters and signage, limited to 42" in one direction--opposite axis can be up to 250')
- Document mounting (to Foam-cor, PouchBoard, etc.)
- 35mm Slide Conversion (to low quality .jpg)
- Photo Cropping and Digital Image Color Correction
- Presentation Development (PowerPoint, Acrobat, etc.)
- Video Services (part of CSITS, contact: Scott Burke, 111 Varner, (248) 370-2460, sburke@oakland.edu)
- Duplication in a variety of formats/media including DVD-R, DVC Pro, MiniDV, Large DV, Beta SP, S-VHS, VHS, Hi-8 and 3/4"
- Single- and multi-camera production
- Video editing/post-production work
- Video compression: converting DVD-quality video to a smaller format for delivery over the web
- Training
- Visual Communicator: Create newscast-quality video presentations. Visual Communicator provides a teleprompter, video creation capabilities, and an entire library of customizable graphics, effects, titles, music, and templates. For help contact e-LIS (online@oakland.edu or (248)370-4566).
- Camtasia: Screen capturing software that allows you to quickly and easily create tutorials, help documents, or record class lectures. You decide what level you want to us it at. You can record the screen, include audio and even video. For help contact e-LIS (online@oakland.edu or (248)370-4566).
- Second Life: A virtual three-dimensional world where people meet by means of an avatar. Educators and their students have an increasing presence in Second Life, holding virtual classes and participating in interactive events, such as simulations, role-playing, and 3-D webquests. Faculty can take advantage of OU's island to use for classroom purposes. For help contact e-LIS (online@oakland.edu or(248)370-4566).
- Faculty Workshops: e-LIS offers many faculty workshops for the various applications we support. You can find a current list of workshops offered at http://www2.oakland.edu/elis/facwork_cal.cfm.
- UC&M provides the university with a variety of Web site services, including site design, content development and site development. Through the university’s content management system, available through UC&M, university departments and units work with UC&M for assistance in developing university Web sites that best meet project needs and university guidelines and standards. The content management system gives departments and units the ability to easily update and maintain their own sites with little or no technical skill required.
- The Student Technology Center (44 Oakland Center, stc@oakland.edu or (248)370-4TEC) provides peer mentoring for students as well as loaning digital cameras, camcorders and tablet PCs. They will also will work together with faculty to design custom workshops for their entire class. Some recent ones include a graphics manipulation class using Photoshop, a web design class using Dreamweaver, and a class on digital video. For more information see their Faculty Services page.
