FAQ

Frequently Asked Questions of the Learning Technologies Team

If you cannot find the answer to your question here, please contact ltt@truman.edu

These answers are aimed at Truman’s Faculty & Staff; students often have very different questions, solutions, and resources.  For student FAQs, please visit our Student Computing page.

Truman has a network of support for faculty and staff at Truman. 

  • IT Service Center – 660-785-4544
    Have a general question, need to report a problem, or don’t know who or what to ask for?  – Call the IT Service Center (aka The Help Desk) at 660-785-4544 or visit them in PML 203.
  • Classroom Emergency Hotline – 660-785-4911
    Need help during class with the audiovisual or computer technology in a classroom? – Call the Classroom Emergency Hotline and your issue will be reported to the Building Support Team with a high priority.  During the Pandemic, the team’s ability to respond on-site is more limited than normal and demand is higher – causing some unavoidable delays in response time.  We encourage faculty to continue to report all classroom tech issues immediately, but to also have alternative teaching plans at the ready.   For health or safety emergencies, call 911!
  • Building Support Specialists
    This team of Technical Support Specialists and specially trained student assistants provide support for desktop computing issues and AV/IT problems in classrooms.  Call the IT Service Center to open a ticket and a Building Support Specialist will reach out to you to resolve the issue.  Many problems can be addressed over a Zoom call or other remote access, others may require an in-person visit.
    **Due to the potential for close contact in these situations, please do be prepared for the visit by wearing a face mask even in your office and having wipes or sanitizer available to clean your mouse and keyboard.**
  • Learning Technologies & Instructional Design – 660-785-7750
    Want to learn more about the audiovisual equipment in your classroom, or how to use web-based teaching tools?  Need to learn about how flip your classroom?  Want to redesign a course for hybrid or online delivery?  Want to schedule a videoconference to bring in a remote expert to your class?  For assistance with all of this and much more, visit the LTT website or email the team at ltt@truman.edu.  The Learning Technologies and Instructional Design Team offices and Faculty Development Reading Room are accessed through PML204.
  • IT Services Main Office – 660-785-4163
    Do you have an idea to share with the CIO, do you need a report from the student information system?  Our main ITS office is located in MC111.  Our CIO, Donna Liss, is also the campus designated DMCA contact person and is active in sustainability initiatives among her other IT-related duties.  Find out the latest ITS news or learn more about campus IT support by visiting http://its.truman.edu

 

To access your email from an on-campus office with a desktop computer, Truman ITS technicians will set-up the desktop mail application, Microsoft Outlook, which is not only a mail reader, but also a robust calendar, contacts list, notes and task tool.  You can use this application to share your calendar, request appointments, set up signatures, and filter & flag your email in a variety of ways.

Tips and Tutorials can be found here on the Microsoft website.  (Most users should have Outlook 2016)

To access your email and calendar on the go, you have options!

From your phone –

From the web, on any device, point your browser to:

Sometimes it may be necessary to email your whole course roster, or a few selected students in a certain course. Rather than looking up each individual student, there are easy ways to access each course roster in just a few clicks.

  • Via TruView – http://truview.truman.edu or via Portal – https://portal.truman.edu
    • Go to the My Students channel of your Faculty tab.
    • Click the link for Class / Wait List Menu
    • Choose one of the listed reports for the desired course
    • Once the report is generated, click the option at the top left to email all, or choose the option by each name to email selected students.
    • Choosing the option to email all will launch a new message in your default email application with the BCC field populated with your students’ email addresses.
    • This method records the sent message in your sent folder as a normal message.
  • Via Blackboard –http://blackboard.truman.edu
      • Truman’s learning management system, Blackboard Learn, also provides tools for communicating with your students.
        • On the course menu, select Tools > Send Email.
        • On the Control Panel, select Course Tools > Send Email.
        • On the My Institution tab, select Tools > Send Email and select a course.
        • This does NOT record a sent mail in your email application’s sent folder.
        • For more information on these options See this Blackboard Support Link.

You are encouraged to store, or at least back-up, your files on one of Truman’s network drive options.  It is critical to understand that the files you save to your My Documents, (or similar location) on the hard drive of your primary workstation are NOT backed-up through any automated process.  Important files such as research, theses drafts, course work, etc. should be saved or regularly backed-up to:

  • Your Truman-provisioned Google Drive – http://googleapps.truman.edu –
    • Unlimited storage for all types of files
    • Accessible from anywhere with Internet connection
    • Visible only to you
    • Can make files available off-line
    • Access can be shared at the file or folder level to individuals in or outside of the Truman domain.
  • Y-drive
    • Your personal storage drive on Truman’s network/visible only to you
    • Access cannot be shared to others
    • Must be connected to the Truman domain to access (logged in on-campus or connected from off-campus via View or VPN)
    • 4GB quota
    • Accessible via My Computer / or via File → Save As
  • W-drive
    • your department’s shared storage drive on Truman’s network – all files visible to your entire department,
    • access cannot be shared with others
    • Must be connected to the Truman domain to access
    • 4GB quota per user
    • Accessible via My Computer / or via File → Save As
  • More information about Truman’s Network Drives.

Truman ITS technicians will connect your computer to the appropriate departmental printer when you receive your computer.

Please note that faculty can print only to the office/department printers individuals are affiliated with for budgetary reasons, (network printer names here). Classroom and library printing is restricted to students as those resources and hardware are budgeted through student funds.  

For business cards, letterhead, posters, and other more elaborate printing projects, be sure to check out University Printing Services located in BT1214.

Truman classrooms are set-up to meet a variety of teaching and technology scenarios.  While all classrooms support a lecture/seminar style and lecture capture, specific classrooms are available to support “huddle”, “theater”, “enhanced sound”, “simulations”, and other teaching techniques.

Classrooms at Truman are equipped with:

  • A teaching console with computer
  • A data projector (some rooms have two)
  • A digital document camera that doubles as a webcam for live streaming and lecture capture
  • A “guest” connection for a laptop or other display device (some rooms have VGA, some have HDMI)
  • Most rooms have some option for digital ink/interactivity (some rooms have touchable boards, some rooms have boards that utilize a stylus and software; some rooms have touch-screen monitors)
  • Many rooms have enhanced sound provided by an amp and ceiling-mounted speakers
  • Specialty rooms feature some combination of the above feature set along with discipline-specific technologies.

Each room has an AV control tool.  For most classrooms, that tool is a “Pixie”.  The Pixie system typically sits on the teaching console.   A few rooms may have a “Chumby” device or simply a remote control – all with similar options.

Our largest classrooms and many specialty rooms utilize an Extron Control Panel which is a push-button or touch-screen panel built into the teaching console.  These devices provide additional options to control the wider range of technologies available in these higher-tech classrooms. 

Truman provides each user (faculty/staff/students) with unlimited Google drive storage space.  While it is awesome to be able upload your terabyte-sized cat videos, even more awesome is the access to cloud-based productivity tools to use with all that file storage space.  The G-Suite for Education includes Calendaring, Documents, Spreadsheets, Presentations, Web Sites and more.  Each of these tools has sharing options that allow you to specify view access only, or edit access  – making the G-Suite the perfect tool for group projects and peer editing.

Access your Truman-provisioned G-Suite for Education at http://googleapps.truman.edu and be sure to sign in, not with your personal/private account, but with your Truman network credentials so that you get the unlimited storage space and expanded feature set.

See Google’s full set of tutorials and power-user guides here, or our Truman TechBreak on the Google docs and drive here.

Note:  Truman does not license the Google+ apps or Gmail for Faculty/Staff.  Faculty/Staff email is available on the web at http://exchange.truman.edu 

For sharing files with confidential or PII information, Truman has a special higher-security, file-sharing service called SendFile, access that at https://sendfile.truman.edu   Be sure to use SendFile to keep confidential information secure!

 

The university “portal” is the web-based entry to all internal services and information for students, faculty, and staff here at Truman.   This includes payroll and benefits, student timecards, links to Blackboard, the bookstore, parking tags, and a host of additional information and resources.

For Fall 2021, two portals will be running simultaneously while we switch over to a new service.  Our incoming freshmen and some offices will be using portal.truman.edu, the rest of us may be still be using “Truview”  truview.truman.edu .   Both are are entryways to the same information.

Point your browser to either one and use your Truman username and password to log-in.  Choose the tab or link for your role (Faculty, Employee, Student, Etc.) to reach customized information and resources.

There will be much more information coming throughout the semester as the transition gets underway, feel free to begin using the new portal system at portal.truman.edu anytime.

It is important to note that the Gmail links prominently featured in both portals are for students.  Faculty/Staff must access their email system by going to http://exchange.truman.edu. 

Truman State University’s virtual desktop environment is a web-based tool to provide access to the same licensed software and resources available in our computer labs and classrooms right on your personal computer system whether you live (or work) on-campus or off!  The software list includes important tools such as MS Office, SPSS, Mathematica and many more.

  • Using this tool will make it appear that you are in front of a computer lab system. You can access any of the software on the current image, access your Y: drive, etc.
  • You must have a broadband connection to use the virtual desktops from off campus.  It will not work over a dial-up connection.

To access the virtual desktop, simply go to:  http://view.truman.edu and log-in using your network username and password.

Blackboard is Truman’s Learning Management System (LMS).  This is the web-based tool that faculty can use to provide content, assignments, assessments, discussion forums and more to facilitate classes taught via all modes:  on-ground, hybrid, or fully-online.

To get to Blackboard, go to blackboard.truman.edu and log-in using your Truman credentials, or you can find a link to Blackboard inside both Truview and Truman Portal.

It is recommended that all faculty use Blackboard to, at a minimum, post the syllabus and assignments for students to have ready access 24/7.   Blackboard is a robust tool that also supports class communications, a sophisticated electronic grade book, learning outcomes, text-book integration, multimedia integration and much more.

Blackboard administrator, Sherry Dare schedules one-on-one training sessions by appointment. You can contact Sherry directly or email sdare@truman.edu to submit a question, to schedule a training session, or to learn more about Blackboard features.

The LTT website has a condensed listing of self-help Blackboard tutorials to help you utilize our LMS.

Click here for Grade Center tutorials

If you are a self-help / on-demand kind-of-learner, then we have lots of options for you here at Truman.

  • Training.truman.edu
    Curated list of tutorials and tips related to Truman IT topics
  • Video Techbreaks
    Short videoclips on a wide variety of instructional and productivity tools and software.
  • Teaching Online At Truman
    Training and resources for instructors wishing to get themselves and their courses ready to teach online
  • There are many, many more resources on various websites here at Truman, to help locate training on your specific topic, please contact the Learning Technologies Team here at Truman for a more personalized tour of your options.