Due to a recent policy change, Emails sent and received by faculty and staff have a default life of 180 days in our inboxes or sent mail folders. Previously, this limit was 120 days.
In any case, we can easily extend the life of emails, indefinitely, with a simple procedure that also helps us organize emails for later retrieval if needed. We simply create folders in our account (but not in our inbox or sent mail folders), named and arranged however we find most convenient!
In our first Email Management Tutorial (Click the button below), we show how to do these procedures in Outlook Web, which is available to all faculty and staff, regardless of whether they use PC or Mac. In future tutorials we’ll look at Outlook Desktop and Mac Mail, but the procedures there are quite similar.
ITS would like to remind the campus about safe Email practices. Some of the more recent “spoofed” Emails make it appear that someone from Canisius has Emailed you requesting information, but remember, malicious senders are creative and make it look like someone you may know. Remember to look at the actual Email address (using your mouse, hover over the sender’s name in the FROM line) to better identify valid email requests.
From time to time, Canisius accounts can be compromised and then used to send out a phishing email to other Canisius accounts. If you are questioning a request or links in any Email, reach out to the person directly or contact the ITS Helpdesk to verify authenticity. Here’s a quick video with tips on avoiding email scams: https://youtu.be/82NrZ8R05ts
Also keep in mind that ITS will never send an Email concerning authentication (e.g., password expiration) that contains a link.
For faculty/staff, additional measures were deployed in early 2020 for Microsoft Exchange to help identify “safe” vs “unsafe” Emails. Outside Emails will be easily identifiable via one of the following colored alerts. This includes some of the email found in your “Junk” folder that is already marked as “SPAM”.
NOTE: These banners will be displayed asPLAIN TEXT for email messages placed in your junk folder, but if you move it to any one of your other mailbox folders, you will see the full color versions of the above alerts.
We have identified “trusted” emails sent from some of our partner vendors (Slate, Adirondack, Medicat, emails sent by Advancement through Benchmark, etc.) so they will not get this type of header. If you discover we have missed a vendor that should be trusted, please email the ITS Help Desk at helpdesk@canisius.edu.
Please help keep our systems safe, and when in doubt, contact the ITS Help Desk at helpdesk@canisius.edu.
Many faculty use Screencast-O-Matic, provided through our Canisius College license. It’s an easy-to-use video recorder and editor with a few more features than Panopto’s (also excellent) onboard video tools.
In the next several weeks, Screencast-O-Matic is changing its name to ScreenPal, although they indicate that this will have little effect on users. So don’t be surprised, when next you update your app, that the name has changed.
This might be a good time to experiment with Panopto’s onboard recorder, if you have not done so. For many faculty who make few or no edits to their videos, it’s much faster than using a separate app to record and edit videos that are going in front of your students via D2L-Panopto, anyway.
However, if you stick with Screencast-O-Matic/ScreenPal, this is a good time to remember to regularly update your Screencast-O-Matic/ScreenPal app! This ensures that it will continue to run smoothly on your PC or Mac. To update the app:
Click the ? icon in the upper right of your Screencast-O-Matic dashboard. On the subsequent dialog box, you’ll see that it’s time to update the app:
Simply click download, and when the dialog indicates it’s ready to use, restart your Screencast-O-Matic app to move to the updated version. If you’d like, you can verify that you have the latest version:
Faculty Meetups are back in force this Spring Semester! Come join fellow colleagues and discuss the following topics:
Student Research
Tik Tok Boom! Using TikToks in a Political Science Classroom
A Discussion on Artificial Intelligence focused on ChatGPT
Time Management
and Student Athletics
These meetups are meant to be conversational in style, so make sure you bring a question or two (and an appetite)!
The first meetup, Student Research, will be on Monday, March 13th at 1:00PM in the Old Main Faculty Lounge. Lunch will be served!
To RSVP for this Meetup and other Meetups, fill out the Faculty Development Opportunities Form located here. More detailed information on the Meetups will be available on the Form as well.
Stay tuned to the Dome and the COLI Blog for more updates!
Next time you are unsure why something is not working or if you simply want a refresher on what is in your classroom, check out the Media Center’s Whats in my classroom? page on the Canisius Wiki.
On this page, the classrooms are arranged by Building Code and Room Number. Additionally, you can view instructions for various tech in classrooms, view classrooms in order, by building, or by different technology levels in the classroom amongst other information.
If you would rather skip the Whats in my classroom? page, you can instead type into the Wiki search bar Building Code space Room Number (OM 108, SH 1008, KC G18, HO 107, HS 112, CT 203, etc.).
Additionally, if you plan on using any of the conference rooms around campus, you can go to What’s in my conference room? page.