• Do not share your password with anyone.
• Change your password on a frequent basis.
• Remember to log out when using any device on campus.
• Remember to close the browser when you are finished using the system.
• Be careful with personal information (yours and other people’s).

General Communication Guidelines
When communicating with instructors online, follow these guidelines:

• Treat instructor with respect in all forms of online communication
• Address your instructor in polite form Doctor [lastname] or Professor [lastname]. If an instructor Prefers their first name, still use their proper title, ex. Doctor or Professor.
• Use clear and concise language
• Remember that all college level communication should have correct spelling and grammar.
• Avoid slang terms such as “wassup?” and texting abbreviations such as “u” instead of “you”.
• Use standard fonts such as Arial or Times New Roman and use a size 12 or 14 font.
• Avoid using the caps lock feature, AS IT CAN BE INTERPRETTED AS YELLING.
• Limit and possibly avoid the use of emoticons like 🙂
• Be cautious when using humor or sarcasm as tone is sometimes lost in an email or discussion post and your message might be taken seriously or considered offensive.
• Abide by LIU’s code of conduct

E-mail Guidelines
When you send an e-mail to your instructor, teaching assistant, or classmates, you should:

• Use the Blackboard Learn “Inbox” tool for your course unless you have specific directions otherwise.
• Send to the minimum number of necessary recipients. In other words, do not send e-mail to “all participants.”
• Use a descriptive subject line.
• Be concise and clear.
• Use standard file formats for attachments (e.g. PDF, DOCX, XLSX), or confirm that the recipient can open the format you intend to send.
• Sign your message with your name and return e-mail address.

When you reply to an e-mail, you should:

• Use the Blackboard Learn “Inbox” tool for your course unless you have specific directions otherwise.
• Reply to the minimum number of necessary recipients. In other words, do you really want everyone to receive your response when you click “reply all”?
• Be judicious in forwarding information. Be sure that the original message author intended for the information to be passed along before you click the “forward” button. (See Privacy above.)
• Be concise and clear.
• Use standard file formats for attachments (e.g. PDF, DOCX, XLSX), or confirm that the recipient can open the format you intend to send.
• Sign your message with your name and return e-mail address.

Discussion Guidelines
When posting in the Blackboard “Discussions” tool in e-learning, you should:

• Make posts that are on topic and within the scope of the course material.
• Review and edit your posts before submitting them in Blackboard. (It is recommended that you write drafts of posts in a word processing program and then copy and paste them into the “Discussions.”)
• Be as brief as possible while still making a thorough comment.
• Avoid plagiarism. Use your own words to analyze and synthesize ideas. Always give proper credit when referencing or quoting sources.
• Read the messages in a thread before replying. Don’t make redundant posts. Add to the conversation with a original ideas.
• Avoid short, generic replies such as, “I agree.” You should include why you agree and add to the previous point.
• Be open to differing points of view.
• Always be respectful of others’ opinions even when they differ from your own. When you disagree with someone, you should express your differing opinion in a respectful, non-critical way.
• Do not make personal or insulting remarks.

Live Session Guidelines
When attending a live session in Zoom or via Adobe Connect, you should:

• Enter the room a little early to have time to set up your audio and/or video.
• Be prepared in advance based on the type of session.
• Use a headset with earphones and microphone to mitigate feedback in the session.
• Be prepared to adjust from video to audio-only or from multiple-speaker to single-speaker modes, if there are participants with lower bandwidth attending the session.
• Be prepared to monitor “chat” as well as the main content of the session.
• Be prepared to take turns and “share” the microphone.

Since 2011, Information Technology has been collecting faculty feedback in the form of surveys on an annual basis. Your responses help us derive a sense of how we’re doing and help us allocate energy and resources to improve the ways in which we support teaching and learning at Long Island University. While surveys are typically launched in the fall semesters, we welcome your ideas, comments and suggestions at any time. Please direct specific feedback to your local Information Technology department. Thank you.

Email Brooklyn IT  718-488-1082

Email Post IT  516-299-2281

Results from IT 2012 Campus Survey

Information Technology invited faculty to respond to our annual survey, providing feedback on their perceptions of services and support offered in the 2012/13 academic year. Our response rate was small, which we believe is due in large part to effects of Superstorm Sandy, which carved out a significant portion of the fall semester. Resulting delays in the survey launch and in the semester overall affected faculty availability.
Nevertheless, the information obtained is valuable to LIU’s Department of Information Technology and to the institution’s process for self-assessment. Key highlights that are detailed in the following include insight into why computer labs remain valued by faculty despite the ubiquitous nature of mobile device ownership among faculty and students. Results also indicate that faculty desire more training for understanding affordances of various technology tools and ways of incorporating that functionality in their teaching. Faculty have voiced that more training is desired both in the form of workshops, and also in the form of video tutorials. Faculty assessment of IT services and support systems are largely positive. Areas where improvement is desired include wireless connectivity and responsiveness from campus-based departments.
Results from two faculty surveys collected thus far reference actionable requests primarily in three areas: offsite access to within-network resources, improved responsiveness and requestor tracking of IT-related service requests, and extended wireless Internet access. In response, Information Technology has launched several new tools and a completely revised website.
IT.LIU was launched November, 2012, and now serves as a central resource for procedures, policies, instructions and help documentation. Microsoft’s Sharepoint provides the LIU community with a cloud-based repository for communication and collaboration. Atlassian’s JIRA is another new acquisition that will be used to track progress, issues and the development of IT projects. A new Web-based helpdesk system will be launched in the summer of 2013, by which performance of hardware and software resources may be monitored and through which individuals may submit and track service requests. IT is also negotiating with external providers for better saturation and signal strength of our wireless infrastructure, along with additional proposals to funding agencies for advancing access and Internet2 membership. These new directions are informed by faculty feedback and point to a greater reliance on technical resources supported by Information Technology.
View full IT 2012 CAMPUS SURVEY results.

Results from the 2011 Faculty Survey

Approximately 125 full-time faculty and adjuncts responded to our survey, which ran November 15-21, 2011. Of those answering the survey, most teach web-enhanced courses or in the traditional face-to-face fashion, and 60% use Blackboard to varying extents.
Blackboard: The majority of those who do not use BB, say they don’t know how, are not very comfortable with it, or have little time to commit to learning how to use it. Many note they plan to in the future. Of those who do teach using Blackboard, the most frequently used tools are Assignments, E-mail and Gradebook. Faculty cite the need for training for these tools: Assignments, Discussions and Assessments. For student support, faculty are more likely to recommend support services of the library and tutoring than they are with any other services. The CSI website and the physical offices of the CSI are almost never recommended by faculty to students.
Devices used: As for devices, most respondents use iPads in their teaching or intend to use it over any other device. Very few devices are used in research, while more than half of our respondents use a tablet, ereader or mp3 player, personally.
Faculty Center Workshops: More than half of our respondents (61%) have attended a ITFC workshop (formerly known as the FMRC and FTRC). The majority report being satisfied with that training, but not with overwhelming satisfaction. Noting new workshops, most report they want more Blackboard training and advanced Blackboard training, as well as training at more convenient times. The ITFC’s appear to be primarily a helpdesk for faculty FAQs: Respondents report being satisfied or very satisfied with answers to their questions about Blackboard, software, hardware, email, etc.
IT services: 34% of respondents are satisfied overall with IT services; 21% are very satisfied; 25% are somewhat satisfied. The top 3 services IT provides to faculty are firstly e-mail, secondly, the Internet, and thirdly, software support. Faculty predominantly are satisfied or very satisfied with e-mail speed, storage, calendaring, e-mail ease of use and reliability. 42% use Outlook; 18% reported they do not use their LIU account. More than half of those faculty who responded are satisfied or very satisfied with wifi in their classrooms and offices. Two-thirds were satisfied or very satisfied with network access; over half are satisfied or very satisfied with our network availability.
Instructional labs: Most faculty believe a projector to be very important, followed by a dry erase board and then an interactive board. This point was confirmed in the comments section: Faculty want “smart” classrooms (even though we didn’t define in the survey what “smart” means), but they prefer a full-on instructional lab with equipment in perfect working order. They want more labs, larger labs, and more interactive boards. They want interactive boards to be centered in the classroom, with space for writing separate from space for projecting information. They want a sound system with several modalities of media (VHS, DVD) facilitated and supported.
Perception of IT: Responding faculty overwhelmingly rated their perceptions of IT as being satisfied or very satisfied for its systems reliability, responsiveness and timeliness of service, the value of such services, and the effectiveness of services IT offers. Given the opportunity to comment, 29 did so. Three comments had nothing to do with IT; 2 criticized the survey instrument and 8 were positive. The more critical comments are focused on how IT resolves issues. These comments appear to represent a preference for more personalized interactions. Faculty would like IT to be doing more to help them precisely at the time their needs surface. Several comments echoed our own concerns regarding communications and the ability to have a web presence for posting up-to-date information. In addition to up-to-date information, most would like to see FAQs on software and procedures, followed by training documentation.
We appreciate all those who took the time to give us an honest assessment of the services we offer. We anticipate continuing this practice of annual surveys, using the information gained to help drive initiatives and resource deployment. Please join us in congratulating the two winners of the 32-gb iPads: Edmund Miller, LIU Post, and Scott Youmans, LIU Brooklyn.