Category Archives: software

New Survey Tool: Qualtrics

As of July 2015, Middlebury has adopted Qualtrics as its on-line survey platform for faculty, students and staff.

  • Qualtrics is currently considered the industry-leading provider of online survey software.

  • It is already being used by members of Middlebury as well as in other educational institutions for administrative, academic and research purposes. For example, Amherst, Bowdoin, Colby, Hamilton, Pomona, and Wesleyan are among peer institutions that offer site wide access to Qualtrics.

  • It offers powerful features, such as 90 different question types, the ability to add multimedia to surveys and panel management that set it apart from KeySurvey, our current software.

  • Finally, the switch resulted in significant savings for the College.

Our previous survey platform, KeySurvey, will be available until the end of September and users are strongly encouraged to export their surveys and data before September 30th.

To create a Qualtrics account and learn how to transition from KeySurvey to Qualtrics, go to http://mediawiki.middlebury.edu/wiki/LIS/Qualtrics or contact Bill Koulopoulos (bkoul@middlebury.edu).

Scrivener: Software for Writers Workshop

Write Your Thesis with Scrivener
Library Workshop
Wednesday, April 29th
4:30-5:30pm
Register

library workshopAre you working on a large writing project? Scrivener can help! Scrivener is a software program that breaks down your writing into manageable “chunks,” and brings your research and writing together into a single conceptual workspace.

The library will offer a Scrivener workshop on April 29th at 4:30p.m. Participants will learn how to create a new writing project, how to import existing work, and how to outline, research, and write with Scrivener’s unique features. This workshop is aimed at thesis writers but is open to all members of the College community. For more information on Scrivener and to sign up for the workshop, visit go.middlebury.edu/scrivener.

Sophos Deployment

Last month we began the campus rollout of Sophos Anti-virus, which is replacing the Symantec package we have been using for the past several years. We have deployed this anti-virus solution to many Windows based systems across campus. At this point we will continue the deployment to all faculty and staff Windows and Macintosh computers.

For Windows systems this will be delivered across our network using the same mechanism that manages our Windows workstations. To facilitate this deployment we need to ask that all Windows systems be turned off on Friday nights and powered back up on Monday mornings for the next several weekends. The install packages will be pushed across the network when the system is powered back on Monday morning starting March 19th.

If you should need your system over the weekend and you are off campus there will be no impact to this update. It will resume on Monday as scheduled. If you need your computer and are connected to the campus network (other than through the VPN) you will receive the update when you power your computer on.

For the deployment of Sophos to Macintosh computers we will be leveraging a utility called Casper. Casper will allow us to seamlessly remove Symantec and install Sophos. To ensure that Sophos will be successfully installed on your Macintosh system, please install Casper prior to March 16th. For instructions on obtaining Casper please see the Casper installation page at http://go/getcasper. Please note that Casper is licensed for Middlebury-owned systems only.

For information on Sophos please see the FAQ at http://go/sophos. This will answer many questions you may have and should address any issues you may encounter. Prior to the date your system is scheduled for the Sophos install please do the following:

  • Complete any software installs you may have pending, including any Windows Updates.
  • For Macintosh computers, confirm that you have the Self Service application installed in the Application Utility
  • Disable any additional firewalls you may have added beyond the operating system specific firewall. Please note, this is not referring to anti-virus such as Symantec but rather products such as SonicWall.
  • Shut down your system the Friday before the install so that it receives the scheduled install when it powers up on Monday morning.
  • Shut down your system on Monday night (after the scheduled install has occurred).

For faculty and staff who wish to install Sophos on one of their own personal systems, Middlebury is licensed for one copy per employee for home use. To download a copy for your home system please visit the Sophos FAQ at http://go/sophos .

For additional information please see http://go/sophos

 

 

Sophos deployment continues

Last week we began the campus rollout of Sophos Anti-virus; which is replacing the Symantec package we have been using for the past several years. Last week we deployed Sophos to systems which are currently running Windows 7.  This week we will be deploying Sophos to Staff systems have yet to be upgraded. This will be delivered across our network using the same mechanism that manages our Windows workstations. To facilitate this deployment we need to ask that all Windows systems be turned off on Friday nights and powered back up on Monday mornings for the next several weekends. The install packages will be pushed across the network according to the following schedule:

  • February 19th: Windows7 systems
  • February 26th: Remaining  Staff workstations
  • March 4th: Remaining Faculty workstations and computers that have not been addressed in prior groups.

If you should need your system over the weekend and you are off campus there will be no impact to this update. It will resume on Monday as scheduled. If you need your computer and are connected to the campus network (other than through the VPN) you will receive the update when you power your computer on.

For information on Sophos please see the FAQ at http://go/sophos. This will answer many questions you may have and should address any issues you may encounter. Prior to the date your system is scheduled for the Sophos install please do the following:

  • Complete any software installs you may have pending, including any Windows Updates.
  • Disable any additional firewalls you may have added beyond the Windows Firewall. Please note, this is not referring to Anti-virus such as Symantec but rather products such as SonicWall.
  • Shut down your system the Friday before the install so that receives the scheduled install when it powers up on Monday morning.
  • Shut down your system on Monday night (after the scheduled install has occurred).

For additional information please see http://go/sophos

Sophos Anti-Virus for Windows Campus Roll-out

Next week will begin the campus wide release of Sophos Anti-virus for Windows. This will be delivered across our network using the same mechanism that manages our Windows workstations. To facilitate this deployment we need to ask that all Windows systems be turned off on Friday nights and powered back up on Monday mornings for the next several weekends. The install packages will be pushed across the network according to the following schedule:

  • February 19th: Windows7 systems
  • February 26th: Remaining  Staff workstations
  • March 4th: Remaining Faculty workstations and computers that have not been addressed in prior groups.

For information on Sophos please see the FAQ at http://go/sophos. This will answer many questions you may have and will address many issues you may encounter. Prior to the date your system is scheduled for the Sophos install please do the following:

  • Complete any software installs you may have pending, including any Windows.
  • Disable any additional firewalls you may have added beyond the Windows Firewall. Please note, this is not referring to Anti-virus such as Symantec but rather products such as SonicWall.
  • Shut your system down the Friday before the install so that it powers up the Monday morning of the scheduled install. If you power your system up over the weekend the install will start at that time.
  • Shut your system down the Monday night after the install.

For additional information please see http://go/sophos