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Public folders vs resource mailboxes

Friday, October 24th, 2014

If you have been using public folders up till now to organise meetings and events in your department, there may be an easier, more practical option available to you.

By sending an email to help@sun.ac.za you can request that the public folders you are using now be converted to resource mailboxes or to request the creation of new resource mailboxes.

But why should you use resource mailboxes instead of public folders?

If you send a meeting request to a resource mailbox, that resource mailbox will Accept or Decline the meeting request.
It happens automatically without any intervention of a human being
You do not have to worry about double bookings for the same date and time at the same venue.
You’re meeting request to a resource mailbox cannot be changed or deleted.
Only the owner of the resource mailbox can change or delete meeting requests.

What are public folders?

A public folder is a feature of Microsoft Exchange Server that provides an effective way to collect, organize, and share information with others in an organization. Typically, public folders are used by project teams or user groups to share information on a common area of interest. When you are connected to your Exchange server, folders labelled “Public Folders” appear in the Microsoft Outlook Folder List in the Navigation Pane. You can manage these folders from Outlook. Public folders can contain any type of Outlook folder item such as messages, appointments, contacts, tasks, journal entries, notes, forms, files, and postings. You can also add a shortcut to any public folder to the Favorites folder under Public Folders. (http://office.microsoft.com)

Up till now this is what public folders in Outlook looked like:

What is a resource mailbox?

A resource mailbox is a mailbox that represents conference rooms and company equipment. Resource mailboxes can be included as resources in meeting requests, providing a simple and efficient way to manage the scheduling of resources for your organization.

Room mailboxes are assigned to a meeting location such as a conference room, auditorium, or training room. Equipment mailboxes are assigned to a resource that is not location specific, such as a portable computer projector, microphone, or company car. (http://blogs.technet.com)

This is what the new resource mailboxes look like:

How do I add a resource mailbox in MS Outlook 2010?

Send an email to help@sun.ac.za and request that the public folders be converted to resource mailboxes. When you get confirmation that it has been done, follow the next steps:

Create a new meeting request

Select All Rooms in the Address Book

Scroll down to the Room you want to add as a resource mailbox

VERY IMPORTANT: Please Take note of the Alias (see the 7^th step further down)

Click on File, Info, Account Settings

Select your email address and click on Change

Click on More Settings

Type the name of the resource mailbox that you want to add – remember that Alias of earlier – it is the name you have to type here

Click Apply, OK, Next Finish

Go back to the Home button and click on Folder List

The added Resource Mailbox will display

Click on Calendar to view the calendar of the resource mailbox.

Tags: public folders, resource mailbox
Posted in E-mail, Training | Comments Off on Public folders vs resource mailboxes

SUNid flash sessions

Friday, October 10th, 2014

Since the implementation of SUNid (Read more on SUNid here) a few months back, it’s already being used for the registration and administration of external workers and visitors by quite a few SU staff. But, as with any new system, there’s always a learning curve to adapt to and that’s why training is of utmost importance.

Hence, IT will be presenting short flash sessions of 30 minutes each for the next few months. During this 30 minutes the basics of SUNid will be demonstrated in a practical manner, after which another 30 minutes will be made available for any questions.

These sessions are a necessity if you are a SUNid user and will, in future, be compulsory for all staff requesting to be registered on the system.

The dates for training are scheduled during October and November on the Stellenbosch campus on the following days from 10h30-11h30:

16 October
22 October
28 October
6 November
13 November
20 November
27 November

Staff can register online via the SUN-e-HR option on the my.sun.ac.za. More information on training is available on the IT wiki.

IT can also facilitate one-on-one sessions with the “approvers” at departments or present information sessions at departmental meetings. To arrange this, please send us an e-mail at help@sun.ac.za .

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Using a tablet for smarter learning (part 1)

Friday, August 22nd, 2014

Since tablets became mainstream in 2010, more and more students have started relying on these nifty gadgets to take their learning experience to the next level.

However, many students still are unaware or unconvinced of the advantages of tablet-based learning. In the following section, we’ll look at why exactly a tablet is a fantastic investment.

Why a tablet?

In short, there are four reasons:

1. The most obvious advantage of a tablet is the level of mobility it offers. As a student, you’ll most probably carry around at least a notepad, your prescribed books and your class notes. And, for many, a calculator, dictionary and diary/calendar are also indispensable. Carrying these items around all day long can quickly become a back-breaking burden – which is why most students simply leave their heavy books at home.

With a tablet, though, you can have all of these resources compacted into the size of an A5 notepad. No more forgetting books or notes at home – everything you need is but a few finger taps away. This is a killer feature in itself.

2. However, the true academic value of a tablet becomes evident when one looks at its potential as an in-class companion. Not only does a tablet keep everything you need at hand, it also allows you to manipulate these resources in useful ways. For example, you can add bookmarks, highlights and notes to your prescribed books and class notes while the lecturer is discussing them. You can also efficiently create rich notes of your own.

You’ll be able to combine typing and drawing on the screen to capture, for example, key points in a class discussion or diagrams and charts drawn by the lecturer. You’ll be able to neatly organise these notes in subject folders for future reference.

The biggest killer feature of a tablet in class, however, is the fact that it allows you to record what is said in class so that you can listen to these recordings while preparing for an exam. While it’s not practical to record every second of every class (because –let’s be honest –you’ll never listen to all of that again), this feature is extremely handy to record important bits of a lecturer’s explanation or a class discussion.

Lastly, a tablet also gives you quick access to handy reference material. Need to quickly look up a word’s definition or do a calculation? A tablet lets you do both at lightning speed, which means that you won’t lose track of the train of thought in class.

3. Tablets don’t only shine inside the classroom. Any student who’s had to scour stacks and stacks of paper notes to review specific content before an exam will testify to how frustrating, tedious and time-wasting this can be.

Having all of your own notes –and the slideshows or hand-outs provided by the lecturer –neatly organised on a single device, where it’s accessible with a few taps of the finger, eliminates the hassles of paper-based exam preparation and gives you more time to actually study.

4. An often-missed advantage of tablet-based learning is the fact that e-book versions of prescribed books and textbooks are usually cheaper than their print counterparts. While many books are not yet available in digital format, the savings on those that are can quickly compound to a substantial amount.

And, of course, using an e-book offers all of the advantages of digital learning, including such timesavers as being able to search for words and phrases, jump to specific pages and chapters, add multi-coloured highlights and make digital annotations.

Next time : Buying a tablet: The choices

[ARTICLE BY JOHANNES JONKER]

Tags: tablet
Posted in Research, Students, Training | 1 Comment »

E-mail etiquette: do’s and don’ts

Friday, May 9th, 2014

If there’s one area the queen of etiquette Emsie Schoeman hasn’t commented on, it’s e-mail. But don’t think that gives you any reason to escape certain guidelines just because the electronic world seems to operate on a more informal level. Even with e-mail you can land into trouble if you don’t behave properly.

You’re probably wondering why e-mail etiquette even exists, in particular within the company milieu. There are three (very important) reasons, namely professionalism, efficiency and also protection against liability.

We consulted the internet and here are a few hints for meticulous e-mail users.

1. Be concise and to the point
Long e-mails are unnecessary and difficult to read. Avoid long sentences. Sentences should contain no more than 15 to 20 words.

2. Answer all questions and anticipate further questions
This will prevent a series of follow-up e-mails to get all the information and you won’t waste your and someone else’s time.

3. Spelling and language
Bad spelling and language create a bad impression and e-mail without capital letters or punctuation marks take effort to read.

4. Layout
Reading text on a screen is harder than written text and this makes layout in e-mails even more important. Use short paragraphs and adequate space between paragraphs.

5. Use a significant subject in the Subject line
Put the appropriate subject in the Subject line in order for the receiver to immediately know what the e-mail is about. It saves time, explaining and creates context.

6. Reply promptly
Immediately replying to an e-mail is generally expected. Don’t leave correspondence unanswered in your inbox for days when you could have answered it in a minute. Standard reply time for an e-mail is 24 hours, preferably the same working day. If you don’t have an immediate answer, just confirm you received the e-mail and will reply as soon as possible.

7. No large attachments
Don’t send unnecessary large attachments with your e-mails. Some mail servers can’t handle large e-mails.

8. Capital letters
Don’t use only capital letters. This implies that you are shouting at the recipient and can be interpreted as rude.

9. Re-read before you send
Don’t send an e-mail in haste. Other than potential spelling mistakes, it’s important to make sure if you message is clear and understandable. Remember that the recipient can easily misinterpret something when you’re not speaking face-to-face.

10. Don’t answer spam
Even if a spam e-mail claims you should reply to stop from receiving them, don’t reply. By replying to a spam e-mail, you are confirming your e-mail is active and more spam will be generated. Rather just delete the mail.

11. Don’t request delivery and read receipts
You will only irritate the receiver even before he’s read your message. Rather ask the person directly if necessary.

12. Don’t request messages to be recalled
The message has probably already been read and by recalling it, you’ll appear unprofessional. Send an e-mail explaining afterwards instead of recalling it.

13. Don’t forward chain mails or virus hoaxes
Microsoft will not send you money if you send it to 20 people – and neither will any other company. Most chain mails warning against viruses are also hoaxes. Ignore and delete them.

14. Avoid the high priority option
If you use this option to often, it will lose its efficiency. Your correspondence may also come across as pushy and aggressive. The same goes for terms like “URGENT” and “IMPORTANT”.

15. Be careful with emoticons and abbreviations
Try not to use abbreviations such as LOL and BTW. Emoticons like the smiley :) are also not appropriate in business e-mails.

SOURCE: http://www.emailreplies.com en http://www.businessemailetiquette.com

Posted in Communication, E-mail, Training | 6 Comments »

School for Public Leadership takes a leap into the future with IT

Friday, April 11th, 2014

The School for Public Leadership’s mixed learning project made a leap into the future at the end of February and at the same time highlighted the important role Information Technology plays in modern education and learning.

During the new honours students’ first contact session of the year for their course, they were surprised with notebook laptops, arranged by Joe Smit, Helmi Dreijer (IT) and Ilse de Kock (NARGA). Since this group of students is largely dependent on interactive telematic education and therefore needs to have access to a computer and internet wherever they are, a prepaid data package was also negotiated for them with Cell C.

In collaboration with Teaching and Learning Enrichment Johann Kistner and Marinda van Rooyen (IT) saw to it that SUNLearn was made available to students to ensure they have access to the University’s e-learning platforms.

Furthermore an e-book platform, Vitalsource was utilised with which students can sync their prescribed textbooks to notebook computers and mobile devices. Students’ highlighted text and notes will also be synchronised between devices. Ralph Pina (IT) and Le Roux Franken (IT Bellvillepark campus) managed this initiative with the assistance of Van Schaik. Le Roux was also responsible for technical logistics.

Read more on the SPL-project and the School for Public Leadership.

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