Laptop/Travel Preparation – Law Faculty

If you are planning a trip and will bring your university laptop with you, there are a few things you should do before you get too far along in your planning:

  1. Contact the Information Services Team to schedule a pre-trip checkup of your university laptop
  2. If you are going out of the country, you may need to plan for an adapter or other means to plug in and charge the laptop. Here’s a pretty good resource for checking the power plug requirements around the world: https://www.power-plugs-sockets.com/
  3. Consider your internet connectivity options in that location. Pepperdine offers a WiFi service called “EduRoam” that will enable you to use a trusted network at participating locations. The important thing here is to set up your EduRoam account from a trusted network (your office) before you leave.
  4. Make sure you have backups of your important data. Part of the checkup mentioned in #1 above will include a review of your installed auto backup system.
  5. You will also want to ensure that you have your active research and any course materials synchronized to Google Drive. If you need help with that, the Information Services Team will be glad to assist.
  6. Familiarize yourself with Wifi Calling if you are traveling outside of the country and may not be able to make international calls, or if you are traveling to an area where cell service may be limited. Wifi Calling is a great option if you do not wish to pay for international cell service or may only have access to wifi and not strong cell signal.
  7. If you will need to sign into your device with Secure Connect but will not have access to a secondary device, consider generating one time pass codes to take with you so you can still log in. You can generate multiple codes, each of which will last up to 90 days and will allow you to sign into your account once without another connected device.
  8. Consider how you plan to carry your computer with you… will you use a laptop bag or will you check it inside your luggage? If you plan to carry it with you, note that you must remove it from its bag at the TSA screening checkpoint.

How To: Create an RTF File

An RTF file, which stands for Rich Text Format file, is a word processing document file. At the end of a RTF file, you will see the extension “.rtf.” Note that the ideal way to convert documents into RTF is through Microsoft Word, so it is recommended that your text is in that form originally.

When uploading questions to Examsoft, you will need to first convert your files into RTF form. To do so, please follow the instructions for converting from Word and Google Docs below.

Microsoft Word

  1. Open Microsoft Word and click File.

2. Then click Save As.

3. Then, in the File Format drop-down menu, select Rich Text Format (.rtf)

Google Docs

For Google Docs, navigate to the File icon, and then click on Download. Then click the Rich Text Format (.rtf) option.

Safari and Courses Zoom Pro

You may receive the message shown in the screenshot below in Safari. To resolve this issue so that you will not receive this message, and will not be re-directed to Chrome, please follow the steps below.

  1. Navigate to Safari and click the Safari tab in the top left of your screen. Click Preferences.

2. Click the “Privacy” tab, and then make sure the following options are unchecked. 

IF YOU NEED ANY TECHNOLOGY ASSISTANCE, PLEASE FEEL FREE TO REACH OUT TO INFORMATION SERVICES AT (310) 506-7425 OR SUPPORT@LAW.PEPPERDINE.EDU. GOOD LUCK!

Classroom Tech: Audio and Visual Settings in Zoom

If you are teaching a class in person, and will have a zoom screen as well for online students, there are certain audio and visual settings you will need to select. Please see the options below.

Audio

For the microphone, you will need to select the Echo Cancelling Speakerphone (Core-Mendenhall). For speakers, you should select Crestron (Intel(R) Display Audio.

Visual

As you can see in this screenshot, there are a few options for selecting a camera.

The Clearview HD-USB shows a screen of the professor, as shown in the screenshot above.

The Mini USB shows a view of the students, as shown in the screenshot above.

Finally, the Video (Pro Capture) setting is not in use. If selected, you will be presented with a “No signal” screen.

For a more in-depth review of the audio and visual information, please see the video below.

IF YOU NEED ANY TECHNOLOGY ASSISTANCE, PLEASE FEEL FREE TO REACH OUT TO INFORMATION SERVICES AT (310) 506-7425 OR SUPPORT@LAW.PEPPERDINE.EDU. GOOD LUCK!

Microphones Best Practices

Classroom Microphones

Two microphones are installed in each classroom, a lapel, and a handheld microphone. These microphones are used to share your audio in the classroom and over Zoom. 

Best Practices for Microphones

Make sure the microphone is pointing towards your mouth. 

Speak loudly and clearly. Speak as if you’re talking with someone in the last row of seats. 

Return the microphones to the charging station when not in use. 

Do not drop the mic. 

Lapel Microphones

Lapel microphones have a bodypack and a clip-on microphone. The bodypack can be clipped onto a belt or placed in a pocket. The clip-on microphone should be placed around the top third of your chest. The microphone clip rotates, so rotate it so the microphone is pointing towards your mouth. The power switch is on the top of the bodypack. 

Lapel Microphone Best Practices:

Do not wear a necklace that rubs against the microphone. 

Do not wear low-cut shirts. The microphone may not be close enough for clear audio. 

Make sure the microphone is pointing towards your mouth. 

Speak loudly and clearly. Speak as if you’re talking with someone in the last row of seats. 

Return the microphone to the charging station when not in use. 

Handheld Microphones

Handheld microphones have the microphone at one end and the transmitter at the other end. The power switch is on the side of the microphone. Hold the microphone by the body and point the microphone end towards your mouth. 

  • You can not be heard if you’re using the wrong end of the microphone 
  • You can not be heard if you’re using the microphone as a pointer. 
  • Your voice will be muffled if you hold the microphone end. 
  • The connection may drop if you hold the transmitter end. 
  • Do not drop the mic. Mic drops always cool but dropping it will break it. 

Charging Station

Please return the microphones to the charging station when you’re done with class. This assures that the microphones are fully charged and do not go missing. 

IF YOU NEED ANY TECHNOLOGY ASSISTANCE, PLEASE FEEL FREE TO REACH OUT TO INFORMATION SERVICES AT (310) 506-7425 OR SUPPORT@LAW.PEPPERDINE.EDU. GOOD LUCK!

Creating Branded Surveys in Qualtrics

Qualtrics is an amazing survey tool that is available to all faculty and staff at Pepperdine University. This article will cover how to make a blank survey with Caruso School of Law branding.

To access Qualtrics, please go to https://community.pepperdine.edu/it/tools/qualtrics/ and select the link to the Qualtrics website. You may need to scroll down on this page to access the link. 

This will send you to the Pepperdine Single Sign-On page. Please enter your Pepperdine Credentials to proceed. 

This will take you to your Qualtrics homepage. Select ‘Create new project’ in the upper right corner of the screen.

Select the Survey button under choose your own, this is in red in the picture. There are amazing templates for surveys. This article will cover blank surveys only. 

Name the survey something that you will remember, such as Caruso SOL Branding. Select Blank Project under the name, then select Get Started in the upper right-hand corner. 

This is the survey creating a page where you can create questions and edit the survey. The Preview button on the upper right-hand corner will show you what the published survey will look like. 

The preview opens in a new tab and shows both the desktop and mobile versions of the survey. As you can see, the default branding for blank surveys the Graziadio Business School. 

Go back to the survey edit tab and select the Look & Feel button in the upper left corner.

This brings you to a page where you can edit how the survey looks and how the questions flow. 

Select Theme in the upper left-hand corner to see the different themes for each school. Select Caruso School of Law and then save.

You can confirm you have the correct by checking the Preview again.

Now the Caruso School of Law branding is in this blank survey. 

You may want to create a branding folder to save this blank survey. To do so, go to your Qualtircs homepage and select Add new folder in the upper left-hand corner.

Name the folder.

Then drag and drop the survey into the folder.

Now, you can select  From a Copy to create a branded, blank survey.

You will then see a list of your folders and can select the branded survey that you want to use.

Reply All? How to turn it off by default

Ever get an email that was a personal reply to a group message? Was that message really meant for you? Not likely. Ever send one like that? I’m sure was an accident.

If you want to turn off the default “Reply All” feature in Google Mail here are some step by step instructions:

  1. Log in to your Gmail account. Navigate to the top right corner of your screen, and click the gear button which stands for settings. Then, click “See All Settings.”

2. Scroll down the list of available settings modifications, and click on reply instead of reply all for the default reply behavior.

3. Once you have modified your settings, you should get a notification that your settings have been changed. Alternatively, scroll to the bottom of your screen where you will see a button to manually save your changes.

That’s it!

IF YOU NEED ANY TECHNOLOGY ASSISTANCE, PLEASE FEEL FREE TO REACH OUT TO INFORMATION SERVICES AT (310) 506-7425 OR SUPPORT@LAW.PEPPERDINE.EDU. GOOD LUCK!

Blur Background: New Feature for Zoom Update

Students and Professors alike may wish to avoid showing their actual surroundings during a Zoom call.

Zoom has a feature that enables a user to blur their background (as opposed to changing it).

If, for some reason, you do not see this option in your Zoom settings, you may need to update your version of Zoom.

Updating Zoom

One way to download Zoom is by navigating to this link: https://zoom.us/support/download

Alternatively, you may check for updates by following these steps:

  1. Click on your Zoom App on your desktop, and select “sign in with SSO

2. Enter the zoom.pepperdine.edu domain.

3. Enter your Campus Wide Network

4. You will be prompted to open Zoom.Us

5. From there, you will be logged in to your desktop Zoom app. Click on your profile picture.

6. Click on “Check for updates”

7. You will be notified if there are any updates you should install. If you are up to date, you will receive a screen confirming you are up to date.

Implementing the feature

1. Once in your meeting, click on the arrow next to your video icon in the bottom left corner. Then, click “choose virtual background.”

2. In your Zoom application, you should now see a “blur” option in your background and filters tab. Select this option.

3. Back in your meeting, your background should now appear blurred!

IF YOU NEED ANY TECHNOLOGY ASSISTANCE, PLEASE FEEL FREE TO REACH OUT TO INFORMATION SERVICES AT (310) 506-7425 OR SUPPORT@LAW.PEPPERDINE.EDU. GOOD LUCK!

Security Risk With Storing Passwords in Browser

It is becoming increasingly popular to store passwords automatically, as modern browsers come equipped with password managers that store login credentials. The centralization of passwords becomes dangerous when one part of your browser system is exposed to someone else however, which can happen through hackers decoding weak passwords (such as 123456), or password sharing to friends and family, which has become increasingly popular in a work from home environment. Due to the passwords being stored on one platform, if someone has access to one password or even access to your browser, they have access to most all passwords stored there.

There are several examples of how this centralization of passwords can create a major security breach: credential dumping happens when a hacker attempts to gain access to your system through persistent phishing or hacking, and there is malware created specifically to steal autofill data (like stored passwords). To read more about these tactics, see this article from the tech help oriented website toolbox.com.

Solutions

To reduce the risk of exposing your information to the web at large, consider taking these steps.

  1. Turn off the auto-fill feature in your password management.
  2. Turn on a “safe browsing” feature in your browser, which will alert you to any breach of credentials or password changes immediately.
  3. Set a password management software. There are plenty to choose from, and these will allow you to:
    -Set a master password that will protect your entire password library.
    -Define optional two-factor authentication (like a text to your phone as well as password).
    -Require manual password entry for sensitive websites, like banks.

If you have any questions, or would like to learn more about the content covered in this article, please feel free to contact Information Services at support@law.pepperdine.edu or (310) 506-7425.