How to Sign Up for Email and Text Notifications for Examplify

It’s easy to sign up for email and text notifications for Examplify.

Go to: https://ei.examsoft.com/GKWeb/login/pepperdinelaw

Log in with the same Student ID and Password as the one you use for Exampify when taking an exam.

Examsoft login page with the Exam Takers student login information highlighted.

Scroll to the bottom of the screen and enter your phone number for text confirmation and/or your email address if you’d like to receive email notifications.

Examsoft’s student portal with the Set Your Notifications highlighted.

If you have not received your email notification, please check your spam folder and report it as not spam.

A confirmation email in the spam folder with the spam folder and the report not spam option highlighted.

Text notification will look like this. Any issue with text notifications should be brought to Examsoft’s support team or your cell phone provider’s attention.

The lock screen on a phone with a text notification that an exam has uploaded.

This LawTech article details how to check to see if your exam has uploaded.

Please contact the CSOL-IS department at (310) 506-7425 or email support@law.pepperdine.edu if you have any further questions. 

How to Check if Your Exam Uploaded

There are multiple ways to know if your exam has uploaded. 

After you finish the exam, Examplify will upload the file to their servers. You will see this green confirmation screen when that finishes. 

If you have signed up for email notifications and have not received one, please check your spam folder and mark the emails as Not Spam.

You can also log into ExamSoft using the same Student ID and Password you use to log into Examplify. 

Select the courses tab at the top of the screen.

You will see a list of all of your courses and if there are any notifications on, then there is an exam you need to download or upload. 

After you select your course, you will see any required action in red on the left. There are also columns showing your download and upload timestamps. 

You can also email your exam upload confirmation by clicking on the envelope icon.

This LawTech article details how to sign up for Examplify text and email notification.

Please contact the CSOL-IS department at (310) 506-7425 or email support@law.pepperdine.edu if you have any further questions. 

PIN?

Using a PIN to access a University area with card swipe access — Where’s my PIN, What do I do if I forgot it or never knew what it is????

Every student, staff member and faculty member has a university-issued PIN or Personal Identification number for use with your ID card. Residential students use these all the time to enter their apartments or dorm rooms. You may not have needed your PIN until now.

The PIN is used in conjunction with the access control system at Pepperdine and is part of a two factor authentication system that requires a user to “have something” and to “know something” in this case you “have” your ID card which has a proximity chip in it and you “know” your PIN.

Don’t KNOW your PIN? Here are the instructions for retrieving your PIN.

PIN Retrieval App Instructions
1.Login to your personal WaveNet page using your Network ID and Password.
2.Select the Student Services tab and then ID Card PIN Lookup from the drop-down menu.


3.You will be prompted to read a disclaimer and select Agree.


4.You will then be required to login for a secondary security authentication.


5.The PIN information will displayed as follows:


6.If you are not currently setup in the access database you will be directed to the following screen: (You will see this screen for the first 20-30 minutes after your ID card is printed as the computer system updates. Check again soon.)


7.The PIN display screen will reset in 30 seconds and you will be re-directed back to the Disclaimer page. However, another session can be initiated by selecting Agree and following the process again as outlined.

This information is also available HERE with a visual guide: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1-L99QWwGYkjbFri18VXNgcjzXKeYHIf4/view?usp=sharing

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!

Examsoft Support Information

So you finally finished that 3 hour exam. You’ve uploaded your exam file and got the green “All Clear” sign (cue enormous sigh of relief). Congratulations! You’re home free at last … but … you have your doubts … and you want some reassurance.

No worries!  The first thing you may want to do is check to see the status of the ExamSoft systems that run behind the scenes.   This site will give you the status of their systems in real time so you will know if for some reason an internet outage in some part of the country may be impacting the upload confirmation that you are expecting.  While rare, this has happened a few times and it’s nice to know that it’s just a slowdown.

For more support information visit their tech support self-help page for help fixing whatever ails your computer post exam. support.examsoft.com

If you experience a problem, remember that this is the exact same software used for your California Bar exam (and many other jurisdictions), so it’s best to sort out all these problems now, rather than when you’re sitting for potentially the biggest exam of your life.

You can also check out this page for the list of their latest minimum computer requirements for Examplify on Windows PC and Mac OS computers.

If you run into a message indicating that your computer does not meet the minimum system requirements like this one:

Image of the error message that says Minimum System Requirements Not Met

You should consult this helpful article from ExamSoft that goes over all the various things you can do to remedy this issue.

You can also check out this Quick Start reference list for all the support tips you might need.

And if you get Really lost, give ExamSoft’s tech support, use this form to enter your issue, use the live chat feature on that same page,  call at 866.429.8889. They’re just waiting to help!

Check here to find your Exam ID!

Try a Mock Exam to get an idea of how the software works!

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

Google Docs (and more) off-line

So what to do when the power goes out and you don’t have access to the internet? Just yell. It’s what I do!

It’s true, your laptop still has plenty of battery power but you use the Google Suite from Pepperdine and that requires an internet connection to use right? Not necessarily.

You can set up Google Suite to work for you off-line. This ability is key when the winds pick up and SCE is offering to turn off your power every other hour.

Offline Google Suite: Check out these instructions from Google on how to set up offline mode for your favorite Google Suite apps: https://support.google.com/docs/answer/6388102

Offline Google Drive: Also, similarly, you will probably want to ensure that most/all of your current files are automatically synchronized between Google Drive and your laptop’s hard drive for the same reason: https://support.google.com/drive/answer/2375012

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.

Turn Off PowerPoint Presenter View

Turn off Presenter view before a presentation begins

By turning off the presenter view before you begin a presentation over Zoom, your students will not be able to see any personal notes you have created for yourself in the presentation. While presenter view is viable for a classroom setting (where your personal computer screen can be separate from wha a projector is showing), for sharing your own screen over Zoom, sharing the slides without personal notes is best.

  1. Open the PowerPoint you will be sharing. On the PowerPoint menu, select Preferences.
  1. In the PowerPoint Preferences dialog box, under Output and Sharing, click Slide Show.
  1. In the Slide Show dialog box, UNCHECK the Always start Presenter View with 2 displays check box.

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact Information Services at support@law.pepperdine.edu or (310) 506-7425.

Update Your Zoom – Staying Current!

Zoom releases updates fairly frequently. Some of those updates contain significant changes to the functionality of your Zoom installation. All provide a better overall experience because the Zoom engineers improve security and stability with nearly every update.

Instructions from Zoom on how to update are here: https://support.zoom.us/hc/en-us/articles/201362233-Upgrade-update-to-the-latest-version