IT Services will be performing network and Banner maintenance on Thursday, July 20th, 5:00 pm - 10:00 pm. This includes our monthly mandatory security patches for all services. Users may experience intermittent downtime.
Required SANS Training Now Available
Recently the Chancellor announced the 2023 SANS Security Awareness Training. The deadline to complete this year's training is September 30, 2023 . After that date, the accounts of those who have not completed the training will be disabled. This requirement applies to all faculty and staff UTM accounts. The training is available in K@te, and you have the option to test out of most of the general required training. You should have already received an email from itservices.noreply@utm.edu with instructions. If you need help accessing the training in Canvas, contact the Help Desk.
End of Support for Windows 10
Windows 11 is now available for all compatible university machines. To provide enough time to replace machines that are not compatible, ITS will stop supporting Windows 10 machines on July 1st, 2024. To upgrade to Windows 11, open Software Center located on your desktop or within the programs list. Under Operating Systems, you will see the option to install Windows 11. Click Install and then confirm the installation. A system check will run to verify that your computer meets the requirements for Windows 11. If the scan fails, you will receive a message to inspect the error. Click Inspect and take note of the failure reasons listed. Please call the ITS Help Desk at 731-881-7900 if you receive a failure notice or need assistance with upgrading your machine.
VGA is going away!
The Client Services and Support team is upgrading the podium controllers in classrooms across campus this summer. In this upgrade, we are standardizing all classrooms to HDMI. If your laptop only has a VGA port available, please contact the Help Desk to schedule a meeting with a technician to discuss solutions for the fall semester. HDMI cables will be available in all classrooms.
ChatGPT: Risks and Recommendations
ChatGPT, like anything else powered by artificial intelligence, comes with risks that need to be considered. Key risks associated with any AI platform, but particularly ChatGPT, are Privacy, Data, and Ethics.
Privacy and Data Security. When interacting with ChatGPT, users often provide sensitive information or personal data. There is a risk that this information could be stored or mishandled, potentially leading to privacy breaches or fines due to contractual or regulatory compliance. To reduce this risk, only use secure communication channels and ensure that proper data protection measures are in place. It is also important to be cautious when sharing personal, financial, or confidential information during interactions with AI systems.
Bias and Misinformation. ChatGPT's responses are generated based on patterns and information that it has learned from the data it was trained on. A public ChatGPT chatbot "learns" from everything that it's fed. If the data it's fed contains biases or inaccuracies, there is a risk that the AI system may generate biased or misleading responses. This could perpetuate stereotypes, spread misinformation, or reinforce existing biases. To address this risk, ongoing monitoring and evaluation of AI systems like ChatGPT are necessary to detect and rectify any biases or inaccuracies in their responses. Implementing robust risk management strategies and guidelines is important when deploying and using AI systems like ChatGPT. Regular auditing, transparency, and a collaborative effort between developers, users, andexperts can help reduce these risks and ensure the responsible and ethical use of AI technology.
As a Reminder: The UT System, at this time, does not have any legal agreements with any AI developer that provides any assurance of data confidentiality. Therefore, putting data into ChatGTP or similar services is equivalent to disclosing the data to the public. Therefore, we must use the same data sharing precautions that we use every day with the new technology. Specifically, this means the following information should not be placed into any AI service:
Any data whose disclosure to the public would be considered a breach under FERPA, HIPAA, PCI, GLBA or any other Federal or State Statute. Examples include SS#, credit card numbers, personally identifiable medical information, student names and grades, etc.
Additionally, great caution is suggested with the following information:
research data/intellectual property
source code
proprietary data
internal meeting notes
hardware related information
presentation notes, emails
Survey Tools Available to UTM Faculty and Staff
Do you need to survey committee members for their responses on a proposed project? Are you interested in conducting a research project that will require responses from thousands of users? UTM offers two options to address simple and complex survey applications.
Microsoft 365 Forms is an easy-to-use app available to all UTM faculty and staff. It allows users to create surveys (e.g. student preferences, alumni, etc.), quizzes, and polls, invite others to respond to it using any web browser or mobile device, see real-time results as surveys are submitted, use built-in analytics to evaluate responses, and export results to Excel for additional analysis or grading. To access Forms, open Office 365 and look under Apps.
Qualtrics QM is a powerful and flexible web survey tool that meets IRB requirements for collecting and storing data (i.e. HIPPA, FERPA). It also offers 23 different question types and allows for logic questions and branching. These features yield a better user experience and more robust data. The survey results appear in both graphs and charts for use in presentations, and can be downloaded as CSV files for further analyses in Excel or SPSS.
For more information about these survey tools, please contact the ITC at itc@utm.edu or 731.881.7877.
Cell Phone Text Scams
Who hasn't received either a text message from USPS or FedEX saying that a delivery requires verification? Or maybe you have received an alert from Amazon about a recent large purchase? These types of scams are rising in popularity with scammers and cost consumers over 300 million dollars in 2022. Stay vigilant for this type of scam and check out the following resources to learn how to recognize, report, and block scam text messages.
How to avoid scam text messages:
Never use links, contact information -- or reply to -- unexpected text messages from sources that you do not know. If you think that it is a legitimate source, contact the company using a phone number on their website or log in to your account as you normally would by going directly to the company website.
To Filter or block unwanted texts:
Report the text to your wireless provider by forwarding to 7726 (i.e. SPAM).
Report/block the message using the Apple iMessage or GoogleMessages apps.
Training and Consultations for Online Fall Classes
This month, the Instructional Technology Center will offer training on Canvas Basics, Course Organization Tools, and Online Tests and Assessments. The staff are also available for individual consultations for course-specific questions. Log in to Runway to view available training times. For in-person or Zoom appointments, contact the ITC at itc@utm.edu or 731.881.7877.
