Join us on Thursday, March 29 from 11:30 AM - 2:30 PM in the University Center and the Engineering Building to learn about technology tools that both support and improve the efficiency of day-to-day activities at UMBC. Last year, TechFest gave out over $400 in gift cards and prizes.

All students, faculty, and staff are welcomed to participate at TechFest.

If you have any questions, please email us at techfest18@umbc.edu 

Agenda:

11:30am-12:20pm     Lunch, Registration, & Opening Remarks

12:30pm-1:05pm       Session 1

1:15pm-1:50pm         Session 2

2:00pm-2:35pm         Session 3

Some of the workshops sessions and their descriptions are listed below:

Integrating Student Learning Results: Are you seeking tools to streamline evidence-based decision making at the course and program levels? Are you wondering how to integrate student learning results across courses and semesters? Learn how EAC Visual Data enhances Blackboard’s Goals and Assessments, so you can view, extract, and aggregate your learning data. EAC helps you align your learning outcomes (at each level) to the rubric row (or test question) that measures learning—allowing you to see where students need additional work to achieve the outcomes.

Toxic Data - How to Protect Yourself and UMBC: Just like chemicals can be toxic to a community, data can also pose a toxic risk to UMBC.  This presentation will discuss the different types of data that pose a risk to the community and the ways that people can handle the data safely.  We will also talk about ways to protect your data from the threat of ransomware.

Collaborating on Accessibility: In this session you will learn of the classroom technology we implement here at UMBC through the work and collaboration of SDS and DoIT. We will examine some of the barriers technology pose on campus and the collaboration of the UMBC community to address these concerns.

Multi-Factor Authentication and Duo: Keeping the bad guys out of your account: "This session will give a general overview on authentication, multi-factor authentication and phishing.  It will then demonstrate the use of Duo, UMBC's multi-factor solution.  Attendees will leave the session understanding how Duo helps to protect access to campus resources. The attendee will know how to sign up and use Duo for campus authentication as well as how Duo can help protect other sites such as Amazon and Facebook. 

Phishing - What Is It and What Should I Do?: Phishing messages are becoming a way of life.  Hackers and thieves use them to attempt to steal people’s data and identities.  This session will give people ways to recognize phishing messages and information about what to do when a phishing message is received.  

NEW! - Picking up the #slack: Team Communication Beyond Email: Are you like most people and feel like your inbox controls you life? Or does the formality of email slow you down with your teams, classes or groups? Most groups aren’t always in the same place, but you still need everyone to be connected and included. Slack can help change the communication dynamics within your teams and provide a easier, quicker more effective way to collaborate. In our session you will learn and experience the wonder and joy of slack and how different groups, including faculty, staff and students throughout UMBC have used slack to change how they communicate.  

NEW! - Why and How to Build FAQs for User Support: Answering questions is key to basic user support, but if you want to fly higher, build and use FAQs that help users help themselves. This presentation builds on DoIT's effective practices (doit.umbc.edu/support) in curating the UMBC Frequently Asked Questions knowledge base (www.umbc.edu/faq). After a brief discussion on the pros and cons of using a central knowledge base, participants will learn how DoIT builds an FAQ from scratch.