Spring 2012 - Touro College

faculty 

& 

technology 

Guide to 

Touro College 

Computing 

Resources 

and Training 

Spring ‘12 

27 W 23 Street, Room 337 

New York, NY 10010

{CREDITS} 

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF 

Issac Herskowitz 

ASSOCIATE EDITOR 

Phil Charach 

EDITOR 

Miriam Gutherc 

CREATIVE DIRECTOR 

Tova Shimunova 

DESIGNER 

Nechama Schechter 

PHOTOGRAPHER 

Jesse Epstein 

COLUMNISTS 

Irina Berman 

Albert Bina 

Payam Bina 

Phil Charach 

Patricia Ciuffo 

Jesse Epstein 

Slava Khaitov 

Ian Probstein 

INSTRUCTIONAL TECHNOLOGY TEAM 

CONTENTS 

From the Desk of the Chief Academic Computing Officer. ......... 3 

From the Desk of the Director of Instructional Technology. ........ 4 

The Microsoft Work-at-Home Program....................... 5 

Technology Workshops - Descriptions. .................. 8 

Library Workshops - Descriptions. ................... 10 

Adobe & Microsoft Product Discounts for the Touro Community ..... 10 

Workshops Schedule .......................... 11 

Projectors ............................... 13 

Graduate School of Technology Programs. ............... 14 

PLATO / PLE .............................. 15 

Blackboard 9.1 is coming!. ....................... 16 

Teaching Video Conferencing Classes: 

Challenges, Setbacks, and Accomplishments. .............. 18 

Identity Theft. ............................. 21 

10 Tips to Defend Against Identity Theft. ................ 23 

Using the iPad in Education – Part 2. .................. 24 

SMART Board or PolyVision ēno? .................... 28 

From the Desk of the Chief 

Academic Computing Officer 

Dear Faculty Member, 

One of the main goals of the Academic Computing Department is to research cuttingedge 

technologies as they relate to education, and to implement them throughout Touro 

College. As part of this mission, we hosted an “Emerging Technologies Forum” on Nov. 21, 

2011 to update faculty, students, administrators, and alumni on the latest digital solutions 

available today. At this well-attended forum, many emerging technologies were presented and 

discussed, including the current trends towards cloud computing, virtualization, and mobile 

apps. [Please see page 30 for more details about this successful event.] 

In another exciting development, the Academic Computing Department and School of 

Health Sciences are jointly piloting an iPad initiative. Each Health Science student will be 

equipped with an iPad loaded with Health Science-related apps. This will give our students a 

competitive edge and help them get ready for real-world health technologies. 

Touro College will also be moving to Blackboard 9.1 from the present version of Blackboard 

8.0, starting in Summer 2012. Even a seasoned Blackboard 8.0 user will encounter difficulties 

in navigating the new Blackboard 9.1 system without prior training. I therefore strongly urge 

you attend our workshops to get geared up for Blackboard 9.1. 

This Spring, our free Faculty Technology Workshops will be offered on subjects ranging 

from Blackboard 9.1, Microsoft Word 2010, Excel 2010, and PowerPoint 2010, to how to use 

the “Polyvision ē no Interactive Whiteboard.” I am confident that you will take advantage 

of this opportunity to upgrade your technological skills and attend one or more technology 

workshop sessions. 

You have probably noticed the Polyvision ē no interactive white boards installed in many 

classrooms at Touro College, with many training sessions offered by our Instructional 

Technology Team. The implementation of this project will undoubtedly result in a 

transformation of the classroom from a static one into a dynamic one. 

Dr. Issac Herskowitz 

Chief Academic Computing Officer 

On the Cutting Edge of Change: 

The Touro Forum on Emerging Technologies. .............. 30 

Support Contact Information. ..................... 33 

Please continue to provide us with your ideas on how to improve our instructional technology 

and workshop offerings; Phil Charach, Director of Instructional Technology (philipc@touro. 

edu/212-463-0400 Ext. 5688) is always available to discuss all aspects of instructional 

technology at Touro with you. 

Best wishes for a successful Spring 2012 semester, 

L-R: Slava Khaitov, Payam Bina, Irina Berman, Phil Charach 

Faculty! Need help with Blackboard? 

Call: 212.463.0400 x 5467 

Dr. Issac Herskowitz 

Chief Academic Computing Officer 

Instructional Technology Helpline: 212.463.04000 x 5467 | Faculty Technology Guide - Spring ‘12 

3

Phil Charach 

Director of Instructional Technology 

From the Desk of the Director of 

Instructional Technology 

Dear Colleagues, 

Recently, at the NYSCAS 25th Annual 

Faculty Development Day on November 

15, 2011, Dr. Raul Garcia and I presented a 

workshop entitled “Liberal Arts in the World 

of Technology,” which provoked lively debate. 

Dr. Garcia eloquently stated his position: 

“What is unclear is whether this sense of 

exhilaration with new technology reflects 

a wish to escape the difficulties inherent in 

learning and teaching, or if a qualitatively 

different methodology of teaching and 

learning has been invented. That is the 

question at issue.” 

In my rebuttal, I demonstrated the efficacy of 

technology in the classroom and highlighted 

the fact that we could better engage students 

when providing them with visually stimulating 

information using a medium with which 

they are already familiar with. For example, 

our usage of PLATO for remedial Math and 

English has been proven to be an extremely 

valuable tool, as testified by many professors 

and instructors. While many in the audience 

corroborated my position, I challenge you to 

use instructional technology in your classes 

and see for yourself what technology can do 

to enliven your course material. 

In the same vein, on December 7th 2011, I 

presented “Computerized Torah Databases” 

at the Lander College for Men (LCM). 

Students and staff attended this seminar, and 

expressed appreciation for the opportunity 

given to enhance their learning by utilizing 

these invaluable tools available through the 

Touro College Libraries. 

In addition, in order to give you a better 

insight into using technologies in the 

classroom, I have invited Professor 

Ian Probstein to describe his firsthand 

experiences teaching using video 

conferencing equipment [please see page 

18]. If you are doing something unique with 

technology in your classroom, please share 

your instructional technology ideas and 

experiences with the rest of us, and contact 

me if you are interested in writing an article 

for a future issue. 

At this time, I would like to reiterate the crucial 

importance of getting yourselves acquainted 

with Blackboard 9.1, which is radically different 

from Blackboard 8.0, our current system. As 

I have stated in numerous emails to you, the 

planned rollout of Blackboard 9.1 will take place 

this summer, so there is a narrow window of 

opportunity left for you to become familiar with 

it. Please do your best to attend one of our 

workshops on Blackboard 9.1, so you will be 

ready for Summer 2012. 

As usual, we also offer a wide range of 

other free technology workshops and online 

webinars, ranging from Microsoft Office 

2010 (Word, Excel, and PowerPoint) to using 

clickers and video in the classroom. All we 

need is your active participation. 

In closing, I would like to thank all of you 

who submitted in a timely manner hardware/ 

software requests for the next fiscal year, 

thus allowing us to submit your requests in 

consolidated form to the budget committee. 

Looking forward to greeting you at 

our workshops, 

Phil Charach 

Director of Instructional Technology 

The Microsoft Work-at-Home Program 

Touro employees are now eligible to participate in Microsoft’s 

Software Assurance Home Use Program (HUP). This program 

enables you to get a licensed copy of most Microsoft Office 

desktop PC applications to install and use on your home computer, 

as long as Touro has a license to use Microsoft Office on the Touro 

computer(s) you work on, and you remain a Touro employee. 

If you are interested, follow the directions below to order your 

copy of Microsoft Office directly from Microsoft: 

1. Go to http://hup.microsoft.com/ 

2. Select “United States” (or other country where you are located) 

3. Enter your Touro e-mail address and the following program 

code. 361A5C5A4E 

Note: This program code is assigned to our organization for 

our sole use in accessing this site. You may not share this 

number with anyone outside our organization. 

4. Place your order online, and it will be shipped to the location 

you have chosen. Please note that a fulfillment fee of 

approximately $10 will be charged to cover packaging, shipping, 

and handling costs. (An additional cost will be charged if you 

choose to have a backup install DVD shipped to you.) 

We trust you will enjoy this benefit and look forward to your 

participation. Should you need assistance, please contact 

Sailish or Arjun. 

Arjun Mahat 

212.463.0400 ext. 5240 

arjunkm@touro.edu 

Sailesh Bhusal 

212.463.0400 ext. 5240 

sailesh.bhusal@touro.edu 

4 

Faculty Technology Guide - Spring ‘12 | Blackboard Questions? 212.463.04000 x 5467 


5

Computer Lab Directory 

PLEASE CALL AHEAD TO CONFIRM LAB AND TECHNICIAN AVAILABILITY 

The Touro College Academic Computing Department provides computer laboratory facilities 

for faculty and student use, with over 1200 computers at 22 locations. Software provided 

at each computer lab supports courses offered on-site, with emphasis on computer science, 

business, mathematics, and ESL software. Standard software at all labs includes MS Office 

2010 and Internet Explorer, with headphones and high-end laser printers also available for 

faculty and student use. Other hardware available to faculty members for classroom use 

include large-screen multimedia monitors, projectors, and VCRs. Please contact the lab 

technician at your site to reserve one of these resources. 

Computer labs at locations where desktop and web publishing courses are taught are equipped 

with scanners, color printers, CD-RW drives, and special software to support the course 

offerings, including Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator and InDesign. Macintosh computers are also 

available at several locations. 

{Brooklyn} 

bensonhurst 

1870-86 Stillwell Avenue 

Brooklyn, NY 11223 

718.265.6534 ext. 1005 

Sun/Fri: 9AM-2PM 

Mon-Thu: 9AM-9:20PM 

brighton beach 

532 Neptune Ave 


718.449.6160 ext. 127 


Fri: 9AM-2PM 

boro park i (sle) 

1273 53 rd Street 


718.871.6187 ext. 16 

Sun: 9AM-10PM 

Mon-Wed: 5PM-11PM 

Thu: 9AM-11PM 

boro park ii (women) 

1301 45 th Street 


718.871.2130 

Sun: 9AM-2PM 

Mon-Thu: 5PM-10PM 

boro park iii 

Department of Nursing 

5323 18 th Avenue 


718.236.2661 

Tue/Thu: 9AM-2PM 

flatbush 

1602 Avenue J 


718.252.7800 ext. 208 

Sun: 9AM-10PM 


Fri: 9AM-2PM 

graduate speech program 

1610 East 19 th Street 


718.787.1602 ext. 213 

Mon/Tue/Thu: 1PM-8:30PM 

kings highway i 

1726 Kings Highway 


718.998.9409 ext. 30114 

Sun: 9AM-4PM 

Mon-Thu: 9AM-10PM 

Fri: 9AM-2PM 

kings highway ii 



718.998.1490 ext. 606, 604 


Fri: 9AM-1PM 

kings highway iii 


(at Coney Island Avenue) 


718.301.2033 

Sun: 9AM-5PM 


Fri: 9AM-2PM 

sunset park 

475 53 rd Street 


718.748.2776 ext. 5 


Fri: 9AM-2PM 

starrett city 

1390 Pennsylvania Avenue 


718.642.6562 ext. 105 

Mon-Thu: 9PM-9:30PM 

Fri: 9AM-2PM 

{Manhattan} 

main campus midtown 

27 W. 23 rd Street, 3 rd floor 

New York, NY 10010 

212.463.0400 ext. 5240 

Sun: 9AM-3:30PM 


Fri: 9AM-2PM 

main campus annex 

43 W. 23 rd Street, 2 nd floor 


212.463.0400 ext. 5632 


Fri: 9AM-2PM 

main campus gsep annex 

50 W. 23 rd Street, 6 th Floor 


212.242.4668 ext. 6002 

Sun: 9AM-4:30PM 


taino 

240 East 123 rd Street 


212.722.1575 ext. 141 


Fri: 9AM-2PM 

women’s division 

227 West 60 th Street 


212.287.3500 ext. 3535 


Fri: 9AM-2PM 

graduate school of business 

65 Broadway, Suite 200 

New York, NY 10006-2552 

212.742.8770 ext. 2400 

Mon-Thu: 2PM-8:30PM 

Sun: 9AM-4PM 

{Queens} 

forest hills 

71-02 113th Street 

Forest Hills, NY 11375 

718.520.6471 ext. 104 

Sun: 9AM-4PM 


Fri: 9AM-2PM 

flushing 

133-35 Roosevelt Ave. 

Flushing, NY 11374 

718.353.6400 ext. 114 

Mon-Thu: 8:30AM-9:30PM 

Fri: 9AM-2PM 

lander college for men 

(kew gardens hills) 

75-31 150 th Street 

Kew Garden Hills, NY 11367 

718.820.4893 

Sun: 12PM-12AM 

Mon-Thu: 12PM-12AM 

Fri: 12PM-3:30PM 

{Health Sciences} 

bay shore 

1700 Union Boulevard 

Bay Shore, NY 11706 

631.665.1600 ext. 273 

Sun: 9AM-4PM 


Fri: 9AM-2PM 

midtown health sciences 

27 W. 23 rd Street, 6 th Floor 


212.463.0400 ext. 5674 

Sun: 9AM-5PM 


Fri: 9AM-2PM 

6 



7

Technology Workshops - Descriptions 

MS WORD: A 

hands-on overview of 

the primary features 

of Microsoft Word. 

This easy-to-learn word processing 

application allows you to create, 

revise, and save documents for 

printing and future retrieval. You 

will also learn how to spell-check, 

print, and format MS Word 

documents. More advanced features 

will be included as time permits. 

MS EXCEL: A handson 

overview of the 

primary features of 

Microsoft Excel, a 

full-featured spreadsheet program. 

You will learn how to format cells and 

create worksheets. Basic calculations 

and formulas will be explained, and 

Excel document formatting tools will 

be demonstrated. 

MS POWER POINT: 

An easy-to-learn 

presentation graphics 

program. With Power 

Point, you can create on-screen 

slides, speaker’s notes, student 

handouts, and an outline, all in a 

single presentation file. This handson 

workshop will walk you through 

the basic features, commands, and 

capabilities of Power Point. 

USING SOUND AND 

VIDEO IN POWER 

POINT: Create Power 

Point presentations 

with multimedia 

effects using sound, video, and 

digital images. You will learn how 

to capture images/videos using a 

digital camera and how to insert 

them into a Power Point 

presentation. You will also learn 

how to download various types of 

sound files from the web and 

include them in presentations. 

CLICKERS IN THE 

CLASSROOM: Are 

you tired of blank 

stares in your 

classroom when you ask, “Do you 

have any questions?” Clickers, or 

personal response systems, can 

help you make your class more 

exciting for students raised on 

video games. In this interactive 

workshop, we will review clicker 

fundamentals including strategies 

and best practices for using 

clickers in the classroom. We will 

demonstrate how to set up a class 

grouping and have students join 

in, and how to use clickers to take 

attendance, gauge student 

interest and understanding, and 

improve class participation. You 

will also learn how to export 

student response data for analysis 

and grading. 

SOCIAL NETWORKING 

(HOW TO USE SOCIAL- 

NETWORKING 

TECHNOLOGY FOR LEARNING): 

A social network service is an 

online service, platform, or site 

that focuses on building and 

reflecting of social networks or 

social relations among people, e.g., 

who share interests and/or 

activities. A social network service 

essentially consists of a 

representation of each user (often 

a profile), his/her social links, and a 

variety of additional services. Most 

social network services are web 

based and provide means for users 

to interact over the internet, such 

as e-mail and instant messaging. 

The evolving world of Internet 

communication – blogs, podcasts, 

tags, file swapping – offers 

students radically new ways to 

research, create, and learn. This 

workshop introduces various 

social networking tools and 

explains why teachers should 

embrace networking and how 

they can use it to improve the 

teaching and learning experience. 

Tools covered include: MySpace, 

Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin etc. 

E-PORTFOLIO 101: This is a 

“Hands-On” mini-course packed 

with practical applications for ALL 

courses. All participants will leave 

with a FREE E-portfolio personal 

educational website, complete 

with video. Learn skills to post 

your syllabus and class handouts. 

Imagine never having to print 

copies and carry them to class! 

COMPUTER SECURITY: Identify 

security risks that threaten 

home and school computers; 

describe how computer viruses 

and malicious software programs 

work and the steps you can take 

to prevent viruses; explain why 

computer backup is important and 

how it is accomplished; define what 

is meant by information privacy 

and its impact on you; identify the 

components that impact education; 

describe ethical issues related to 

Internet usage and steps you need 

to take to address them. 

BLACKBOARD BASICS: 

Designed to teach the 

fundamentals of using 

Blackboard as an instructor. BB 

Basics serves as a hands-on 

introduction to Blackboard functions 

and features, providing guided 

practice with key Blackboard 

components. BB Basics is broken 

into 6 modules. Each module 

includes hands-on practice exercises 

that reinforce key concepts and use 

of system components. Specific 

topics include: system overview and 

navigation tools, control panel 

features and functions, adding 

content to BB, course management 

tools, communication tools and 

functions, and assessment features 

and functions. 

ADVANCED BLACKBOARD: This 

hands-on workshop is a followup 

to the Blackboard Basics 

workshop; we will cover the 

specifics of developing a course in 

Blackboard, including personalizing 

course navigation, setting up 

a materials-delivery structure, 

and creating discussion areas. 

Participants will work in their own 

Blackboard courses and should 

bring to the session any course 

materials they want to upload or 

work with during the workshop. 

Files need to be on a flash 

drive (readable in a USB port). 

Prerequisites: basic computer skills 

and attendance at the Blackboard 

Basics workshop, or previous 

experience using Blackboard. 

USING WEB 2.0/BB WIKIS 

& BLOGS: This workshop 

showcases innovative uses 

of technology and innovative 

approaches to pedagogy in 

distance teaching and learning. 

We will focus on identifying 

principles of good practice in the 

application of these technologies. 

Hands-on work with the Web 2.0 

applications will be emphasized 

(wikis, blogs, podcasts, etc.). This 

session will be highly interactive. 

Participants will gain an in-depth 

understanding of a variety of new 

and emerging technologies and 

their application to the online 

learning environment. 

BLACKBOARD GRADE CENTER: 

Blackboard 9 Grade Center will be 

introduced. Redesigned for better 

navigation and customization, 

Blackboard’s Grade Center will 

automatically enter Blackboard 

quiz grades, compute all of your 

grades (from Blackboard and non- 

Blackboard sources), and show 

students, anytime and anywhere, 

how they are progressing in your 

course. Workshop attendees 

will have a hands-on experience 

working with Grade Center features 

like: Grade Center navigation, 

setting up grading schemas, 

reviewing and grading student 

submissions, organizing Grade 

Center columns; emailing users 

directly from the Grade Center etc. 

BLACKBOARD DISCUSSION 

BOARD & SAFEASSIGN: This 

workshop will teach you to: set 

up, participate, and monitor 

students’ contributions to a 

Blackboard discussion board 

forums, grade student responses 

and organize peer review of 

papers. You will also learn how to 

use the new SafeAssign plagiarism 

detection tool. The workshop 

will include demonstrations of 

how students submit papers and 

view plagiarism detection results, 

how instructors can view student 

results, create a SafeAssignment, 

and submit documents to 

be checked for plagiarism. 

Pedagogical issues related 

to using plagiarism detection 

software will be discussed. 

PROMOTING ACADEMIC 

INTEGRITY: In this workshop 

you will view the New (And Old) 

Ways Students Cheat: What You 

Can Do About It, by Scott Howell, 

Ph.D., which analyzes some of the 

cheating methods used by students 

and different ways instructors can 

prevent them. You will also be 

introduced to anti-cheating tools 

such as SafeAssign and Lockdown 

browser, which are available to 

all Touro faculty members at no 

cost. The discussion on how to 

use various tools in the classroom 

will allow faculty to express their 

concerns and questions. 

8 



9

Library Workshops - Descriptions 

Workshops Schedule 

INTRODUCTION TO THE NEW LIBRARY 

HOME PAGE is designed to give faculty a 

general introduction to the new features of the 

library’s home page, with an emphasis on the 

library’s new search box entitled Quick Search. 

FINDING ELECTRONIC MATERIAL ONLINE 

E-JOURNALS, E-BOOKS AND MORE will 

cover searching for electronic journals and 

electronic books on the library’s website. You 

will learn how to find full-text articles and 

books online in a breeze. 

E-RESERVES & COPYRIGHT FOR 

EDUCATORS E-Reserves (electronic 

reserves) is a web-based tool used to easily 

distribute required readings of articles and 

book chapters to authorized students. Part 

of this workshop will cover searching for 

course reserves via the library’s website; the 

requirements for filing with the Copyright 

Adobe & 

Microsoft 

Product 

Discounts 

for the Touro 

Community 

We are pleased to announce that we 

have entered into agreements with 

Adobe & Microsoft to enable our faculty 

and students to purchase software at a 

deep discount from JourneyEd. To take 

advantage of these special prices, visit: 

www.journeyed.com/select/go/mstouro 

Clearance Center (CCC); and placing 

reserves online. The second part of the class 

emphasizes the importance of copyright 

compliance and fair use in academia, and 

how E-reserves assist us in avoiding copyright 

infringement in academia. 

NOODLE TOOLS is a bibliography generator 

that helps with compiling bibliographies 

in the new MLA, APA, and Chicago/ 

Turabian styles. Noodle Tools helps with the 

punctuation, alphabetization and formatting 

of the various citation styles, and produces a 

polished source list that can be downloaded 

as a Word document. In this hands-on class, 

we will learn how to generate, edit, and 

create a sample bibliography list. 

GOOGLE SCHOLAR is a subset of Google. 

Google Scholar provides a simple way to 

broadly search for scholarly literature. From 

one place, you can search across many 

disciplines and sources. In this class, we will 

talk about Google Scholar’s strengths, as 

well as about some of its shortcomings. We 

will also show you to set the preferences of 

Google Scholar on your computer so that you 

can access many of the results via the library 

databases in full-text format for free. 

KEEPING CURRENT WITH SCHOLARLY 

LITERATURE will explore the different 

technical options you have to stay up 

to date with scholarly literature. It will 

also cover how to set up alerts so that 

you are automatically notified about new 

developments in your area. 

IDENTIFYING JOURNALS FOR PUBLISHING 

AN ARTICLE will look at a series of library 

databases and other resources whereby you 

can find titles of journals published in your field. 

Manhattan 

# COURSE LOCATION DAY DATE TIME 

1 Blackboard 9 Basics W 23 St. bet 5 & 6 Ave Thu 3/1/2012 2:00pm - 4:00pm 

2 

Polyvision Interactive 

Board 

W 23 St. bet 5 & 6 Ave Mon 3/5/2012 2:00pm - 4:00pm 

3 Word in the Classroom W 23 St. bet 5 & 6 Ave Tue 3/6/2012 2:00pm - 4:00pm 

4 Blackboard 9 SafeAssign W 23 St. bet 5 & 6 Ave Mon 3/12/2012 3:00pm - 4:00pm 

5 Excel in the Classroom W 23 St. bet 5 & 6 Ave Tue 3/13/2012 2:00pm - 4:00pm 

6 Blackboard 9 Grade Center W 23 St. bet 5 & 6 Ave Wed 3/14/2012 3:00pm - 4:00pm 

7 Advanced Blackboard 9 W 23 St. bet 5 & 6 Ave Thu 3/15/2012 2:00pm - 4:00pm 

8 

9 

10 

11 

SmartBoard in the 

Classroom 

PowerPoint in the 

Classroom 

Web 2.0 - Blackboard 9 

Wikis, Blogs and Podcasts 

Blackboard 9 Discussion 

Board 


W 23 St. bet 5 & 6 Ave Tue 3/20/2012 2:00pm - 4:00pm 

W 23 St. bet 5 & 6 Ave Wed 3/21/2012 3:00pm - 4:00pm 

W 23 St. bet 5 & 6 Ave Thu 3/22/2012 3:00pm - 4:00pm 

12 Video in the Classroom W 23 St. bet 5 & 6 Ave Mon 3/26/2012 2:00pm - 4:00pm 

13 Clickers in the Classroom W 23 St. bet 5 & 6 Ave Tue 3/27/2012 2:00pm - 4:00pm 

14 e-portfolio 101 W 23 St. bet 5 & 6 Ave Wed 3/28/2012 2:00pm - 4:00pm 

15 Digital Photography W 23 St. bet 5 & 6 Ave Thu 3/29/2012 2:00pm - 4:00pm 

16 

Adobe Photoshop in the 

Classroom 

W 23 St. bet 5 & 6 Ave Mon 4/2/2012 10:00am - 12:00pm 

17 Blackboard 9 Basics W 23 St. bet 5 & 6 Ave Tue 4/3/2012 10:00am - 12:00pm 

18 Advanced Blackboard 9 W 23 St. bet 5 & 6 Ave Tue 4/17/2012 10:00am - 12:00pm 

19 

20 


Board 

PowerPoint in the 

Classroom 

W 23 St. bet 5 & 6 Ave Wed 4/18/2012 10:00am - 11:00am 

W 23 St. bet 5 & 6 Ave Mon 4/23/2012 10:00am - 12:00pm 

21 Blackboard 9 SafeAssign W 23 St. bet 5 & 6 Ave Tue 4/24/2012 10:00am - 11:00am 

22 

23 


Board 


Board 

W 23 St. bet 5 & 6 Ave Wed 4/25/2012 10:00am - 12:00pm 


Brooklyn 


24 Blackboard 9 Basics 950 Kings Highway Tue 5/1/2012 2:00pm - 4:00pm 

25 Advanced Blackboard 9 950 Kings Highway Tue 5/8/2012 2:00pm - 4:00pm 

WANT TO ATTEND A 

FACULTY WORKSHOP? 

You need to register: 

212.463.0400 ext 5674 or 

fill out the online form 

http://www.touro.edu/acd/ 

facultyIT_workshops.asp 

If you can’t attend, 

please call to cancel: 

212.463.0400 ext. 5674 

For the latest 

workshop status: 

212.463.0400 ext. 5428 

Have comments or 

suggestions? 

Phil Charach 

212.463.0400 ext. 5688 

philipc@touro.edu 

Scan code to register 

for a workshop 

10 



11

Workshops Schedule 

Projectors 

WANT TO ATTEND A 

FACULTY WORKSHOP? 

You need to register: 

212.463.0400 ext 5674 or 

fill out the online form 

http://www.touro.edu/acd/ 

facultyIT_workshops.asp 

If you can’t attend, 

please call to cancel: 

212.463.0400 ext. 5674 

For the latest 

workshop status: 

212.463.0400 ext. 5428 

Have comments or 

suggestions? 

Phil Charach 

212.463.0400 ext. 5688 

philipc@touro.edu 

Brooklyn 


26 Blackboard 9 SafeAssign 950 Kings Highway Tue 5/15/2012 2:00pm - 3:00pm 

27 


Board 

950 Kings Highway Tue 5/22/2012 2:00pm - 3:00pm 

28 Blackboard 9 Grade Center 950 Kings Highway Tue 5/29/2012 2:00pm - 3:00pm 

Online 


29 

30 

The new APA style: a 

brief overview on its most 

recent edition 

Navigating the library 

website 

Online** Wed 2/29/2012 10:30am - 11:30am 


31 Blackboard 9 Basics Online* Wed 4/4/2012 10:00am - 11:00am 

32 Advanced Blackboard 9 Online* Thu 4/5/2012 10:00am - 11:00am 

33 


Board 

Online* Mon 4/16/2012 10:00am - 11:00am 

34 Google Scholar Online** Wed 4/18/2012 10:30am - 11:15am 

35 Blackboard 9 SafeAssign Online* Thu 4/19/2012 10:00am - 11:00am 

Touro College encourages faculty members to 

make use of technology in the classroom and 

beyond. In the classroom, you can use largescreen 

monitors or projectors to display Power 

Point presentations, connect to the Internet, or 

use software to demonstrate course concepts to 

your students. 

Large-screen monitors, projectors, and/or VCRs are available for reservation 

(on a first-come, first-served basis) from the computer laboratory at your location. If you 

plan on using the Internet, please check with the lab technician in advance, as not all Touro 

classrooms currently have network access. Faculty members who are having problems 

reserving projectors or large-screen monitors at a particular site should contact Mr. Phil 

Charach, Director of Instructional Technology, at 212.463.0400 ext. 5688, or via e-mail at 

philipc@touro.edu. 

Please note that, for extending learning outside the classroom, Touro College can provide you 

with a Blackboard account, so you can communicate with your students and post assignments 

and announcements on your own class web site. 

36 Blackboard 9 Grade Center Online* Thu 4/26/2012 10:00am - 11:00am 

37 

E-Tools for success/ 

Ereserves 


38 Blackboard 9 Basics Online* Wed 5/2/2012 2:00pm - 3:00pm 

39 Advanced Blackboard 9 Online* Wed 5/9/2012 2:00pm - 3:00pm 

40 

Keeping current with 

Scholarly Literature 


Scan code to register 

for a workshop 

41 Blackboard 9 SafeAssign Online* Wed 5/16/2012 2:00pm - 3:00pm 

42 


Board 

Online* Wed 5/23/2012 2:00pm - 3:00pm 

43 Blackboard 9 Grade Center Online* Wed 5/30/2012 2:00pm - 3:00pm 

44 Blackboard 9 Basics Online* Mon 6/4/2012 10:00am - 12:00pm 

45 Advanced Blackboard 9 Online* Mon 6/11/2012 10:00am - 12:00pm 

46 

Identifying journals to 

publish your article 


47 


Board 

Online* Mon 6/18/2012 10:00am - 11:00am 

48 Blackboard 9 SafeAssign Online* Mon 6/25/2012 10:00am - 11:00am 

49 

Teaching information 

literacy with Wikipedia 


* Sponsored by Academic Computing Department of Touro College 

** Sponsored by Touro Library 

12 



13

Graduate School of Technology Programs 

PLATO / PLE 

By, Frada Harel, Chair, English Department NYSCAS 

Prepares graduates for successful careers in 

diverse fields such as e-commerce, computer 

illustration, interface design, animation, 

gaming, and mobile applications. 

For more info: 

212.463.0400 x 5319 

www.touro.edu/wmm 

In 2007, I wrote my first article about PLATO 

for Touro College’s “Faculty Technology 

Handbook.” A lot has changed since then –for 

the better! When we first subscribed to PLATO, 

users needed to install a Flash plug-in, often 

leading to long and frustrating waits. There 

were separate logins for Math and English, so 

students using both subjects had to exit and 

then re-enter the system to access their work. 

If PLATO courses offered the material you 

needed, you were in luck; if not, instructors 

had to look elsewhere because there were 

no options for customization. Many of the 

modules were boring: the screens were black 

and white and were static - no interaction was 

possible. Student records were embedded in 

reams of unnecessary data. 

and embed web-links. PLATO even provides 

a database of web-links to facilitate 

downloads with the click of the mouse! 

 

Instructors can create standards-aligned 

course content, measure its 

effectiveness based on student 

performance, and make adjustments to 

meet benchmark requirements. 

 

Courses are based on discrete modules so 

students can easily master the material. 

 

Multiple assessments allow you to check 

students' understanding and retention. 

 

All modules have been updated. Full 

color screens are interactive and feature 

optional audio presentations. 

 

Records of students’ work are 

comprehensive and easily accessible. 

Prepares graduates for successful 

information technology careers as: 

u CIO, Manager, CTO, 

Project Executive 

u Network: Administrator, 

Engineer, Consultant, 

Manager, Analyst 

u Database: Administrator, 

Engineer, Consultant, 

Manager, Analyst 


212.463.0400 x 5462 

www.touro.edu/msis 

Qualify to Teach Computer 

Technology in NYS Elementary 

Schools — Grades K-12 

u Computer Teacher 

u Staff Developer 

u Instructional Technologist 

u Technology Coordinator 


212.463.0400 x 5248 

www.touro.edu/gst/itp 

This semester PLATO rolled out a new platform: 

The PLATO Learning Environment (PLE). 

 

Gone are the plug-ins; PLATO now operates 

through a single, intuitive online interface. 

 

Touro College departments have one 

unified login system; the student’s 

individual page will show all math and 

English assignments. 

 

Courses can be easily customized by 

course, class, or individual student. 

Instructors can add their own assignments 

PLATO/PLE also provides instructors with 

a built-in communication system: you 

can create customized messages and/or 

announcements for your class or individuals. 

There is a wide variety of work sheets to help 

support classwork and provide a review for 

the CAI (Computer Assisted Instruction) you 

assign your students. Grades can be exported 

to Blackboard. 

While these changes have enhanced our 

use of PLATO over the years, there is one 

predominant reason we have remained 

subscribers – it works! As our statistics show, 

students who use PLATO as a supplement 

to their courses succeed in their academic 

endeavors. If you are interested in previewing 

PLATO/PLE or providing your students with 

access to this online learning environment, 

please contact Inna.Goldshteyn@touro.edu 

(English) or BellaB@touro.edu (Math). 

14 



15

Blackboard 9.1 is coming! 

Irina Berman 

Instructional Technology Specialist 

This Summer Touro College will be 

upgrading its course management 

system (Blackboard 8) to version 9.1. 

Blackboard 9.1 provides a very different user 

interface experience compared to previous 

versions. This means that its appearance and 

navigation have changed significantly. This is 

a very positive change but it will affect Touro 

faculty and students as they learn the new 

interface. Therefore, it is critical that faculty, 

staff, and students prepare early for the Bb 9 

upgrade. It will happen after the completion 

of the Spring 2012 semester and before the 

start of the first summer session. 

Blackboard 9.1 has a completely redesigned 

interface that takes advantage of Web 2.0 

look-and-feel. Because of the new interface, 

you will want to take advantage of Blackboard 

9 workshops and 

webinars that 

will be offered 

throughout the 

spring semester. 

In addition, 

Instructional 

Technology 

Division will be 

offering training 

and orientations on 

Blackboard 9.1. 

The key to navigating the 

new Blackboard interface 

is the chevron. You’ll 

find the new chevron 

throughout all your 

Blackboard courses and 

organizations. Using the 

chevron, you can expand 

or collapse menus, hide 

or display tool lists, and 

manage your course menu. 

Blackboard 9 offers much 

simpler navigation, making 

it easier to add and review 

content. You can add or 

change content directly 

from your course page, 

without having to click on 

the Control Panel. 

All the tools previously available in the 

Control Panel are in the same location, 

without leaving the course environment. 

Just click on the chevron to expand the tool 

lists and menus. Just click on the chevron to 

update or review content and settings without 

leaving the Blackboard frame, so you can still 

see and access your course menu. 

Blackboard 9 also makes it easy to preview 

your course materials as a student. Just set 

the convenient new Edit 

Mode to “off” to see what 

your students see in your 

courses. Toggle the Edit Mode button back to 

“on” to access all the Control Panel tools via 

the chevron. 

These are just some of the changes you’ll find 

when you log in to Blackboard 9 after June 1, 

2011. To ensure that faculty are comfortable 

moving to the new interface, Instructional 

Technology Team is encouraging all academic 

departments to schedule overviews for their 

faculty and staff. These sessions will be 

held throughout the spring semester. Check 

with your department to see if they have 

scheduled one for you. 

In the overview, we will introduce you to the 

look and feel of Blackboard 9.1, talk about 

some of the new and enhanced features, give 

you information about hands-on training and 

other self-help resources, and show you how 

to access a Blackboard 9 “sandbox” where 

you can try the new version hands-on. 

Instructional Technology Division is also 

offering hands-on training in Blackboard 

9.1 as a part of its regular scheduled Spring 

workshops. Register for a Blackboard 9.1 

basic workshop that will help you get up 

and running in the new interface, or for 

workshops targeting particular topics and 

features (Grade Center, Discussion Board, 

Assignments etc.). You can find more 

information on these workshops, and register 

for them online at http://www.touro.edu/acd/ 

facultyIT_workshops.asp . For information 

on how to schedule an overview for your 

department or group, contact Irina Berman 

(irinabe@touro.edu or 212.463.0400 x5489). 

16 



17

Teaching Video Conferencing Classes: 

Challenges, Setbacks, and Accomplishments 

Ian Probstein 

Assistant Professor of English 

NYSCAS 

To make a class interactive, engaging, and 

dynamic is a challenging task even in a 

conventional environment. It becomes even 

more challenging when distance learning, 

such as video conferencing, is combined 

with on-line instruction, grading, and even 

tutoring. Moreover, we are talking about a 

writing class, not just any class. 

I did not realize all these and many 

other challenges when Dean Boylan and 

Department Chair Frada Harel offered me 

the opportunity to teach a class at Lander 

Institute Moscow via video-conferencing 

three semesters ago, in Fall 2010. In 

addition, it was on short notice as 

well: I only had about two weeks 

to get basic training on video 

conferencing equipment, such as the 

Cisco-based Tandberg system, prepare 

outlines, and start teaching. 

Furthermore, these were ESL 

classes, E 007.1-007.3, that I 

do not normally teach here. The 

last time I taught E 007.1 was in 1991, and E 

007.3 in 1992. Most of the textbooks and the 

syllabi have been drastically changed since 

then. It was only with the support and help 

of my fellow professors Sharon Hold, Edythe 

Rosenblatt, and Julia Tsukerman that I was 

able to prepare outlines, study new textbooks, 

and was ready to start, in two weeks. 

I had a partner, Moscow-based instructor, 

Julia Krutova, who taught one session of 

each class independently, since it started 

at 2 a.m. New York time. During the second 

class session, which I taught, I focused on 

teaching composition and reading, while she 

did more grammar correction and vocabulary 

consolidation in live classes. 

We started our classes, and I saw that 

all parties involved — the students, the 

instructor, and Program Coordinator 

Menachem Lazar — were equally excited. 

However, I also found out that with the 

exception of the basic grammar textbook by 

Azar, they had neither reading nor writing 

textbooks. Hence, I had to scan all the 

instructional materials in advance, ensure 

they would make photocopies, and only after 

that would I actually plan classes. 

Once all the preliminary work is done, which 

of course cannot be measured by the actual 

contact hours, one can enjoy teaching. 

To me, this is like the way TV programs 

are made. Unless the scene is prepared in 

advance, the class would be a failure. An 

instructor cannot recollect something or 

add anything the night before class (or even 

the previous day, taking in consideration the 

difference in time), and just ask the students 

to open a textbook on a certain page. 

However, there were some inspirational 

moments, as well. For instance, the students 

got really involved in discussions when we had 

such topics as “Whether television is harmful 

to children,” “Printed books versus digital 

books,” “Your definition of freedom,” and 

many others, including literature, whether it 

was “A Cat in the Rain” by Hemingway or “The 

Shawl” by Cynthia Ozik. Often, the students 

got so involved and had so much to say that 

it was difficult to stop them and give them 

assignments: time management becomes 

especially crucial in video conferencing 

class, since I had to finish the class on time 

before the connection was terminated. I also 

had to be aware of the difference in time, 

which was either 8 or 9 hours (because the 

Russian government decided not to switch to 

daylight saving time). Thus, when it was early 

afternoon in New York City, it was already 

9 pm in Moscow and the students were 

exhausted. Then, they would have to go out 

to a snowy, chilly Moscow street while we still 

had 60-70 F, autumn weather. 

Once the foundation is laid, and the instructor 

continues teaching the same groups, it 

is very exciting to watch the students’ 

progress when they express their ideas in a 

more sophisticated way and develop a 5+ 

paragraph essay. With video conferencing, it 

is never limited to just teaching writing, but 

also involves communication, public speaking, 

and a kind of a discussion club. In the long 

run, we managed to provide our Moscow 

affiliate with all the necessary textbooks, 

and sent syllabi and outlines for the classes 

that we did not teach. By the time the Middle 

States Committee came to Moscow last May, 

they were able not only to comply with all the 

requirements but also successfully passed 

one-on-one interviews with our officials there 

and during two video conference meetings 

of faculty and students of Lander Institute 

Moscow with our administration here. The 

students were not only able to answer all 

the questions, but they also put some bold 

questions to our administration, such as, 

“When will the best students be able to come 

to New York and take classes here?” 

I also developed all new classes on 

Backboard, including discussion boards, chat 

rooms, and external links, with additional 

materials, uploading those that I had 

previously scanned. This was something 

that I have been doing for years, first using 

Turnitin.com, and then Blackboard. Besides 

plagiarism check, those tools give instructors 

18 



19

Identity Theft 

and students an opportunity to interact 

virtually between classes, ask questions, 

provide feedback in a timely manner, and 

of course, use a lot of additional resources, 

which I constantly add to the external links, 

including scholarly articles that can help 

students better understand difficult material. 

However, it seems that our registrars are not 

so fast, as instructors and students are added 

to our AS/400 registration database very 

late, if at all, which is necessary for automatic 

enrollment into Blackboard. 

Nowadays, it is also possible to use Skype, 

both for one-on-one tutoring and through 

a so-called bridging service that can even 

connect participants in various locations, 

cities, and countries simultaneously without 

losing the quality of connection. Theoretically, 

I could teach from home using Skype; 

that could extend teaching opportunities, 

including actual contact hours, without 

being limited by the hours when our video 

conferencing and other facilities are actually 

open (for instance, on our American holidays, 

such as Columbus Day, Thanksgiving, 

Christmas, or Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day, 

which they do not celebrate in Moscow). 

However, our administration has yet to make 

a decision on whether it is reasonable to pay 

for these services just to teach English and 

history in the undergraduate division. 

In spite of all the difficulties, the 

videoconferencing program has been a 

success. Moreover, one of the groups 

managed to cover two levels -- Introduction to 

Collection Writing and College Writing I -- in 

one semester! They took two finals, one for 

each course, and the lowest grade according 

to the SCAS grading committees in that group 

is B+ (with three As, two A- ). They can write 

a coherent well-supported essay of more than 

five paragraphs, and are qualified to move to 

College Writing II. Now that they will have 

to write a term paper, it will be necessary to 

teach them how to do research, including 

academic integrity, and introduce them to 

MLA and APA styles. 

Overall, teaching long-distance was a 

rewarding experience and I am happy to have 

been able to help improve our programs in 

Moscow. Now, I’m just waiting for Touro to 

offer me a trip there to meet my students in 

person and teach them research and writing 

term papers. 

Dumpster diving…..shoulder surfing….. 

social engineering….phishing….these 

are some of the “techniques” that are used 

to describe how thieves steal your personal 

information and your identity. Identity Theft 

is a crime punishable by a real sentence in a 

real prison with none of the holiday trimmings. 

When someone takes someone else’s personal 

information to become that other person, they 

are committing the crime of identity theft. 

A recent report from the US Bureau of Justice 

Statistics indicates that the crime of identity 

theft has impacted “at least one household 

member, age 12 or older, in 8.6 million 

households in the United States during 

2010.” Locally, complaints of identity theft 

in New York rose to over 18% over the same 

year, according to statistics reported by the 

Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) of the 

FBI. Both numbers are staggering! 

So how do we protect ourselves and Touro 

from identity theft? Do you simply discard 

documents that contain financial or personal 

information in the trash for a dumpster diver 

to pick up and use to steal your identity? 

Are you paying attention to who is watching 

over your shoulder (shoulder surfing) when 

you enter your pin code at the ATM? Do you 

give out personal information over the phone 

when asked by “the man” at the energy 

company (social engineering) because they 

need to verify your last bill? Do you simply 

give it out based on an email (phishing) 

request you receive? 

From awareness and educational perspectives, 

there are many organizations that provide 

information related to safeguards against 

identity theft; however, the Federal Trade 

Commission (FTC) pulls it together nicely in a 

ten-minute video that you can watch for yourself 

at ftc.gov/IDTheft. When you watch the video, 

you will notice that the FTC describes a plan of 

three D’s: deter, detect, and defend. Following is 

a combination of the FTC’s three D’s and a few 

additional tips I added, as appropriate: 

To deter, or prevent identity theft, each 

individual should think before providing personal 

information to another person or machine. 

SAFEGUARD YOUR INFORMATION BY: 

 

shredding financial documents before 

putting them in the trash. 

 

not giving out personal information in a 

phone call or an email or on a “Facebook” 

page or other social network account 

like a “tweet” in “twitter.” If you are 

asked for your personal information, ask 

why it is needed. 

not clicking on a link in an 

unsolicited email or giving account 

information because an email you 

received said it would terminate 

your access. Hopefully, you are 

reading the security awareness 

alerts I periodically send out on 

these “phishing” type emails. 

Please note that Touro has 

recently strengthened 

its filters to reduce the 

number of “phish” that 

actually are making it 

through to you. You should 

use your spam filters on your 

personal emails in the same 

way to reduce the spam. 

Patricia Ciuffo 

Chief Information Security Officer 

CISA, CISM, CIPP/IT 

20 



21

using strong passwords. Touro’s 

password criteria establish the strength 

of its password and these rules should 

be followed for all your personal online 

and email accounts as well. The criteria 

require that the length of the password 

must be between 8 and 10, the password 

must contain at least 1 upper-case letter 

(capital), at least 1 lower-case letter, a 

number, and a special character (!@#$...). 

Your password must also not contain 

spaces or your email address, account ID, 

last name, first name, student or employee 

ID, nor start or end with a dictionary word. 

 

remember to make sure that your computer 

has the most recent operating system 

and application patches and updates as 

provided by your operating system vender 

and that you have anti-virus and antimalware 

software installed with signature 

databases that are up-to-date. 

 

if you shop online, remember to check that 

the site is secure by looking for the “https:” 

in the address bar and the “lock” graphic 

at the lower right hand corner of your 

monitor; if it’s not there, leave the site. 

TO DETECT SUSPICIOUS ACTIVITY, SOME OF 

THE THINGS, YOU SHOULD BE ALERT TO ARE: 

 

mail or bills that do not arrive, or checks 

that are late in arriving. 

 

unexpected credit card or account 

statements. 

 

calls, emails, or letters about purchases 

you did not make. For example, an email 

that looks like it comes from the IRS 

with a link to a site where you can easily 

input information that has nothing to do 

with the government; or the email from 

UPS that wants you to track a package by 

sending you to a non-UPS site. 

 

emails from friends that are spam-like. Call 

your friends and let them know they may 

have been compromised and should change 

their account password immediately. 

 

you should inspect and review your credit 

report at least once a year: The law 

entitles you to one free report a year from 

each nationwide credit reporting agency, 

if you ask for it. Get it and review it by 

going online to www.AnnualCreditReport. 

com or by calling 1-877-322-8228. 

TO DEFEND AGAINST IDENTITY THEFT IF 

YOU SUSPECT THAT YOU ARE A VICTIM, 

YOU SHOULD: 

 

place a fraud alert on your credit reports 

and review the reports carefully: 

• w Equifax 1-800-535-6385 

• w Experian 1-888-397-3742 

• w TransUnion 1-800-680-7289 

 

close any personal accounts you suspect 

have been compromised. 

 

file a police report, and report the 

complaint to the FTC at ftc.gov/idtheft. 

 

report suspected compromises of Touromanaged 

data immediately, with as much 

information as possible; be specific, and 

use the incident report form found on the 

http://it.touro.edu site as your guide. 

 

use the Touro emergency hotline 24 hours 

a day 7 days a week at 1-88- TOURO911. 

 

remember to cooperate with all 

investigations into a reported breach. 

And, remember to be aware and stay safe 

while shopping during the holiday season 

when your identity is most at risk. If you have 

any questions, you can contact me at 

Patricia.Ciuffo@touro.edu. 

Note: “Deter, Detect, Defend” is a nationwide 

initiative by the Federal Trade Commission 

(FTC) to raise awareness on Identity Theft. 

The FTC encourages sharing this information 

to promote awareness. Go to ftc.gov/IDTheft. 

10 Tips to Defend Against Identity Theft 

1. shred your physical mail before 

you throw it in the trash. Mail 

you receive often has address 

information, and mail from banks 

and other credit institutions may also 

have account and other sensitive 

information on it; be sure to invest in 

a shredder to shred these statements 

before throwing them in the trash. 

This will prevent a dumpster diver 

from getting any of your data. 

2. take advantage of the free annual 

credit report from each of the three 

credit agencies; go to ftc.gov/idtheft 

for information on how to order 

your copy. Monitor this information 

carefully. Your credit history conveys 

your financial status and affects 

whether you are eligible to receive 

credit; don’t let some thief dictate the 

terms of your borrowing power. 

3. don’t give out personal information in 

a phone call, especially if you did not 

make the call. Con artists make up all 

sorts of stories, so don’t fall for them. 

4. never use email to exchange personal 

information. A reputable company 

would never ask for personal 

information in an email, and as such, 

you should never, ever give this type 

of information to anyone in an email. 

5. monitor the social networking sites 

you and your family are members of, 

and make sure they do not offer too 

much information. It is never a good 

idea to brag about going on a vacation 

before actually going, as it gives thieves 

time to plan their robbery. Thieves are 

constantly trolling social networking 

sites looking for sensitive information. 

6. always use strong passwords. Putting 

a password on your accounts that 

is hard to guess is your first line 

of defense to protect your online 

accounts; make it a strong one! And 

remember, never give it to anyone. 

7. be careful when you receive an email 

that asks you to click on a link. No 

reputable company will ever ask you 

for personal information in an email 

nor will they send you to a site that 

asks for this information. Remember 

to think before you click! 

8. make sure you have installed antivirus 

software and the latest operating 

system patches and upgrades on 

your computers. Keeping current 

with anti-virus signature databases 

and operating system software will 

reduce your exposure to threats from 

online attacks. 

9. if you must shop online, use only 

secure links when entering password 

information online. When you sign on 

to any payment application accessed 

via the internet, make sure your 

browser starts with “https://” and 

you see a lock in the bottom righthand 

corner of the screen; this is also 

true for any site that requires you to 

enter a password for access. 

10. protect your credit/debit cards. 

Never give your account information 

details over the phone or on the 

internet without knowing who the 

recipient is, and make sure your cards 

are never out of sight-keep your 

wallet and/or purse in a safe location. 

22 



23

Irina Berman 


Using the iPad in Education – Part 2 

BACKGROUND INFORMATION 

With the iPad, the classroom is always at 

your fingertips. Right now at the Apple 

App Store, there are thousands of apps 

available to download. Students can track 

their assignments, take notes, and study for 

finals. Teachers can give lessons, monitor 

progress, and stay organized. 

The three iWork productivity 

applications help students 

and teachers put together 

professional-looking documents, 

presentations, and 

spreadsheets no matter 

where they are. Pages is a 

powerful word processor 

with simple-to-use 

layout tools and a 

large onscreen 

keyboard. With 

Keynote, it’s 

easy to create 

presentations with stunning animations 

and effects. And Numbers lets students 

and teachers build compelling, attractive 

spreadsheets in minutes, including tables 

and charts. When you finish what you’ve 

been working on, use AirPrint to print it out 

directly from your iPad. 

Apple’s iTunes U is home to more than 

350,000 free lectures, videos, books, and 

podcasts from learning institutions all over 

the world. Universities such as Yale, Stanford, 

UC Berkeley, Oxford, Cambridge, MIT, Beijing 

Open University, and the University of Tokyo, 

as well as broadcasters such as PBS, offer 

free content on iTunes U. 

Touro has its own iTunes U page that can be 

used by any Touro instructor to post his/her 

video/audio lectures or any other multimedia 

based content. Content ranges from lectures 

and presentations to syllabi and campus maps. 

Accessing iTunes U is simple. Just tap More 

in the iTunes app and you’ll see iTunes U. 

From there, browse and download content 

directly to your iPad. 

For example you can 

download or instantly 

watch the following course 

on your iPad: Introduction 

to Psychology, by Prof. 

Jeremy Wolfe from MIT. 

This course surveys 

questions about human 

behavior and mental 

life ranging from 

how you see to why 

you fall in love. The 

great controversies: 

nature and nurture, free will, consciousness, 

human differences, self and society. Students 

are exposed to the range of theoretical 

perspectives including biological, evolutionary, 

cognitive, and psychoanalytic. One of the 

best aspects of Psychology is that you are the 

subject matter. This makes it possible to do 

many demonstrations in lecture that allow 

you to experience the topic under study. The 

course breaks into small recitations sections 

to allow discussion, oral presentations, and 

individual contact with instructors. 

With Video mirroring and the Apple Digital AV 

Adapter, your HDTV or HD projection screen 

in the classroom becomes a bigger version 

of your iPad. Students can see the iPad 

display and every tap, swipe, and flick of your 

finger, even when you rotate from portrait to 

landscape. Video mirroring makes it possible 

to teach using educational iPad apps, movies, 

videos, and more. 

REVIEW OF THE BEST EDUCATIONAL IPAD 

APPS (PART 2) 

In the previous issue of the faculty handbook 

(Fall Edition) we introduced the iPad tool 

as a very successful classroom teaching 

and learning technology instrument. We 

also reviewed some of the best (in our 

opinion) iPad applications that could enhance 

classroom teaching and learning experience. 

In this issue we will continue to review some 

of the new and noteworthy iPad applications 

to bring you the best of Apps world. 

magic piano is a visually stunning 

music app that was designed 

exclusively for the iPad. Learn 29 

popular piano tracks by following 

the lights as they cascade down your screen. 

This app does not set out to teach how to 

play the piano, but it is great for rhythm 

work, tempo and dexterity. It is hugely 

satisfying to play and is endlessly addictive. A 

variety of keyboards are also included for free 

practice. Choose how many keys you want to 

see on your keyboard or try the spiral version 

for a greater challenge. It is an amazing app, 

and at just $0.99 it is an affordable one too. 

beautiful planet hd is an aweinspiring 

app that will take your 

students to far off places with a 

swipe of their finger. With over 

570 images from 160 countries, your 

students can quickly get an idea of what it is 

like to live in India, France or the Antarctic. 

This app would be great for Social Studies or 

any Language topics that discuss far off 

places. All the photos are of the highest 

quality and were taken by Peter Guttman, an 

award-winning travel photographer. 

alphabet fun is a great way for 

preschool kids to learn their 

letters, numbers and colors. With 

over 70 high resolution color 

screens, this app is as intuitive as it is 

colorful. Children choose either a letter, 

number or color to work with and can trace 

around the traceable word with their finger. A 

clear audio voice tells the student the name 

of the letter they are working with and 

mistakes are easily fixed with a gentle shake 

of the iPad to erase them. 

the elements: a visual exploration 

is one of those apps that have 

been around almost as long as 

the iPad itself. It is one of those 

showcase apps that Apple likes to use to 

demonstrate the capabilities of the iPad, but 

also one that has a lot of applications for the 

classroom. The Elements is an interactive 

periodic table. At $13.99 it is not cheap, but it 

is one of the most interactive ways you can 

explore and learn about the elements in the 

periodic table. Touch objects to zoom in on 

them, watch videos, read about their 

properties and marvel at the detail and clarity 

you get from one of the best educational iPad 

apps that money can buy. 

24 



25

weather hd is a visually striking 

way to look at the weather. Once 

you set up your city, or cities, of 

choice you will be greeted with a 

gorgeous video representation of the current 

weather conditions. Rolling clouds, dew laden 

grass, and golden sunsets are just some of 

the animations you can expect. You can view 

the next 4 days weather, see wind speeds, 

humidity and temperature too. Weather HD 

also lets you store the locations of cities 

around the world so that you can see the 

weather that they are having to compare it 

with your own. For $0.99 there are few better 

ways to study the weather. 

number sense hd is a mathematical 

app aimed at Kindergarten kids, 

but preschool and 1st grade 

teachers should also take a look at 

what it is capable of. Essentially it is made up 

of 5 games. Each one can be tweaked for 

difficulty in the settings, and will test a 

different facet of Math. Learn counting to 30, 

number sequencing, comparisons, greater 

than and less than, as well as simple addition 

and subtraction. The games are fun and 

engaging and it is undoubtedly one of the best 

educational iPad apps for early year’s teachers. 

modalitybody: interactive anatomy 

and medical imaging for ipad 

enables you to create interactive 

image libraries of the human 

body for professional reference, 

training, and patient education. Compile 

images from renowned medical texts or from 

your own photos to create custom 

collections. ModalityBODY serves as an 

image-centric personal reader for your 

anatomy and health science reference 

materials. From within this free app, you’ll 

register for the modalityBODY Store, an 

in-app purchase mechanism that offers 

content sets from leading medical publishers 

and content experts. 

EXCELLENT HEALTH SCIENCE LEARNING 

AND TEACHING APPS: 

human body 3d anatomy is 

available for $2.99 and can be 

used to refresh yourself on all of 

the systems in the human body. 

It includes complete information on different 

systems, and uses 3D animations to make 

anatomy come alive. 

ianatomy: View cross sections of 

the body with actual CT scans of 

different areas. Includes cadaveric 

images, as well as helpful labels. 

Perfect if you are looking to refer to different 

scans and images. Cost is $0.99. 

skyscape’s medical bag features 

helpful reference information that 

you can take with you wherever 

you go, for $1.99. Includes a 

number of clinical tools, lab tests and medical 

calculators that can help you find the 

information you need. 

medscape remains the essential 

free reference app for healthcare 

professionals. Medscape offers 

clinical relevance, accuracy and 

more. It is still a trusted name in medical 

apps, and bringing it on rounds is a great way 

to have instant access to the information you 

need, including breaking medical news and 

the latest procedures. 

eponyms: If you are looking up 

different medical terms, this 

free app is invaluable. While this 

version is meant for student, 

veteran healthcare professionals can use 

it as a refresher. 

taber’s medical dictionary: Take 

medical reference to the next 

level with this app. Includes 

photos, care statements and 

more than 60,000 terms. You do have to buy 

a $49.95 subscription, but for those who are 

looking for a reliable reference to take with 

them, this is a great choice. 

3d teeth: If you are a dentist, or 

if you are trying to determine 

whether a patient needs to see a 

specialist, you can use this app, 

available for $1.99, to view reference 

information about the mouth and teeth, see 

3D images of teeth, and get information on 

different diseases. 

monthly prescribing reference is a 

free and helpful drug resource for 

doctors and other healthcare 

professionals. Includes 

information on interactions for prescription 

and over the counter drugs. 

diagnosaurus ddx: For $0.99, you 

can have access to this powerful 

diagnosis tool. Perform diagnosis 

at the point of care, using the 

easy reference system that offers information 

on a number of diseases and conditions. 

ecg guide: Use this handy iPad app 

to look at regular and abnormal 

ECGs, helping you get a handle 

on the situation, and diagnose 

different possibilities. Available for $0.99. 

mental illness: Use this app, 

available for free, to help diagnose 

mental illness. Get a solid 

understanding of mental illness, 

and offer better patient care as a result. 

26 



27

SMART Board or PolyVision ēno? 

Slava Khaitov 


Interactive whiteboards have quickly become 

commonplace in educational and training 

environments. They are widely used in various 

settings, including classrooms, meeting 

places, multimedia rooms, and training 

facilities. However, the technology still brings 

more questions than answers. What exactly is 

an interactive whiteboard? What are the best 

options? Which board is superior? 

Since various interactive board products 

target mostly the same audiences and 

often feel and look similar, the differences 

between them are not straightforward, and 

it might take some time to choose the right 

technology. To make the task easier, let’s give 

a clear definition of the product and then 

compare two leading interactive whiteboard 

technologies, namely, the SMART Board and 

the PolyVision ē no. 

An interactive whiteboard is the combination 

of a touch-sensitive screen and a projection 

device that connects to a computer. The 

projector displays the computer’s current 

screen on the board surface, which, in turn, 

responds to the user’s finger or digital 

pen input on its touch-sensitive surface. 

Interactive boards are typically attached to a 

wall or floor stand. 

SMART Boards are a great addition to 

a traditional whiteboard in any learning 

and presentation environment. They are 

responsive to physical touch and allow users 

to move virtual objects around the screen 

area with a finger or palm of the hand. The 

latest models of SMART Board devices are 

even capable of recognizing gestures such 

as toss, rotate, zoom, etc. Another exciting 

feature recently added to SMART Board 

products is “object awareness.” This takes 

the concept of human-computer interaction 

to a new level by allowing the user to change 

on-board activities in a more natural way. For 

example, an instructor can write or draw on a 

board using the stylus, erase written content 

with a gesture, and move objects around 

a screen with a hand motion, all without 

pressing buttons, digging into the menus, or 

switching tools or modes. 

One of the main strengths of SMART 

Board technology lies in the software that 

accompanies every device. Called SMART 

Notebook, it provides the presenter with 

an intuitive and user-friendly interface, as 

well as a comprehensive set of tools and 

resources for creating multimedia-rich, 

interactive slide presentations. 

As an additional benefit, every SMART Board 

comes with a superior audio system, which 

provides high-quality sound, puts audio 

controls within reach of the presenter, and 

doubles as a USB reader device to allow the 

user to display content stored on external 

media while standing by the board. 

The PolyVision ē no one of the best 

alternatives to SMART Board products. 

Its major advantage is that it doubles as a 

regular whiteboard, where a presenter can 

write with a stylus, dry erase marker, or even 

a permanent marker. While the PolyVision 

ē no board is not responsive to finger or 

hand touch, it utilizes touch technology 

by interacting with its wireless, Bluetoothenabled 

stylus that acts as an ink pen, 

highlighter, eraser, and computer mouse. 

The PolyVision ē no board is light and very 

easy to install without any professional 

assistance. In addition, the board itself 

contains no electronics or cables, and its 

Teflon based surface is scratch-resistant, so 

the device is “virtually indestructible.” 

Each PolyVision ē no board comes with 

Easiteach software that carries 5 installation 

and use licenses. It allows presenters to 

create interactive, media-rich lessons in 

advance, and then run them in front of 

audiences. The best news is that PolyVision 

promotes its open access philosophy, where 

it does not limit users to its Easiteach 

application. Thus, you can even use software 

written for other interactive boards. 

It is clear that interactive electronic board 

technology will be implemented in many 

educational and training environments in the 

near future. Therefore, it is essential for those 

who have to present in front of audiences 

to become familiar with the most promising 

products. This will not only improve your level 

of technological literacy, and help you find 

your “perfect” whiteboard, but also allow 

you to adapt quickly to whatever whiteboard 

technology happen to be in place. Join us at 

our workshops to get acquainted with the 

SMART and Polyvision ē no boards already 

available in many Touro classrooms! 

28 



29

On the Cutting Edge of Change: The Touro 

Forum on Emerging Technologies 

Jesse Epstein 

Program Chair 

M.A. in Web & Multimedia Design 

This Fall, Touro College technologists 

paused for a day to peer into the future. 

The Touro Graduate School of Technology 

hosted its first Forum on Emerging 

Technologies on November 21, 2011, at the 

Touro Graduate Education Center in Brooklyn. 

Seven Touro College Academic Computing 

Department employees and Graduate 

School of Technology faculty members 

gave presentations on the latest trends in 

technology software and hardware, with a 

special emphasis on emerging web-based 

technologies that are revolutionizing the way 

we work, shop, learn, communicate with each 

other, and even relax. Also attending was 

Microsoft’s Andrew Parsons, Senior Academic 

Developer Evangelist, who added his 

insights and responded to specifics in each 

presentation. The Forum attracted members 

of the Touro technology community, including 

faculty members, administrators, alumni, 

students and invited guests. 

professor phil charach, 

Director of Instructional 

Technology in the Academic 

Computing Department at 

Touro College, began the 

Forum with a presentation 

on Cloud Computing, now 

available for both public use on the World 

Wide Web and for private corporate intranet 

use. He focused on the advantages of using 

the cloud interface, Microsoft Azure, 

particularly in its enterprise application. With 

Azure, the user only pays for the amount of 

cloud server space used and only for the 

duration of that use, freeing up corporate 

resources for innovation. The service is 

reliable because it runs on thousands of 

individual servers at the same time. The 

benefits to the customer are economies of 

scale, the “pay as you go” structure, and the 

speed with which the service can be up and 

running, while the only barriers to more broad 

acceptance of cloud storage solutions are 

issues of data security and privacy. 

The next presenter was 

professor albert bina, 

Technical Support Manager 

in the Academic 

Computing Department of 

Touro College, who 

introduced Sharepoint, a 

powerful on-line file sharing and collaboration 

solution developed for both personal, 

organizational, and community use. 

Sharepoint offers a single platform through 

which groups of people can share what were 

once multiple functions, including drop box, 

email, file server, search engine, and many 

database operations, as well as a 

sophisticated content management system 

for all types of files and documents. Professor 

Bina described Sharepoint’s architecture and 

how people and organizations can best use it. 

professor payam bina, 


Specialist in the Academic 


Touro College, followed with 

a presentation on Sky Drive 

and Mesh, two powerful 

cloud solutions from Microsoft, which offer 25 

gigabytes of data storage, featuring multiple 

access with communication, collaboration and 

productivity services. Using both Sky Drive and 

Mesh, groups of people can securely access, 

edit, update, and share documents from any 

computer terminal, using Microsoft Office web 

applications. Mesh offers the additional 

capacity of synchronizing up to 30 computers 

so that users can be simultaneously working 

with the same documents. 

The next presenter was 

Touro Graduate School of 

Technology faculty 

member azarya shaulov. 

He introduced the data 

communication networking 

concept of Virtualization. 

Virtualization is a trend in enterprise 

computing in which virtual versions of 

Hardware, Desktop, software, memory, 

storage, data, or networks can be created 

and modified. Through virtualization, network 

managers can more accurately allocate digital 

resources to match the time sensitive load 

requirements of an organization’s users. A 

virtualized environment gives an organization 

the flexibility to manage itself based on 

perceived activity needs, automatically 

matching computer processing power to 

perceived need. 

professor irina berman, 




Touro College, followed 

with a detailed comparison 

of Microsoft Silver Light, 

Adobe Flash, and HTML5, all applications 

designed to organize, display, and manage 

increasingly rich and complex content on the 

World Wide Web. Silverlight provides a 

convenient and user friendly web 

development tool that avoids the need for 

programming skill. Currently, because of its 

interactivity and sophistication, Flash web 

development applications dominate the Web, 

yet Professor Berman predicted that in the 

next few years, there will be a much wider 

30 



31

Support Contact Information 

acceptance of HTML5 due to its enhanced 

capabilities for video, audio and interactivity, 

as well as the decision of Adobe to stop 

supporting Flash for mobile devices. It will 

become the dominant platform for the 

interactive Web. 

The next session focused 

on the Web development 

technologies Lightswitch, 

Expression Studio and a 

comparison between PHP, 

ASP, JSP, and .Net 

technologies. It was 

presented by Touro College’s Academic 

Technology Project Manager, professor miriam 

gutherc shajnfeld. She briefly outlined the 

significant differences among these 

languages and described how each is used in 

the industry. Expression Studio is Microsoft’s 

answer to the Adobe Creative Suite. It 

provides internal previews in different web 

browsers and offers many prototype user 

interfaces. Lightswitch, currently in beta 

development, is a flexible business-oriented 

application designed to create web apps 

which connect to databases. 

The final presentation, on 

Mobile Application 

Development was given by 

slava khaitov, an 




Touro College. He briefly classified the types 

of software that now run on mobile devices, 

whether productivity, travel or utilities, as 

either web-based, native to mobile operating 

systems, or a hybrid of both. Professor 

Khaitov then outlined the development life 

cycles of various mobile applications for the 

iPhone, Android, Symbian, Blackberry and 

Windows Phone. He contrasted the user 

experience for mobile applications with web 

applications only accessible on PCs and 

described how mobile devices enable users 

to more readily become involved in social 

media. The challenge for developers in the 

future is that phones and tablets are 

becoming an increasingly important and are 

on course to overtake PCs as people’s 

primary mode of access. 

Perhaps the best 

summation of the entire 

day-long Emerging 

Technologies Forum is a 

quote from Graduate 

School of Technology Dean, 

dr. issac herskowitz, who 

opened the forum by stating, “Technology, 

especially computer technology, has always 

experienced rapid change, yet today, the speed 

of these changes has increased dramatically. 

As technology educators, we need to keep 

abreast of where technologies are heading in 

the near and distant future so that we can give 

our students the benefit of the most up-todate 

and industry-relevant subject matter.” 

Perhaps next year, you too will take some time 

out to join the Graduate School of Technology 

at this annual event and learn more about 

current and future trends in technology. 

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