Microsoft Windows 7

There have been many requests regarding Microsoft Windows 7. The college has plans to move into Windows 7. In an organization the size of NOVA, it takes careful planning in order to have a successful migration. Consequently, there are many conversations taking place today to make sure the migration is successful and offers the least amount of interruption for students, faculty, and staff. In the interim, if individuals prefer to use personal laptops with Windows 7 loaded on them, this is ok. These computers should be able to connect to the wireless network using the same SSID, user ID and password information that works for other Microsoft Operating Systems to connect to the college's wireless network.

Blackboard Training

Since most NOVA classes utilize Blackboard, students should feel comfortable in the Blackboard environment. Blackboard utilization by instructors will continue to get more extensive. There is an anticipated Blackboard update coming soon which deliver additional capabilities. If a student does not feel completely comfortable, the NOVA website has many on-line tutorials available. Here is a link to the content tutorial available.

NOVA Alerts

NOVA would like to take this opportunity to recommend all students, faculty and staff register for NOVA alerts. During the registration process, the user has the opportunity to register for campus specific alerts, as well as college wide alerts. Please review register for any campus you associate with during the term. NOVA also recommends as you progress through your experience at NOVA, you register for additional campuses if you find you experience requires you to attend or work at other campuses. Here is the link for NOVA alerts registration.

NOVA Alert system

Please review your NOVA Alert registration. Please make sure your registration is associated with the campus you attend classes. This will make sure you recieve all pertinent messages when dispatched. Also please use the website to register. Registration from cell phone is no longer accepted. This document provides instructions in case you have any questions.

Powerpoint Presentations and Classroom Computers

Please be advised that sending 2007 versions of PowerPoint (.pptx) through email and retrieving them through Webmail is not the best method for getting files to classroom computers. The webmail program does not process the extra data associated with this file type well. Webmail wants you to save the file as a zip or compressed file making it very difficult to display properly in Powerpoint.

If you want to use Webmail to retrieve Powerpoint files on classroom computers, your best option is to save the file as a 97-2003 version (.ppt).

When saving a PowerPoint created in 2007 as an older version you may get a warning about some slides losing some compatibility features. Please do not worry about this, that warning only means that those slides would be un-editable if they were opened by an older version of the program. You will still be able to edit them and they will still display correctly.
A reminder that if you are emailing for retrieval in a classroom, we strongly suggest using network drives instead to avoid these issues all together.

Macintosh Snow Leopard

There have been a number of questions about support at the college for Apple Macintosh's operating system Snow Leopard (10.6). This operating system is currently not supported for computers permanently attached to the college's network. The reason for this is that a number of our educational applications and security mechanisms do not have updated releases to support this operating system. This system is constantly monitored, and as soon as all the necessary upgrades have been released the NOVA will move to the Snow Leopard operating system.

Microsoft Windows 7 Operating System

There has been some questions concerning the migration to the new Microsoft operating system Windows 7. NOVA will likely move to Windows 7 in the future, however, there has been no date set for this migration. The operating system will be tested and reviewed to insure it will provide the best opportunities for NOVA students, faculty, and staff. As we get deeper into the release cycle, you will likely see more information about the college's plans for Windows 7.