Every fall NASA organizes International Observe the Moon Night (IOMN) to encourage as many people as possible to all look up at the moon on the same Saturday evening. This year IOMN came a little early, on September 14th. The Smolen Observatory at SUNY New Paltz was open for visitors, with help from the Mid-Hudson […]
Author: Eric Myers
Solar Eclipse 2024
During the solar eclipse on April 8th, 2024, over a thousand people gathered in the Old Main Quad on the SUNY New Paltz campus to watch. Although the eclipse was only partial at New Paltz, it was still an exciting event. The Department of Physics and Astronomy set up 13 telescopes with either solar filters […]
Microsoft Teams is Frankenstein’s Monster
Microsoft Teams is a collaboration app that provides text, video and audio collaboration tools with shared files and calendars. The diagram shows how it is linked to Microsoft Outlook, OneDrive, and SharePoint. Those connections are described here, along with instructions on how to link files from SharePoint into your personal OneDrive folder. Microsoft Teams is […]
Signing Documents with Adobe Acrobat Reader
It is possible to use Adobe Acrobat Reader to “sign” documents. There are actually several levels of both security and complexity, so depending on what you want to do you can either choose the easiest, or the most secure (well, at least more secure). Here are the options: Add an image of your hand-written signature […]
Collecting Student Lab Data with Forms in Office 365
An on-line form can be an easy way to collect data from students during a lab or class, and with the data automatically loaded into a spreadsheet it can then be straighforward to work with the data immediately. Google Forms is one way to do this, but since SUNY New Palz is moving to the […]
New Paltz CAS 2FA and Windows SSO don’t play nice together in Firefox
CAS is the Central Authentication Service for our campus. Whenever you log in to a service CAS is used to either check that you have already been properly authenticated or to have you authenticate, including two-factor authentication (2FA) using Duo. Windows SSO (Single Sign-On) is a similar mechanism for allowing you to connect to various […]
Manually Focusable Logitech C270
Instructions for modifying a Logitech C270 so that one can adjust the focus manually. The Logitech C270 is an inexpensive all-purpose webcam with a fixed focus which is set at the factory to be used for face-to-face video meetings with the camera placed on top of your computer monitor or above a laptop screen. The […]
Hybrid Physics Labs with “Astronauts” and “Experts”
College physics labs were conducted with half the students physically in the room, each working with a remote lab partner. Since this is similar to how NASA astronauts perform experiments on the International Space Station (ISS), those roles came to be called “Astronauts” and “Experts.” Emphasizing the connection Astronauts, NASA, and the ISS seems to have […]
Network Configuration for a Wi-Fi Access Point
This page describes how to configure the network interfaces for a Raspbery Pi running as a Wi-Fi Access Point (AP). This is just one step in a larger list of instructions, which can be found on the page Raspberry Pi Wifi Access Point. The instructions here do not include the routing, which is covered later. […]
COVID-19 Educational Technology Glossary
The novel (i.e. new) coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2, has prompted novel (i.e. new) terminology in the field of educational technology. To keep track of it all, I’ve started this glossary page, which I will update from time to time. I welcome additions, either in the comments or by email. I am solely responsible for any mistakes or […]