Blue Cross of Northeastern Pennsylvania (BCNEPA) and First Priority Life Insurance Company (FPLIC) have advised The University of Scranton of a change to the processing of Explanation of Benefits Statements, also known as “EOBs”, effective April 16, 2010.

If you are a BlueCare Traditional or BlueCare PPO, member, you may notice a change in the amount of EOBs that you receive in the mail. An EOB is a statement that explains the payment for each service that you receive from a health care provider.

What is changing?

Beginning April 16, 2010, you will no longer receive paper EOBs if your services are covered in full and you do not owe any money.  You will continue to receive a paper EOB for some claims. These include:

• Claims for which you may owe additional money, like coinsurance or deductibles
• Claims for which you may have already paid some money at the point of service, like copayments, coinsurance or deductible
• Claims you may have filed yourself (network-participating providers will file claims for you)

You will not receive an EOB if the network-participating provider files your claim and you do not owe any money.

What does this mean for you?

The elimination of EOBs is better for the environment, provides less clutter in your mailbox and helps to reduce administrative costs.

However, if you prefer to continue receiving all EOBs, even when you do not owe any money, you may do so by calling a BlueCare Service Representative at the number on the back of your ID card.

As a reminder, any claims you would like to review are available on the Blue Cross of Northeastern Pennsylvania’s “Member Self-Service” site on the web. Registration is easy!  Just visit www.bcnepa.com and click on “New User.” Once set up, you will be able to review your claims information whenever you like.  If you have any questions about this change, please call a BlueCare Service Representative at the number on the back of the ID card, weekdays, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. or The University of Scranton’s Office of Human Resources at 941-7767.

PLEASE NOTE: The change DOES NOT affect EOBs for members enrolled in the First Priority Health (FPH) HMO Plus Plan.

The Information Security Office is seeing an increase in campus computers being compromised by credential stealing malware spreading through routine Web browsing. These attacks are not new, however, this recent wave spreads through advertising services on very popular, legitimate Web sites. Simply visiting msn.com, digg.com, oprah.com and other popular sites can silently infect a computer. No other user action is necessary. As ads rotate on the Web site, some deliver malicious content. The victim’s Web browser is tricked into silently opening the malicious files that exploit outdated versions of Adobe Acrobat, Adobe Reader, Adobe Flash, Apple Quicktime, and Sun Java even when updated antivirus is running. These exploits install programs that may only be detected using forensics tools. The most severe “Torpig” malware steals passwords and targets banking and credit card data.  Unexpected reboots may be the earliest sign of compromise.

Our best defense is early detection and response coupled with updating the targeted software. If you suspect that your computer has been compromised, contact the Technology Support Center at (941-HELP or techsupport@scranton.edu). Computers that are infected must be immediately removed from the campus network until they can be remediated by a staff member of the Information Technology Services department.  Depending upon the severity of the infection, it may take several days to fully clean your computer and get it back to you. To prevent data loss that may occur during the removal process, make certain you are backing up your important files regularly.

As malware becomes more sophisticated, simple browsing of Web pages containing advertisements can compromise critical information. We strongly recommend that computers that are used to perform financial transactions or those known to contain personally identifiable information, such as social security numbers or financial account numbers, not be used for casual Web browsing. For more information about this and other malware threats, contact security@scranton.edu.

The Staff Senate election process has been completed and the results are as follows:

Those elected to represent the Clerical staff include Nancy Laffey, Lisa Bealla, Barbara Eagen, Diane Lang and Tammi Cherra. The two alternates are Catherine Murphy and Pauline Palko.

Those elected to represent Maintenance, Technical, Trades and Public Safety include John Harris, JoAnn Stavisky, Kathy Clause, Pete Sakowski and Bill Pilger. The two alternates are Bob Keegan and Glen Pace.

Those elected to represent the Professional/Paraprofessional staff include Catherine Mascelli, Larry Hickernell, Janice Winslow, Monica Thomas and Margaret Hynosky. The two alternates are James Francescelli and Denise Gurz.

The Staff Senate would like to thank all members of The University of Scranton’s staff for their participation in the voting process and congratulate all of the winners.

T. Mills Kelly, Ph.D, who teaches in George Mason University’s History department and is an associate director of the university’s award-winning Center for History and New Media, will give a presentation, entitled “How to Achieve Pedagogical Goals with Learning Technologies,” Thursday, April 15, in STT 590 from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. Light lunch provided.

Learning technologies are often presented to us as the solution to any teaching problem. This presentation will focus on specific ways that learning technologies can and cannot support learning goals in the undergraduate classroom. The presentation will discuss several projects, some of which are broad in scope and some of which focus on specific pedagogical problems in one instructor's classroom. Although the examples presented are rooted in history as a discipline, the lessons learned will be applicable to all disciplinary contexts.

For more information about Dr. Kelly, read here. To register for the event, click here.

Over the past year, the University Planning Committee, Administrators’ Conference and Planning Office have been working in collaboration to develop a draft strategic plan for the University that will take us through 2010-2015. This strategic plan will play a critical role in guiding our activities, spending and growth during the coming five years. The plan will be supported by the activities of the University’s tactical plans, which outline the ways in which the strategic themes will be put into action.  

Your feedback is important. Please take a few moments to review the current draft of this plan, available at https://royaldrive.scranton.edu/xythoswfs/webui/_xy-1368431_1-t_OIAYWVPQ. If you would like to share any comments or suggestions on the plan, e-mail planning@scranton.edu by Friday, April 16. 

Dr. Marian Farrell and Dr. Anthony Ferzola – faculty liaisons to the CTLE – will present a workshop titled “Interpreting and Using Your Course Evaluations for Teaching Development” Tuesday, April 20, from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. in STT 590. A light lunch will be provided.

Please join the CTLE for this workshop that focuses on how faculty can use course evaluation results to enhance their teaching skills. The presentation and discussion will look at how to interpret student feedback on multiple-choice questions and open-ended comments.

Penn State’s Dr. Richard Duschl will make a presentation titled “Aligning Practices, Philosophies and Pedagogies: New Science Education Models from the Learning Sciences” Thursday, April 22, from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. in STT 590. A light lunch will be provided.

Recent research synthesis reports from the National Research Council about learning, assessment, and teaching academic subjects call for new learning strategies and for the design of learning environments that align curriculum-instruction-assessment.

This presentation will focus on the recommendations and conclusions from the science education report "Taking Science to School" and the companion practitioner volume "Ready, Set, Science!” New ideas about the role of science practices, learning progressions and learning performances will be examined and discussed.  

Lehigh University’s Dr. Vincent G. Munley will make a presentation titled “The Effectiveness of Peer Tutoring on Student Achievement at the University Level” Thursday, April 22, from 2:30 to 4 p.m. in STT 590. Refreshments will be provided.

Peer tutoring is a commonly employed strategy at universities in economic education as well as other disciplines where developing problem solving skills is a key element in mastering the subject matter. While there appears to be a general consensus that peer tutoring is a successful learning technique, and its practice is supported by multiple professional organizations, little direct evidence has been gathered about the quantitative magnitude of its effectiveness.

In this presentation, Dr. Munley will examine the evidence at Lehigh University. The results suggest that the peer tutoring program has a positive and significant impact, though in order for the program to improve the expected letter grade, a student need participate in the program on average for about one hour per week over a 14-week semester.