FredGPT (FDU Responsive Educational Database) is FDU’s AI solution, currently available to faculty and staff only. FredGPT features a General Assistant for daily tasks, and the FDU Assistant, a specialized assistant focused on Fairleigh Dickinson University information.

For additional content on leveraging AI for your daily use, please visit the FDU Center for Artificial Intelligence.

FDU Center for Artificial Intelligence

Index

Section – Logging in and Policies

Part : Accessing FredGPT

All faculty and staff have access to FredGPT by visiting fredgpt.fdu.edu

FredGPT Login

Part : FDU AI Policy

Review FDU’s GenAI Policy before using FredGPT:

Part : Academic Integrity Policy

Review FDU’s Academic Integrity Policy before using FredGPT:

Section – Introduction to AI

Part : UCSD AI Essentials for All Audiences

Review the course below which provides an overview of essential AI information.

AI Essentials for All Audiences

Part : Khan Academy AI for Education

Watch the video series below, which provides an overview of using AI within the education setting.

AI for Education Course

Section – FredGPT Assistants

Part : General Assistant

The General Assistant is designed to assist with a wide range of daily tasks including writing, research, and problem-solving. Its broad knowledge base can help navigate complex issues, create teaching materials, and refine or organize your content. You can choose between two Large Language Models (LLMs) when using any of the assistants. The General Assistant does not have internet search capabilities, so its knowledge is limited to information from before June 2024.

Part : FDU Assistant

The FDU Assistant is designed to provide comprehensive, trustworthy, and Fairleigh Dickinson University specific information to support faculty, staff, and leadership. It draws on resources from fdu.edu and it.fdu.edu, ensuring accurate and up-to-date responses to a wide range of topics, including admissions, academic programs, financial aid, campus life, and technical resources.

With a broad range of expertise, the FDU Assistant offers direct and well-reasoned answers, aligning with enterprise-level strategies and policies at FDU.

Section – Getting Started with FredGPT

Part : Your First Chat

Discover how to initiate your first chat and unlock the full potential of FredGPT’s support.

Part : Providing Response Feedback

Now that you’ve experienced the dynamic assistance of FredGPT firsthand, please remember that your feedback is essential. As you prompt, take a moment to provide feedback on the responses. Your comments will help the FredGPT team learn more detail about the effectiveness of the interactions and potentially improve future conversations.

Review the video below to learn how to share feedback.

Part : Large Language Models (LLMs)

A Large Language Model (LLM) is an artificial intelligence system trained on vast amounts of text data to generate human-like responses. FredGPT offers access to two LLMs: Llama 4 Scout and GPT-OSS.

Each LLM has its own strengths and characteristics, shaped by factors such as training data, model architecture, and fine-tuning objectives. As a result, their responses may differ, providing users with unique perspectives and performance profiles.

• Llama 4 Scout – trained on diverse sources with a knowledge cutoff of December 2023.
• GPT-OSS – trained on a separate corpus with a knowledge cutoff of June 2024.

Review the video below which will show you how to toggle between offered LLMs.

Section – Prompting

Part : Prompting Guide

Remember to use the Assistant best suited for your task.

General Assistant – Ideal for everyday tasks: scheduling, drafting emails, brainstorming ideas, or general research.

FDU Assistant – Use when you need university‑specific information: campus policies, faculty listings, event details, or library resources.

Remember to proofread and edit your response before using it.

After each interaction, provide feedback (thumbs‑up, thumbs‑down, or comments) so FredGPT can improve its future responses for you and the community.

Section – FAQ

Part : Frequently Asked Questions

What is FredGPT?

FredGPT is an on‑campus AI‑powered assistant that helps faculty, staff, and students with everyday tasks and with locating FDU–specific information.

Which assistants are available?

• General Assistant – Handles generic tasks such as drafting emails, brainstorming ideas, summarizing documents, and general research

• FDU Assistant – Specializes in university‑related queries (course catalogs, policies, events, library resources, faculty contacts, etc).

How do I choose the right assistant?

Use the General Assistant for anything not tied to campus‑specific data. Switch to the FDU Assistant whenever you need information that is unique to FDU.

What kind of prompts work best?

• State the desired tone (formal, friendly, concise)
• Set clear boundaries (word count, “only” focus)
• Use capitalization to emphasize key terms
• Indicate whether you need a condensed or expanded response

Can FredGPT solve complex math problems?

FredGPT is primarily language‑focused. It can handle simple arithmetic and explain concepts, but it is less reliable for advanced calculations or symbolic math. As with all GenAI prodcuts, remember to check the output from your prompt for accuracy.

How accurate is the information from the FDU Assistant?

The FDU Assistant references fdu.edu and it.fdu.edu to generate responses, and is accurate based on the information available on those two sites.

What should I do if the response is incomplete or off‑topic?

• Proofread the answer and note what’s missing
• Resubmit a clarified prompt, adding constraints or examples
• Use the feedback buttons (thumbs‑up/thumbs‑down) and, if desired, leave a comment so the system can improve

Is there a limit to how many prompts I can send?

There is no hard daily limit for individual users but excessive querying may be throttled to ensure fair access across the community.

How is my data handled?

Queries are processed anonymously to generate responses. No personally identifiable information is retained beyond what is required for session continuity, and all data handling complies with FDU’s privacy policies.

How can I give feedback on FredGPT’s performance?

After each response, click the thumbs‑up or thumbs‑down icon. If you choose thumbs‑down, you can add a short comment describing the issue (e.g., “Incorrect deadline,” “Tone too informal”). It is also extremely helpful when providing feedback to provide a link to the correct information. This feedback helps the development team refine both assistants.

Home drives and departmental shared drives come with a limited capacity of data storage, known as a quota. When a drive reaches 85% of that quota, both the departmental shared drive manager as well as the user uploading the content that puts a drive over that threshold will receive a message from psadmin@fdu.edu as seen below.

By informing the share manager and providing the name of the share affected, the share manager has an opportunity to respond to the notification prior to any disruptions to day-to-day workflows.

Upon receiving this email, the share owner should:

1. Review and confirm that all uploaded content is required for current business purposes
2. Review and consolidate any duplicated items
3. Remove any documents, files, or pictures no longer needed

These measures will resolve most shared drive quota issues. If the shared drive is still nearing its storage quota, please fill out the Home/Department Share Management Form using the link below:

Home/Department Share Management Form

What’s Oracle?

Oracle is a multi-model relational database management system, mainly designed for enterprise grid-computing and data warehousing. It is one of the first choices for enterprises for cost-effective solutions for their applications and data management. It supports SQL as a query language to interact with the database.

Now let’s discuss how to use Oracle in the FDU environment.

Accessing Oracle

FDU provides Oracle access to students and faculty on the Opus server. The Oracle environment is provided to support coursework and skill development.

Opus users are automatically granted access to Oracle after first successful login (It may take up to six hours before access is available).

If you do not already have Opus access you will need to request access by completing the Form:

Opus (Linux) Form

Access to the Opus server is restricted to FDU networks only. If you are off campus and would like to access Opus for your Oracle work you will need to use FDU’s Virtual Private Network (VPN).

You will need to use SSH to connect to the Opus server:

The Oracle Database is accessed using the SQL Plus utility, which has a command-line interface. To start using SQL Plus simply type “sqlplus /” on the Opus command line.

Interactive use can then start by entering a SQL statement (terminated by a semicolon), a PL/SQL block, or another command. For example:

SQL> select 'Hello world' as example from dual;

EXAMPLE
--------------------------------
Hello world

This article provides information about how to access OneDrive using browsers, mobile devices and in computers.

You can access OneDrive using browsers such as Microsoft Edge, Safari, Google Chrome or Firefox.

1. Sign-in to your account here: office365.fdu.edu
2. Click “App launcher” (icon located at top left corner ) which should show list of applications available to you and then click the “OneDrive” icon. This should open your OneDrive page either in new tab in your browser or in a new browser window.

You can access OneDrive in your iOS or Android devices.

1. Download and install the OneDrive app

2. Sign-in with your FDU NetID and password. Please select “OneDrive for Business” or “OneDrive for School” if given a choice to select type of account. DO NOT select personal OneDrive option if it is available. You’ll be presented with FDU’s Single Sign-On screen where you’ll be required to enter your NetID and password

1. If you are using Windows 10 computer, then OneDrive should already have been installed. If not, please follow steps below to download and install it in your computer
2. Sign-in to your account here: office365.fdu.edu
3. Click “App launcher” (icon located at top left corner ) which should show list of applications available to you and then click the “OneDrive” icon. This should open your OneDrive page either in new tab in your browser or in a new browser window

4. Click “Get the OneDrive apps” located at lower left corner which should download installation file for OneDrive
5. Execute this newly downloaded installation file which should install OneDrive in your computer
6. Start “OneDrive” and enter your NetID and click “Sign In”
7. Select “Work or School” option which should take you to FDU’s Single Sign-On screen
8. Enter your NetID and password

1. Click below to install OneDrive from the Mac App Store

2. Click “Get”
3. Click “Install”
4. Launch “OneDrive” and enter your NetID and click “Sign In”
5. Select “Work or School” option which should take you to FDU’s Single Sign-On screen
6. Enter your NetID and password

The SAMI Service Desk serves as the primary support center for all university technology-related support. Students, faculty, and staff can easily reach out to the service desk through the SAMI Support portal, email, or phone for assistance with application software, desktop setups, peripheral devices, network issues, password management (such as for Microsoft 365), and configuration support for hardware and software. The service desk also addresses inquiries related to Blackboard and classroom projector troubleshooting.

There are four ways to create a ticket and get support:

SAMI Support Portal

In the SAMI Support portal, you can:

• Create SAMI Support requests by filling out a quick form
• Access the most updated status of your SAMI support request
• Interact with the technician currently assigned to resolve your SAMI support request
• Review all your open and closed SAMI support request history
• Access our knowledge base to view information about our current systems
• Access solutions for the most frequently asked questions

You can submit a request for support by filling out the form below

Our Technical Assistance Center is available 24 hours a day for you to log a support ticket

While the SAMI Support Portal is our preferred support option, assistance is available by phone at (973)-443-8822.

Users can submit a support ticket by sending an Email

The email address is samisupport@fdu.edu

The ability to access a home drive or department shared drive remotely is only supported for FDU-owned equipment.

First, you need to ensure you have launched your Virtual Private Network (VPN) and logged in using your NetID and password.

1. Once you have connected via the VPN, open your File Explorer.

2. Halfway down the left panel, click on “This PC“. Your available Network Locations will appear in the center of the screen.

3. To access any of your drives, simply double click on the icon next to Drive description.

1. Go to your Finder app

2. On the menu bar on top, click “Go” and select the last option “Connect to Server…” or alternatively on your keyboard press and hold “command” then press “K“

3. In the Connect to Server window enter SMB:// followed by the path of your network share

In the case of your home drive this will follow the convention of:

• smb://root.fdu.edu/shares/users-madison/your NetID for Florham users
• smb://root.fdu.edu/shares/users-metro/your NetID for Metro users
• smb://root.fdu.edu/shares/users-vancouver/your NetID for Vancouver users

Pressing the “+” will add this to your list of Favorite Servers.

There are a few different ways to change your University NetID password. However, Computing Services strongly urges everyone to change their FDU NetID password using a provided Apple or Windows university computer.

The process for changing your FDU NetID password on a macOS device differs from a Windows device, so please follow the instructions provided for macOS computers below.

If you do not have a university-owned Apple or Windows laptop/desktop and cannot use a University lab computer, please follow the procedures described in “Using identity.fdu.edu Web Portal to Change your FDU NetID Password” below.

Please click on one of the links below for instructions on how to change your FDU NetID password:

1. On FDU-issued laptops, desktops, and lab machines, the FDU NetID password can be changed by pressing the “Ctrl+Alt+Del” button combination on the keyboard from any screen and selecting “Change a Password”

2. Now enter the following:
   
   • Your old or current password
   • Type in a new password
   • Retype the new password to confirm
   • Press the “Right Arrow” button to continue

3. Once this has been done, you must lock and unlock the machine once to complete updating your password:
   
   • Press the “Ctrl+Alt+Del” keys combination again
   • Click “Lock”
   • Then log back in with your new password

Your FDU NetID password was changed successfully!

To change and/or synchronize your FDU NetID password with your FDU Issued Apple computer, please follow the directions provided in the following article:

Adjunct professors, students, and anyone with a personal laptop/desktop/tablet device will use the FDU Identity Web Portal to change their NetID password.

1. Open a web browser (e.g., Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Internet Explorer, Safari) and navigate to the following URL:

FDU Identity Web Portal

2. Click on “Account Maintenance” on the top right hand of the web page

3. You will be redirected to the FDU Single-Sign-On login page. Enter your FDU NetID email and password in the corresponding text boxes and click “Sign In.” Complete the FDU 2fa Duo push notification to proceed

4. Under Sign-In and Security, select “Change My Password”
   
   • Enter your current password
   • Enter a new password
   • Retype your new password to confirm
   • When finished, select “Change My Password”

5. “Password successfully changed” will be displayed if your FDU NetID password was successfully changed

You also have the option to change the name that is displayed on your NetID account.

1. Open a web browser (e.g., Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Internet Explorer, Safari) and navigate to the following URL:

FDU Identity Web Portal

2. Click on “Account Maintenance” on the top right hand of the web page

3. You will be redirected to the FDU Single-Sign-On login page. Enter your FDU NetID email and password in the corresponding text boxes and click “Sign In.” Complete the FDU 2fa Duo push notification to proceed

4. Under Sign-In and Security, select “Change Display Name”
   • Enter your New Display Name
   • Click on “Change Display Name“

5. “Display Name successfully changed” will be displayed if your Display Name was successfully changed