In the asynchronous classroom you may find yourself asking: Are my students really getting it? How will I know?

This session will showcase effective ways to engage the student with the material even when they are not being graded.

It will highlight interactive delivery methods such as animated case studies, student panels, branching and gaming scenarios—all with checkpoint options that require the students to interact with the content and each other.

This session is open to ALL faculty—whether you teach online or on-campus. Visit the Faculty Fellows Hub to get complete details on all the sessions being offered.

Interested in signing up for this session? RSVP today!

Throughout the spring semester, the Technology team has worked with departments to purchase and distribute new computers to eligible faculty and staff. As of today, we have replaced 250 computers and are on-track to replace almost 600 during FY17. Our team is following an accelerated timeline in order to complete the remaining computer replacements this summer. You can track our progress by checking the status page on the project website.

This project has been a significant focus for our department during the year and we’ve worked hard to deploy and upgrade computers while balancing resources with concurrent projects and ongoing technology support and maintenance.

We want to thank the many employees we collaborated with in dozens of departments. Their commitment and cooperation have made this project a success. The Service Desk staff also deserves credit for planning and scheduling computer replacements while minimizing disruptions to the daily work of their colleagues across campus.

For more information about the computer replacement program, please visit the project website.

Simmons Technology recently announced the implementation of SharkPass two-step verification for logins to most online systems at the College. This new service improves the security of our data and reduces our vulnerability to phishing attacks and other scams.

Because the security of your information is at stake, we want to act quickly. Simmons is requiring all students, faculty, and staff to be enrolled in SharkPass by June 1, 2017. We encourage you to set it up as soon as possible so you don’t experience any interruptions in access to services during finals, commencement, or the summer break.

To activate and enroll in SharkPass, visit our project website (sharkpass.simmons.edu). There, you’ll find step-by-step instructions—and videos—to guide you through the process and help you get started with two-step verification.

When you enroll, be sure to add a backup device—like a landline phone—or send yourself backup codes. Having a backup means that you’ll still be able to log in even if your primary device isn’t nearby or if its battery is dead.

On the project site, you’ll also find a calendar of on-campus events. Technology staff members will host these in-person demonstrations across campus, giving everyone at Simmons an opportunity to ask questions and get hands-on help.

If you need help with SharkPass, or if you are an online-only student or faculty member, please contact the Service Desk at 617-521-2222. Our technicians are ready to answer your questions and assist with SharkPass activation and enrollment.

At this point, you have likely heard that the new Simmons advising system, Starfish, is live for undergraduates and online programs. Starfish is a toolset that allows students, advisors, faculty, and student-facing professional staff to communicate, as well as make referrals, raise flags, and store student records in an organized and confidential manner.

   Sample student flag in Starfish

A few resources and reminders to help you make the most of Starfish:

• Starfish is currently being used for the following programs: undergraduates, Nursing@Simmons and SocialWork@Simmons students
• Starfish can be accessed at starfish.simmons.edu and uses your current Simmons username and password
• The Student Quick Start Guide includes an overview of Starfish and its features
• Instructors, advisors, and student support staff can access our Faculty & Staff Help Guides for assistance with topics such as:
  • Setting up office hours
  • Raising and clearing flags
  • Making notes and messaging students
• Please see the Faculty & Staff Training Calendar for drop-in sessions where you can stop by and work through any questions you may have

As a reminder, please direct any questions, concerns, or feedback to [email protected]!

Your online presence is your key to opening or shutting the doors to positive student communication, conflict resolution, and learning. Join us and share ways of becoming visible to students while in your synchronous online classroom and while communicating asynchronously with your students whether through postings or e-mail. Choose to be a professor who is clearly seen and heard in the world of online learning.

This session is open to ALL faculty—whether you teach online or on-campus. Visit the Faculty Fellows Hub to get complete details on all the sessions being offered.

Interested in signing up for this session? RSVP today!

Student Support offices across the college have been hard at work on a new Simmons platform for student advising, and now Starfish is almost here! Starfish is a toolset for advisors and student support staff to better guide students in pursuit of their educational goals. We are preparing to launch Starfish for undergraduate students and our Nursing@Simmons and SocialWork@Simmons programs.

Starfish provides advisors with critical information about their advisees’ course of study and allows them to log notes, set up appointments, make referrals, and connect with the rest of a student’s support network in a single, easy-to-use platform.

Click to see full-size image

As advisors and instructors begin to use Starfish in the coming months, students can expect:

• Advisors will have access to more information about your courses, academic plans, and performance
• Communications from faculty and staff, including:
  • Academic Alerts from faculty – early warnings and guidance on how to address potential issues
  • Kudos for exceptional or improved performance
  • Referral notifications
• Faculty and staff will be better empowered to follow up on requests and help students identify and work through academic challenges
• Services Listing – find hours, location, and contact information for student support offices
• “Raise Your Hand” – when you have a specific question but aren’t sure where to turn, use this feature to ask for help by topic

Additional details and training materials about Starfish usage for faculty and staff are coming soon. To learn more about the project and its goals, please visit our project website.

It’s not easy being a faculty instructor. You are expected to know laws affecting you and those you teach, inside and outside of the classroom. If you have ever wondered what certain laws or Simmons policies really require, if you sometimes struggle to balance classroom rights and responsibilities, or if you want to have greater confidence about legal issues in higher education, we invite you to attend this program.

The instructor will answer commonly asked questions by faculty compiled through her more than 25 years of advising and representing colleges and universities, and their faculty, Deans, and Presidents. Attendees will be invited to submit questions prior to the program.

This session is open to ALL faculty—whether you teach online or on-campus. Visit the Faculty Fellows Hub to get complete details on all the sessions being offered.

Interested in signing up for this session? RSVP today!

Our Endpoint Systems team and Service Desk staff are keeping the computer replacement project on track, on time, and on budget.

During March, they completed the final round of department scheduling and moved forward with additional deployments to faculty and staff across campus.

Throughout the spring semester, our team will continue with computer replacements based on the planning we’ve done with each department. If you have questions about the project or your eligibility to receive a new computer, please visit our project website or contact the Service Desk.

In the event of an emergency, we want to ensure that every member of the Simmons community gets the message. To help communicate information as quickly and effectively as possible, Simmons Technology is working in tandem with Public Safety to expand our emergency alert system.

In the near future, the alerts that are sent to your email and phone—via automated voice message and text—will also appear on digital signage on the Academic and Residence Campuses, and as desktop alerts on Simmons-owned computers.

Behind the scenes, Public Safety will make use of one-click alerts that will be sent to the entire community. This means that with the click of a button, Public Safety can send nearly instantaneous alerts of an on-campus emergency via phone, email, computer desktop messages, and digital signage.

Because emergency notifications are only effective if they reach you, we encourage everyone to verify and update your emergency contact information on file with the College. Students should update their info in Simmons Connection (step-by-step instructions) while faculty and staff should use Workday (step-by-step instructions).

This session will look at the best practices for engaging students in meaningful discussion. This will include tips for handling discussions in multiple venues: in a face-to-face classroom, an asynchronous online discussion board and in the synchronous or virtual classroom.

Topics covered will include: establishing community, writing good questions, defining expectations, handling disruptive students and balancing workload. This will be an interactive workshop where you will leave with tools for creating your own engaging classroom activities. Bring your own experience and ideas so everyone can get talking!

This session is open to ALL faculty—whether you teach online or on-campus. Visit the Faculty Fellows Hub to get complete details on all the sessions being offered.

Interested in signing up for this session? RSVP today!