Category Archives: TechNews

Google Apps Tips and a Reminder about Meeting Maker

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google_apps_smSimmons Technology is pleased to report that we have completed more than half of all faculty and staff Google Apps for Education migrations. The project is moving forward on schedule and should be complete by late May.

As we move forward, we would like to remind you that Meeting Maker will be decommissioned at the end of June. If your department is now using Google Calendar and you want your Meeting Maker account removed, please contact the Service Desk. For more information, and tips for moving your meetings to Google Calendar, please see our full Meeting Maker FAQ.

If you have started using Google Apps and you have questions, you can find many answers on the project site or from within Google Apps by clicking on “More” and then “Google Apps Training” in the black bar at the top of your email. We’re also hosting trainings every week, where we cover Gmail, Calendar, Drive, and the other available apps. To find an upcoming session, check the training calendar.

Beginning this month, we’ll also be providing some advanced tips and tricks to make Google Apps even more useful. Here’s the first one: Did you know that you can drag messages to a label right from your inbox? Just click and hold on or near the checkbox next to a message and drag it to the label you want to use. Your message has been organized with one click and without leaving your inbox.

Using Google Apps in (and outside of) the Classroom

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As more faculty move to Google Apps for Education, we want to provide some ideas for how you can use the apps in your classes. We would also like to hear from you. If you have interesting or innovative use cases, please send an email to [email protected]. We would be happy to feature your stories in an upcoming newsletter.

Create
You can use Google Drive to quickly create and share lecture notes and presentations. Gather the information you need, create your doc or presentation in Drive, and then click “share” and copy the link to send to your students.

Collaborate
In addition to creating your own documents and presentations, you can also use Drive to start projects and then invite students to collaborate. Students can also use Drive to create assignments and then share them with you in order to get feedback. Drive allows for real-time chat, multiple comment conversations, and maintains a full history of revisions. You can work with students to develop a paper or presentation and track their progress as you provide feedback.

Collect
Need to gather information from students at the start of the semester? Looking for an easy way to create appointments during your office hours? Try Google Forms. You can create forms from within Drive in order to gather feedback quickly and track the results in a spreadsheet.

Empower
Your students can use Google Sites to compile portfolios or gather resources for a group project. Sites allows for embedding of documents, spreadsheets, images, videos, and more, making it the perfect place to create and display projects while gaining valuable technology and communication experience.

To find out more about each of the apps and what they can do, visit the Google Apps project site and click on the links under the “Using Google Apps” section.

Simmons Network Improvements Are Under Way

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In an effort to improve network security and to provide better access to services based on your role at Simmons, Technology has begun a project to enhance both the wired and wireless networks.

This project began on March 20th and will continue through April 30th. It should not cause any downtime on our networks but you might notice some minor changes to your login process during the project if you’re using a personally-owned Mac or PC or a Simmons-owned Mac. If you’re using a Simmons-owned PC or accessing the network wirelessly or via a wired connection in the residence halls, you shouldn’t notice any change.

If you have additional questions, please contact the Service Desk at 617-521-2222.

Upgrading Simmons Computers to Internet Explorer 9

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windows_logoThis week, our Endpoint Systems team will be deploying Internet Explorer 9 to all Simmons-owned PCs. You won’t have to do anything to initiate the deployment but you will see a message prompting you to restart your computer once the installation is complete.

Upgrading to Internet Explorer 9 is necessary in order to comply with the requirements of integral systems, including Moodle. In addition, there are several major new features available in this version, including the ability to perform a search directly from the address bar and choosing your most frequently visited sites when you launch a new tab. Please note that, by default, Internet Explorer 9 hides toolbars (including Favorites). To enable these, right click next to the address bar and click “Favorites Bar.”

Please visit Microsoft’s official Internet Explorer 9 homepage to find out more about what is available in the newest version.

Simmons Connection is Now Available on Mobile

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s57_datatelportal-logonewsletterWe know that you’ve been waiting for Simmons Connection to be available on mobile devices and we’re happy to announce that we have completed an upgrade that allows for full mobile access.

You can now use Connection, including AARC, by visitingconnection.simmons.edu on any common mobile device (iPhone, iPad, Android devices, etc.). We recognize that the lack of mobile access made things difficult for many of our customers, especially students, and we hope that this upgrade makes accessing grades, registration, student billing and other services easier and more efficient.

In addition to the mobile upgrade, we’re also working on a project to enhance the news and announcements section of Connection. This upgrade will allow you to add rich media to announcements, comment and interact, and share listings on Facebook, Twitter, and more.

Based on your feedback, we’re also investigating alternatives to Planga as the event management tool for Simmons. We included Planga in Simmons Connection because it is a free tool and we wanted to test the value of an event management platform for our community. After months of use, it has become clear that Planga does not have the tools that you want nor does it have the technical capacity to fully integrate into Connection. Moving forward, we will assess other products based on criteria that you provided for us over the last six months. As soon as we have more information about when and how we will replace Planga, we’ll send an update to the entire Simmons community.

The Move to Moodle Gathers Steam

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The Spring 2013 phase of migrating courses from eLearning to Moodle is now complete! The School of Management, The Graduate School of Library and Information Science, The School of Nursing and Health Sciences, and several departments in The College of Arts and Sciences are now using Moodle. All together, this Spring we migrated about 60 courses from eLearning to Moodle; 160 new Moodle courses were built from the ground up.

Getting Up to Speed on Moodle
Since July, faculty have attended over 140 hours of dedicated Moodle training. In addition, we’ve been busy hosting drop-in sessions, in which faculty can stop by without an appointment for immediate one-on-one support, and staffing Moodle informational tables around campus. We’ll continue to have tables outside the library where students and faculty can have their questions answered. Finally, improved, searchable Moodle documentation is poised to be integrated with Technology Support’s FAQ database later this month. Keep an eye out!

What’s New in Moodle
This December saw a big update to Moodle that brought with it a number of improvements. Moodle’s new drag-and-drop feature allows instructors to drag multiple files from their computer directly into their Moodle course with a flick of the wrist. Moodle Assignments have been streamlined and made more flexible. In response to faculty requests for a tool that would let students sign up for Groups, we’ve added the new “Group Choice” activity.

Hook into Educational Tools through Moodle
Moodle facilitates integration with educational tools to enhance your course. Access the Library’s Course Reserves system directly from Moodle. There’s no need for students to log in again, and instructors no longer have to establish special passwords for their courses. More faculty are also trying out Tegrity, our Moodle-integrated content capture solution, to record videos of lectures and course content. Tools like these make it easier for faculty to flip the classroom and spend more face-to-face time on interactive work and discussion.

 

Google Apps for Faculty and Staff Remains on Schedule

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google_apps_smAs of today, Technology has migrated approximately one-third of all faculty and staff to Google Apps for Education, including the School of Social Work and the School of Management. In the coming weeks, we’ll be working with GSLIS and the School of Nursing and Health Sciences to transition them to Google Apps as well.

With Spring semester moving along quickly, we want to make everyone aware that we’re hosting four drop-in training sessions every week on Tuesday and Thursday. Three of these sessions cover the basics of Gmail and Google Calendar, while the remaining session focuses on the other apps, like Drive and Sites. You can find an upcoming session by viewing the training calendar available here. You can also access additional resources on the Google Apps project site: googleapps.simmons.edu.

Putting the Power of Reporting in Your Hands with Informer

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In the past, Simmons staff members who wanted to run advanced reports or gather specific data stored in Colleague and other sources would have to contact Technology to have a programmer design and run a custom report. This expenditure of time and effort was necessary for every distinct report request that came in. As the number of requests grew, this put a strain on our resources and made it difficult to produce reports in an effective and timely manner. It had become obvious that it was necessary to empower our customers by implementing a solution that allows staff to create and run reports as needed.

Technology is happy to announce that we have installed a new reporting tool called Informer, available at myreports.simmons.edu. Informer provides an easy-to-use interface that can gather, sort, and analyze information to create reports as they are needed. While Technology will still manage the data and support your use of Informer, you no longer have to request reports and wait for us to run them and return the information to you. Currently, the Registrar’s office, along with the Comptroller and the Budget Office, are using Informer to create, manage, and run their own reports, and more departments will be using it soon. Please note that if you need reports from a specific department, you should contact that department to determine the best way to gain access to the report.

Over the last few weeks, Technology has provided Informer training to key stakeholders and will continue to do so. If you have started using Informer and you need some additional guidance, you can also access training online by visiting the Informer YouTube channel. If you need access to Informer or if you want additional training or support, please contact the Service Desk at 617-521-2222.

The Google Apps Migration is Under Way

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Over the last month, we’ve been busy helping staff members in the Library, Student Life, and elsewhere migrate their email to Google Apps. As we move into February, we’ll be finishing migrations for most of the administrative staff and focusing our efforts on staff and faculty in each college. To find out when you will be migrated, please check the timeline on the Google Apps project site. As we get closer to your migration date, our team will reach out to you get some additional information and set a date to move your email to Google Apps.

In the meantime, you can do a few things to prepare for the move. We know that, for most people, this is a big change, and we want to make it as painless as possible. To help, we’ve gathered resources on our project site, including answers to frequently asked questions, and introductions to Gmail, Google Calendar, Google Drive, and more. We’re also holding weekly drop-in trainings where you can watch a short presentation on Google Apps, ask questions, and get help with your account if you need it. Starting in February, we’ll have four sessions every week. Take a look at the schedule and find a time that works for you.

We also want to take this opportunity to reiterate a couple of important notes about the migration. First, your email address will not change. You can still use your @simmons.edu address as you always have. In addition, all of your email will come along with you to your Google Apps account. We’re migrating all of the email on your Simmons computer or on the Simmons server to your new account. When you log in for the fist time at gmail.simmons.edu, you’ll see all of the email that was in your inbox previously. Finally, events scheduled in Meeting Maker will not be migrated to your new account. There is no foolproof way to do this without potentially compromising your previously created meetings and events. To learn more about moving your events from Meeting Maker to Google Calendar, please see the step-by-step instructions available here.

We hope that the hands-on approach we’re taking to this project will make the transition smooth for you. It will take some time to learn new email and calendar systems, but the long-term benefits of moving to Google Apps are many. If you have specific questions about the migration process, please reach out to Roy Balcom ([email protected]). If you have questions about using Google Apps once you’ve been migrated, take a look at the FAQs on the project site or contact the Service Desk at 617-521-2222.

Reminder about New Process to Request Technology Projects (deadline: 2/8)

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In preparation for the FY14 budget year, we’ve implemented a new process for requesting technology projects. The Project Management Office (PMO) was recently established to allow for better allocation of Technology resources to support academic and administrative departments in managing technology related projects. Under this new process, all technology project requests will require approval from President Drinan’s Operating Committee and the timing of the project will be linked to the budget cycle.

There are several benefits to this new process. Foremost, Technology will be able to provide an increased level of project management support throughout the project life cycle, including assistance with developing business requirements, costing, vendor identification, project planning, and project implementation. In addition, the involvement of the Operating Committee in the process will ensure that approved projects are furthering the College’s strategy.

What types of projects need to follow this process? Projects that have any of the following characteristics must follow the new guidelines:

• Hardware or software purchase in excess of $5,000

• ANY Simmons data that is sent to a third party

• Requires more than 30 hours of Technology staff time to assist with project activities such as: requirements, development, testing, configuration, implementation or ongoing maintenance

• Requires integration/interfaces or other communication with existing systems

• Requires custom extracts from existing systems

Members of the Technology team have attended department meetings in recent months to review the process and to provide guidance on submitting project requests. In March, Technology will present all completed proposals to President Drinan’s Operating Committee for consideration and they will make decisions on which projects to approve in late March.

If you have additional questions about the PMO, please see this FAQ or contact Deborah Bernstein ([email protected] or x2061).