With the Fall semester well under way, most students, staff, and faculty have probably used Simmons Connection to access information about classes, events and other campus news. Behind the scenes, Technology is working on the next phase of Simmons Connection. We’re currently mapping out changes and improvements based on your feedback and we will continue to do so as work on this new platform progresses.

We are aware that some features in Simmons Connection have not worked as well as we had originally intended. For example, the revamped menu structure in AARC has caused some confusion and we found that the display of student email was working inconsistently. Your feedback has helped us to identify these issues and subsequently make changes to improve or replace features as necessary.

As we prepare for phase two, we want to keep the lines of communication open with everyone in the Simmons community. If you have problems that you’ve encountered or suggestions for future improvements and upgrades, we encourage you to submit feedback on the Service Desk website using this link. Every comment we receive from you is discussed among the team and we will follow up to let you know when and if we can incorporate your ideas.

Thank you for taking the time to be a part of the ongoing upgrades to technology at Simmons.

To help everyone learn more about using Simmons Connection and Google Apps for Education, Technology will be offering several drop-in workshops throughout September. Just check the dates below, pick one that works for you, and stop by with your questions!

General Technology (ask us anything!)

– Wednesday, September 5th from 9am-1pm in L006 (Lefavour Hall)

Simmons Connection & Google Apps for Education

– Thursday, September 13th from 12pm-2pm in L003 (Lefavour Hall)

– Thursday, September 20th from 10am-12pm in L003 (Lefavour Hall)

– Thursday, September 27th from 1pm-3pm in L003 (Lefavour Hall)

Remember, if you have questions that you need answered right away, you can check the Simmons Connection/Google Apps section on the Service Desk website, or call the Service Desk at 617-521-2222.

In June, we rolled out phase one of Simmons Connection, our new centralized source for technology resources at Simmons. At that time, we let everyone know that Simmons Connection is a platform that will change and improve over time. We want to inform you of a few changes that we’ve already made based on your feedback and to make you aware of additional resources for helping you make the most of Simmons Connection.

One area that we want to make especially clear is that all AARC functionality still exists within Simmons Connection. Some things might be in new places, but we haven’t removed any of the tools you used previously. For example, faculty and advisors can still view course rosters under theAcademic Resources menu, and everyone can access the Course Catalogby clicking on it under the Online Services menu. The new course catalog displays full information about each course being offered, as well as enrollment info and the option (if you are a student) to add a course to your Preferred Sections List while viewing the course description.

We have also made several changes based on feedback we received from you, including improved menu structure in AARC and replacing the Gmail link for students so that it is grouped with other Google Apps in Connection. In addition, we have recently fixed the data feed for the course catalog and corrected an issue that prevented class rosters from printing correctly. These are just a few of the improvements, small and large, that we’re continuing to make based on your input.

If you are having trouble using Simmons Connection, you can always call the Service Desk at 617-521-2222. In addition, our project website offers step-by-step instructions and short video tutorials on many aspects of Simmons Connection. This fall, we will be offering even more training sessions as everyone returns for the start of a new semester. We’ll be announcing the dates and times of these trainings soon.

For now, we hope you’ll continue to provide feedback on Simmons Connection, and we will continue to make updates and improvements to improve your experience.

In recent months, the Simmons Technology team has been hard at work on a new centralized platform that integrates many of the technology services offered at Simmons. This new product, called Simmons Connection, will be available to everyone at Simmons on June 4th.

We’ve kept the best of what the existing portal (My.Simmons) had to offer and added new services like email and event management. We’re most excited about two brand new features: Planga and Mox. Planga is a new event and group management tool that will make keeping track of your upcoming events easier than ever. Mox is a mobile app that will give you one-touch access to many Simmons Connection features. You can use it to view announcements, search the directory, and quickly navigate to upcoming events on Planga.

We also want you to know that, while email will look different for students, they will still have Simmons email addresses and the changes to email will not affect how students interact with professors or staff members.

While many technology services are already available in this first iteration of Simmons Connection, we do want you to know that it is a living, evolving platform that we will continue to refine and improve by making incremental changes over time. Like many of our projects, the creation and rollout of Simmons Connection has been rooted in a philosophy of continuous changes to functionality and usability based on your feedback. Accordingly, there is a prominent feedback link within Simmons Connection and we hope that you will use it to provide your thoughts and, in turn, help guide the decisions and changes we make.

We will be working this summer to include new features and improve the overall functionality of Simmons Connection. To keep you up to date on new developments, we have created a project website where you can find out more information about Simmons Connection and get access to some of the most common questions about how to use it. You can find it at project-connection.simmons.edu.