Google Apps for Education: Core vs. More

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In addition to Google Apps for Edu Core Apps such as Gmail and Calendar, Simmons has enabled Consumer Apps, such as Google+, Blogger, YouTube, Maps, and more.

These additional apps present a wealth of resources for the Simmons community, but they do differ from the Core Apps in a few important ways. For example, Core Apps are covered in the contract that Simmons has with Google, meaning that none of the information in those apps will be used by Google for any purpose other than providing service and support for our Google Apps for Education account.

Consumer Apps are additional services provided by Google that Simmons has enabled to improve your experience using Google Apps for Education. The first time you use any of the Consumer Apps, you will be asked to agree to a separate set of terms and conditions that cover those products. These products are not covered by the same agreement that governs use of the Core Apps and using them with your Simmons account is equivalent to using a personal Google account.

Because the Consumer Apps are not covered under our agreement with Google, no one at Simmons will be required to use any of the Consumer Apps and choosing not to use them will in no way affect your use of the Core Apps.

To find out more, please see this article on the Google Apps for Edu project website. If you have any questions about Consumer Apps, please contact us at 617-521-2222.

FAQs and Video Tutorials from the Service Desk

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Not sure how to find AARC? Wondering how to use Campus Print? Curious about technology discounts?

Did you know that you can access answers to these and dozens of other common technology questions on the Service Desk website? In addition to the FAQs, we’re also adding new video tutorials every week!

Simply follow this link or connect to the Service Desk website and then click on FAQ in the top menu bar.

Faculty Record and Share Their Classes with Tegrity

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Since September, Simmons Technology has been working with a small group of faculty members to test a new product called Tegrity for capturing and sharing lectures, presentations, and other in-class activities. We want to provide an update on how faculty have been using Tegrity and some of the opportunities it might create in the future.

School of Management professor Jill Avery was able to leverage Tegrity to help a number of students who missed one of her classes in order to attend a conference. Professor Avery reached out to Technology for a way to record the content of her course and make it available to students online. Technology was able to work with her to add Tegrity to her course, record course content, upload it to Moodle, and make it available to students within Moodle.

Michael Jordan, professor in the department of Chemistry & Physics, has also been recording all of his lectures in PHYS 103 and making the videos available in Moodle for his students as an optional way to review content. In addition, Professor Jordan is giving students the opportunity to record their own videos and upload them to Moodle. He has also edited course content using external tools on his computer and uploaded them back into Tegrity for student access.

These are just a couple of examples of how faculty are using Tegrity in their classes. If you are a faculty member who’s interested in using Tegrity during the Spring semester, please email [email protected] for more information.

Solutions for Accessing Kronos

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Many Simmons employees use Kronos, our timecard management system, to enter their hours on a weekly or biweekly basis. We recently found that browser incompatibility issues have caused Kronos to not work as expected for many Simmons staff and faculty. Technology is collaborating with the Talent and Human Capital Strategy Group to find a long-term solution.

In the meantime, Technology has created a workaround that will allow you to enter your time from any computer. For instructions on how to use Kronos, click here.

If this solution is not working for you or if you need additional instructions, please contact the Service Desk at 617-521-2222.

Faculty and Staff Moving to Google Apps for Education

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Earlier this month, we sent an email from Debra Orr, Simmons College Chief Information Officer, to the entire Simmons community about faculty and staff email. We’re sharing her note again here just in case you missed the previous announcement:

In May, the Technology department worked with students to transition them to Google Apps for Education. This change involved not only using a new email platform, but also adding a powerful calendaring tool and a host of collaborative and productivity tools. We have gotten very positive feedback from our students. At that time, I let you know that Technology would be working to determine the needs of Simmons faculty and staff to help us choose an email and calendaring platform that would provide capabilities far beyond our current email platform and Meeting Maker.

I am pleased to share that we have reached a decision and that we have begun planning a transition of all faculty and staff email to Google Apps for Education. We believe that choosing Google Apps for Education will provide cutting edge tools for managing day-to-day work, and collaborating with colleagues and students. In addition to basic email and calendaring, Google Apps for Education offers tools for creating documents, spreadsheets, and presentations; interactive utilities for text and video conferencing; opportunities for real-time collaboration on projects; and so much more.

I want you to know that this decision was made after a careful assessment of the community’s needs and a review of how students have been served by Google Apps for Education over the last several months. The Technology team has also reviewed our agreement with Google and I can assure you that, beyond the cost and efficiency advantages of having the entire college on one email system, we will also benefit from improved data security. Simmons College will continue to own our data and Google will store it securely and will not use it for advertising or marketing purposes. In addition, moving to Google Apps for Education will create opportunities that greatly exceed those that could be developed in-house or by selecting a la carte products from multiple vendors.

Since May, I have been asked by many faculty and staff when they might be able to use Gmail and Google Calendar and how it will help with daily interactions with students. In the next thirty days, I will share a timeline for this project, as well as some additional details about how the transition will work and the hands-on training and support we’ll be offering. In the meantime, please let me know if you have questions or concerns about this change. I am confident that you will see immediate advantages over our current systems and I know that the entire Technology team is excited to begin working with you on this important project.

Debra Orr
Executive Director of Technology/CIO
Simmons College

Streaming Video Now Available from the Library

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Last year, Simmons was facing a number of issues that were making it increasingly difficult to deliver movies and other recorded media to our community: the previous broadcast system, which was cumbersome for faculty and students, was on its way out, VHS technology had become almost completely obsolete, and physical media like DVDs did not meet the needs of our online courses. Rather than trying to address these issues one at a time, the library staff partnered with Technology to determine how Simmons could meet the needs of our community by taking advantage of current media streaming technology.

From there, the library staff formed a working group to explore alternatives, test various products, and make recommendations for acquiring and implementing an appropriate solution. The team was led by Jennifer Ferguson and included Anne Croak, Paul Engelberg, and Justin Snow. Together, they put into action a mix of tools that tackled the issue of media obsolescence and created a long-term strategy for digital media distribution at Simmons.

In the end, the working group chose to provide access to streaming media by acquiring two significant collections of documentaries as well as investing in a platform for streaming feature films. These tools offer several advantages, including easier access to course reserves, expanded film catalogs for faculty to use in the classroom, access to media without trips to the library, and additional options for using media in blended and fully online classes. Thousands of documentaries and feature films are now available and, by the end of 2012, the library will be able to provide access to more than 20,000 streaming documentaries that can be viewed online at any time.

Simmons faculty and students are encouraged to explore the titles available by searching the library catalog or by using the library’s guide to finding media, where you can explore documentaries and feature films.

Upgrading and Improving Simmons Connection

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When Technology launched Simmons Connection in June, we promised that it would be an ongoing project that would be improved over time. During the last four months, we have received invaluable feedback from many members of the community, and we have used your suggestions to begin work on a second phase of Simmons Connection.

Over the next few months, we will be implementing several major improvements, including Moodle integration, a revamped news and announcements section that simplifies the workflow and incorporates sharing and social media, and inclusion of the Simmons directory within Simmons Connection. These changes should have minimal impact on how you use Simmons Connection and we will provide documentation and, as necessary, training on any new features.

During this time, we will also be creating a new Simmons Connection Governance Team, made up of various stakeholders at Simmons, who will help guide future changes by providing perspective on the needs of students, faculty, and staff. If you would like to be involved with this initiative, please contact the Simmons Connection team using this link.

We remain committed to constant, incremental improvement to our services so that they work better for you. Thank you as always for your feedback and patience as we make these enhancements.

Increased Email Quota for Faculty and Staff

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Email storage increased to one gigabyteRecently, the Infrastructure & Online Services group completed a significant upgrade to the space we use to store faculty and staff email. As a result, all faculty and staff now have 1 gigabyte of storage for their email with more available by request. This represents a fivefold increase over the previous mailbox quota.

The upgrade to storage space was completed in tandem with the continued effort to virtualize servers and services at Simmons. Virtualization allows us to be more flexible with storage space, in effect, allocating the space where and when we need it most. It also makes backing up the content of our servers more effective and provides increased opportunities for helping you to retrieve lost or accidentally deleted files when emergencies arise. In addition, all data on our servers is constantly replicated to our auxiliary data center that provides up-to-the-second data redundancy.

Data storage infrastructure at Simmons

Increased email storage for faculty and staff also creates an additional long-term benefit as we upgrade current systems. In FY14, we will roll out a new and improved email platform for faculty and staff. In preparation, we recommend that all faculty and staff take advantage of the increased email quota by storing their email on the Simmons servers rather than on their computer’s hard drive. Email stored locally on your computers and mobile devices can be very difficult (or, in some situations, impossible) to restore in the event of a system crash, and keeping it on our servers allows us to better assist you in finding and retrieving data. During the transition, we will help you migrate any email that is currently stored on Simmons servers to the new platform.

If you have questions about email storage or how to set up your email client (e.g. Thunderbird, Outlook, Apple Mail) to keep mail on the server rather than on your computer, you can contact the Service Desk at 617-521-2222. We’ll be happy to answer your questions and help you configure your email.

Google Hangouts: Collaborative Tools for Students and Professors

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In August, we sent out an announcement to all students that we had recently enabled Google+ as part of our Google Apps for Education offerings. In case you missed that email, we want to share some of the helpful tools available on Google+. At its core, Google+ is a social networking tool built on sharing information in real-time via text, chat, and video. Much like Facebook, it allows you to connect with people you know and share things with them. Beyond that, it provides powerful collaboration tools that integrate with your Simmons Gmail.

One of the most exciting features is Google Hangouts. Hangouts are online spaces where you can invite up to nine other people and then chat or work on projects face-to-face. You can even edit projects in Google Docs while in your Hangout. So, the next time you can’t get everyone in the same place at the same time or when all of the library study rooms are booked, you can still meet and work face-to-face on your class projects.

These tools aren’t just for students. Faculty members with personal Gmail accounts can use Google Hangouts as a videoconferencing tool for guest speakers or even virtual office hours.

Finding Google Plus in Gmail

To get started with Google+, click on “+You” in the upper left corner of the screen when you’re in Simmons Gmail. Google will take you through a few steps to set up your profile, and then you’re ready to go!

If you need some help figuring out how to use Google+ or Google Hangouts, check out these resources:

Google+

Google Hangouts

While Google provides the most up-to-date service and support information, you can always contact the Service Desk (617-521-2222) for help with specific questions or problems while using Google+ and Google Hangouts.

The Latest News on Simmons Moodle

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We are pleased to report that GSLIS and SNHS courses for Fall 2012 are live in Simmons Moodle. Our in-person demonstration tables in the GSLIS Palace Road lounge and the 3rd floor of Park Science Building were well-attended by students, and faculty members can continue to find orientation materials and drop-in sessions in person or online. We are beginning to meet with departments that will be rolling on in Spring 2013. Information about the upcoming Spring 2013 roll-out can be found here.

Please remember that any questions, comments, or feedback about Simmons Moodle can be directed to [email protected].