An SMU Email account is provided to all faculty. This account may be accessed via webmail.smu.edu or through an email client on a computer, phone or other email enabled device. Faculty are allocated 2 GB of storage on the mailbox server. Service Information
Access.SMU hosts all employee and student data for the University. Faculty are granted access to two main sections in Access.SMU: Employee Self Service and Faculty Center. Employee Self Service grants access to view personal information, paychecks and other information related to that individual only. Faculty Center hosts class information, class rosters, grade rosters etc. A number of features have been implemented to assist faculty such as photo rosters, email notifications, and a new gradebook feature. Service Information
Blackboard is a learning management system enhancing the course delivery and classroom instruction at SMU. Instructors may use Blackboard to post course documents and assignments, conduct surveys and exams, host discussion boards and track grades. Courses are automatically created in Blackboard each semester based on the class information in Access.SMU. Service Information
Locker is a web based storage and file sharing service. Faculty are allocated 4 GB of personal storage and can request additional storage within a departmental locker space as needed. Locker allows you to easily upload various files for secure storage and convenience. Those files can then be accessed anywhere in the world via a web browser. Files can also be shared with other SMU affiliates and external colleagues. Collaborative tools such as versioning and document check in and check out are also available. Service Information
Faculty may wish to allow students to email the entire class to discuss class topics or assignments. In these situations, a mailing list can be requested. There are a number of configuration options available for mailing lists. All of these options are easily managed via a web interface. Service Information
Inside.SMU is a collaborative web based technology available currently to faculty and staff only. It is a powerful solution for committees, internal research and file collaboration with SMU colleagues. Service Information
Additional Services
There are a number of other IT services available for faculty. These include networking (wired and wireless), web publishing, wikis, blogs, and more. For details on all of the services provided by OIT, click here.
Technical Support & Consulting
The IT Support Services department offers support for all University computers, services and applications on Mac and PC platforms. The Help Desk is located on the 4th floor of Blanton and is open Monday through Thursday from 7:30 am-6:30 pm and Friday from 7:30 am-5:30 pm. You can place your request for services or support by contacting the Help Desk via phone at 214-768-4357, via email at help@smu.edu, or online at help.smu.edu.
SMU classrooms are equipped with a variety of technology devices for instructional use. Faculty may request emergency support during class sessions by dialing a special phone number posted in each of the classrooms, and a technician is dispatched immediately. Faculty may also request training or assistance in using a variety of classroom technologies including podcasting, classroom response systems and more.
Development, troubleshooting and support for Microsoft Access databases and FileMaker databases are available by request.
Computers and printers are ordered, installed, repaired and recycled by IT.
IT will assist faculty in developing DVDs, PowerPoint presentations, and other multimedia components for use in the classrooms. IT also offers assistance to faculty in developing web pages and other instructional materials via the STARS program. The STARS program actively recruits students who are highly skilled in the area of technology. The STARS students are assigned to faculty by request only.
IT provides assistance with statistical and research software through application support as well as assistance in research development and design.
Online training and documentation is available for the various IT services. In person training on Blackboard, web publishing, and other services is also scheduled each semester. Faculty may also request access to the Atomic Learning Online tutorials. There are over 30,000 tutorials covering a wide range of applications and topics.