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OIT Technology News: Spring Term Second Edition

Canvas adoption, Locker.SMU to Box migration, and rolling out two-factor authentication are just a few of the items highlighted this month.

Two-Factor Authentication Is HERE This month, OIT is implementing two-factor authentication for my.SMU. The two-factor authentication helps prevent anyone but you from using your SMU account to login, even if they know your password. Find out more about 2FA with Duo and how to set it up.
Moving from Locker.SMU to Box Earlier this year, Box was implemented as the new file storage and sharing application for SMU. It is the replacement solution for Locker.SMU which is scheduled to be decommissioned later this summer. Find out more about migrating files for both personal and organizational spaces and how Box handles permissions differently than Locker.SMU.	Classroom Technology Upgrades Classroom Technology is a critical piece of the academic environment. Over the past year, the AV team has upgraded approximately 50 classrooms. Not stopping there, the team is preparing to upgrade approximately 60 classrooms this summer. See if these upgrades will have an impact on your classroom.
	Technology Upgrade Project Each year, the University sets aside funding to upgrade classroom technology and designated computers. A new process will begin this year to target a majority of these upgrades during the summer months.
Canvas Readiness Update With support for courses within Blackboard ending in less than six weeks, increasing numbers of faculty are taking advantage of OIT’s Canvas workshops and learning to build (and rebuild!) courses in Canvas. Read how two important Canvas features work very differently from how they worked in Blackboard.
Office 2016 & Windows 10 Office 2016 will be available for all campus Windows and Mac OS X computers beginning April 1st, while Windows 10 will be the default option for Windows OS on new purchases after July 1. Find out more about this rollout and the availability to your computer via LANDesk.	Response to IT Training Excel Survey At the end of February, we sent out a survey to all SMU staff regarding their interest in Excel training. We were finding all of our Spring sessions filling to capacity the same day registration was announced. Read what we learned from the survey and how were are changing our offerings to meet demand.
	Service Desk Quarterly Reports A majority of the help requests are captured within our help desk ticketing system, providing access to a large amount of data regarding the types of issues or requests being made on a regular basis. Find out about trends, typical response times and areas for improvement.
Appspace Signage Upgrade During the week of April 18, OIT will upgrade the Appspace (formerly Nexus) software that runs the various digital displays on campus. Read more about these improvements to Appspace.	SharePoint Moves to the Cloud As part of OIT’s efforts to improve services across campus, Inside.SMU, our internal collaboration platform, will be moved to Microsoft’s SharePoint in the Cloud service. Read more about this change.
Working with Apps.SMU Apps.SMU provides access to a variety of applications within a virtualized environment, removing device and OS barriers and allowing access to the applications from almost any device with an internet connection. For current Apps.SMU users, we have a few usage tips.
tips for Voicemail The new campus voice mail service (Exchange Unified Messaging) has plenty of new features. Here are several tips for getting the most of your voicemail.	Tips for Box Box is a cloud-based storage and collaboration service for SMU faculty, staff, and students. Box@SMU provides several new features and abilities to collaborate.

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