OIT Technology News: Winter 2020 Edition

In this edition of OIT's Technology News, we recap our Keep Working and Keep Teaching tips, get an update on the phone deployments, learn about our new VPN service, find out how we can get the Adobe Creative Cloud software for home use, plus much more.
Image
New Faculty Support & Collaboration Forum

In order to better facilitate communications and collaborations with faculty as SMU goes online with instruction, OIT, in partnership with the CTE and other campus academic support units, has created aKeep TeachingMicrosoft Teams site.
Technology Support and Accessing Campus Resources

As the majority of SMU faculty and staff begin working from remote locations, we wanted to highlight several resources that might be helpful as you are away from campus.
Week In Review

While no one expected this week to be perfect, we did not anticipate that this unprecedented new era would get off to such a smooth and incredible start. We are witnessing absolutely heroic instructional work by our SMU faculty.
Setting Up Your Home Office

We highlight a couple of different things about working from home or working remotely, such as security at home, software for home use, using a VPN, and connecting remotely.
Tips for Telecommuting

We cover a few tips for telecommuting as you navigate the world of remote work, such as setting boundaries for work and home, communicating with your team, and more.
Phone Replacement Project Update

One of our most significant IT projects, the replacement of older PBX phones to the newer VoIP phones, has paused deployments of new phones through April 3, 2020.
Remaining In-Person IT Training to Move Online

With the recent changes in SMU operations, IT Training is moving the remaining in-person training sessions to an online webinar format. On the plus side, this opens up more seating.
Image
Working/Teaching Remotely?
Check Out Our Tutorial Videos!

We have put together some brief videos to get you started with our most popular services that can make your transition to remote work simpler.
 
OIT Completes Three Days of Faculty & Staff Training

In an unprecedented event, over a half dozen ATSDs, instructional designers, and specialists provided over 50 hours of live training covering general Canvas LMS usage, how to communicate with students using various online tools, tips and strategies of asynchronous and synchronous online teaching, and, of course, theessential features of Zoom.
 
Zoombombing in the Classroom?
Not On Our Watch

As faculty host more synchronous Zoom class sessions, setting expectations for the virtual classroom experience is an important consideration. Let us look at some ways to limit the disruption of students in our live online learning environments.
New GlobalProtect Service Adds More VPN Capacity

We are now happy to announce that the Palo Alto GlobalProtect VPN service is now available in addition to our existing Cisco AnyConnect service..
Adobe Grants Temporary Access to Creative Cloud Desktop Apps

With student access to Creative Cloud applications limited. Adobe has provided temporary at-home access for impacted students and faculty.
Skype for Business for iOS & Android Devices

Whether you want to use the instant messaging features you've come to know in Skype for Business or if you have been moved to our new phone system and want to use your SMU phone number from anywhere, the Skype for Business mobile app is your best resource.
OIT Security Report:
Protect Your Kids Online Edition

With many of us having children doing online schooling right now, we just wanted to remind you that our last OIT Security Report focused on protecting your kids online. In it, we discuss how to protect your children when they have their own mobile phone, how to secure your kids online with instructions for adjusting privacy settings, and a little online etiquette.