OIT Technology News: Summer 2023 Edition

In this edition of OIT Technology News, we get a sneak peek at M3, look forward to advancements in security with Defender and Duo, find out how we can be more aware of accessibility, plus give kudos to a couple of our staff, and a whole lot more.

M3 Takes SMU High-Performance Computing to Next Level

Over the past decade, SMU has pushed forward in high-performance computing (HPC). With M3 coming online this month, data sciences, digital humanities, and many more areas of study are going to have easy access to R1-level high-performance computing.

Microsoft Defender to Replace Cylance for Anti-Virus at SMU

OIT recently made the decision to transition SMU's Anti-Virus software from CylancePROTECT to Microsoft Defender for Endpoint during the summer of 2023.

Enhanced Account Protection With New Duo Features

Later this month, OIT will enable several new features in Duo to provide additional account protection to the device enrollment portal, plus add new designs, features, and protection.

Name That Image: 7 Examples for Raising Awareness of Accessibility

Dr. Jennifer Culver discusses raising accessibility awareness and about helping instructors "understand the need that all students should be able to understand the content that an image is conveying" at the recent Peralta Equity Conference.

Faculty Senate Recognizes OIT members with Outstanding Staff Award

Faye Walter and Mike Gebreselassie were awarded the Extraordinary Staff Member Award during the Faculty Senate May 2023 meeting.

Power Apps and Academic Advising: Streamlining Processes

Microsoft Power Apps is revolutionizing app development on campus. OIT was able to build Academic Advising a new Degree Planner Issues/Request Tracker in just weeks using the suite.

Soak Up Summer Knowledge with LinkedIn Learning!

Even with a busy summer schedule, LinkedIn Learning can provide you with on-demand, at-you-own-pace courses for all kinds of topics. Here's a sample of some courses to dive into.

OIT’s Accessibility Checks Spur Panopto Improvements

With the recent introduction of the DubBot service, SMU websites have already seen marked improvements in accessibility, content quality, and content accuracy.

Network Maintenance and Scheduled Service Outage for Summer 2023

The University Data Center will perform scheduled maintenance to reboot network switches over the coming months. Access to all servers and services will be intermittent during each maintenance window.

SMU’s MOS Certification Program Reaches 5,000 Certifications

OIT celebrates another significant milestone with our Microsoft Office Specialist (MOS) Certification program—the 5,000 certification. Amanda Maruster completed both her Excel Associate and Excel Expert Certification alongside 310 SMU ITOM students.

Canvas Corner: May 2023 Edition

This month in Canvas Corner, we look at new features and changes to the the Rich Content Editor, SpeedGrader, and Canvas integrations, including Panopto and PlayPosit. All updates will be available in Canvas the 3rd weekend of the month.