It’s time to get ready for the start of a new academic year!

It’s hard to believe that another summer is quickly coming to an end and our campuses will soon be bustling with students again!  OIT has been busy this summer refreshing a lot of the technology around the campus to make sure the entire community starts off with their best foot forward.

While we have done internal testing and are confident that all systems are performing as expected, we are encouraging faculty to test the classrooms and systems that you will be using to ensure that everything is working as expected.  Should you encounter an issue, please contact the IT HelpDesk so that our staff can address them before the start of classes.

Please keep in mind that not all assigned teaching spaces include desktop computers, so if you are using a space that requires you to bring your own device, please do so during this testing window to make sure that you have all of the necessary cables and adapters to work properly.

Additionally, faculty that are using spaces that have microphone systems for recording or online class sessions will need to stop by the IT HelpDesk’s new location on the 2nd floor of the ERC to check out your belt pack and lavalier microphones. Keep in mind: in order to initiate recordings, faculty must first request the Echo capture schedule for your classes through Faculty Center in myCU

Also, today marks the two-week mark, so instructors teaching in the Fall and Fall Quarter 2019 terms should change the visibility of their Moodle courses to ‘Show’ status. Here’s how.  By showing your course in Moodle, students are able to confirm enrollments are correct and can access any pre-term information you wish to convey.  Instructors have the option of showing only portions of course content that are ready while leaving the remaining sections hidden until ready.

And lastly, as a reminder, all classroom and lab computers could potentially receive multiple updates through the semester, so we highly recommend that no critical data be stored directly on a classroom or lab PC as it may get lost during an update or redeployment.  Instead, save files to either a network shared drive or to a portable USB/thumb drive.

What’s New?

Here are some of the things that we have done in the academic spaces.

  • Edge network upgrades— the wired network infrastructure in all academic buildings has been upgraded to gigabit speeds, to provide reliable, high-speed access to networked resources.
  • Lab and Classroom Computers— all lecture hall and computer lab PCs have been re-imaged to include up-to-date software
  • Science Center Classroom Upgrades— eight classrooms in the Science Center have been upgraded with new podiums, projectors, Wacom tablets, microphone systems, webcams, and speakers.  After the upgrades, these classrooms join the growing list of spaces that fully support Echo Classroom Capture—Science Center 166, 340, 342, 344, 346, 348, 354, and 356.
  • Updated many Windows 7 machines to Windows 10.  A reminder that all Windows 7 machines must be either updated to Windows 10, replaced, or securely isolated on the network by 1/14/2020 as the operating system reaches “End of Life” and will not be supported by Microsoft after that time.
  • Digital Signage—a number of the digital sign installations around campus have been refreshed with new displays. Remember, you can add content to the digital signage system by following these instructions.

Please feel free to contact us for additional information or assistance.

Sincerely,
IT HelpDesk
Clarkson University

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