OIT Technology News: Spring 2018 Summary

We recently surveyed over 1,900 undergraduate and graduate students at SMU regarding technology use and support in order to assess and improve existing OIT services and discover new and innovative areas to pursue.

CylancePROTECT was introduced to the SMU campus as a way to improve securing systems against viruses and malware. As the University became regularly inundated with malicious files, employees could not be expected to keep up with the volume and complexity of these new threats. As the threats evolved, so did our method of protection – machine learning.

In order to adhere to SMU policy 12.3 and ensure employee files are protected and recoverable in the event of a hardware failure, CrashPlan Pro backup software will now be deployed automatically to faculty and staff computers.

“In addition to the focus on data science and data analytics, interdisciplinary collaboration is also vital to success in undergraduate education.” SMU’s CIO Michael Hites on Preparing for a Data Science Future in March’s CIO Review.

Canvas Corner: March 2018 Edition

This month in Canvas Corner, we cover general updates to announcements, new section-specific announcements, comments on announcements, and updates to Canvas Mobile.

SMU Staff Engage in Microsoft Office Certification Pilot Program 

Over 2 dozen Microsoft Office certifications have been issued to staff since the program’s launch in September. See what SMU Staff are saying about how the Microsoft Certification program is benefiting them.

Each year, hundreds of computer orders are processed requiring coordination between Purchasing and OIT. In reviewing the ordering experience, we decided to make some major improvements. Next month, we will launch a new site for technology purchases allowing you to order computers, tablets, monitors, and accessories for departmental purchases.

While Windows 10 is the standard OS for faculty and staff computers, we have kept Windows 7 as the standard throughout all labs and classrooms to provide a consistent experience for faculty and students in these spaces. Over this summer, all managed computer labs and classroom instructor stations will be upgraded to the latest OS.

When some Physics researchers needed a few dedicated computers for running experiments, they reached out to OIT Customer Service Director Rachel Mulry to see if she could help. Within 24 hours, several laptops were found that could be donated to meet the needs of the ATLAS experiment.

We have several options for videoconferencing on campus. In this video, see how you can easily take advantage of videoconferencing in your area.