Announcement – Page 133

New IT Training Available: Canvas, Qualtrics, Excel, and More.

IT Training We have added several new IT Training Workshops for the spring term, including new courses in using Canvas, Box, and Qualtrics.

Canvas: An Introduction

This class covers the newly introduced Canvas Learning Management System (LMS) that will be replacing Blackboard. These open sessions will introduce you to the Canvas interface, creating course content, customizing your course’s look and feel, assignment grading, and new features that were not included in Blackboard. Find the full schedule on the IT Training page.

Box: Getting Started

Box This class is a quick introduction to SMU’s new cloud storage system, Box. Learn how to log into Box, add and organize files, install desktop sync software, and share/collaborate files with others. To register, please visit the IT Training page.

Excel@Excel

Excel
This 1 hour hands-on workshop is designed with students in mind. We’ll explore basic workbook management, working with tables and charts, using the basic functions SUM, AVERAGE, COUNT, MAX, and MIN, plus much more. For more information, please visit the IT Training page.

Excel 2013: Understanding Formulas and Pivot Tables

Excel We’ll kick off this workshop by reviewing basic formulas and order of operations. Next, we’ll explore more advanced features such using IF logic, VLOOKUP, creating Pivot Tables, and more. To register, please visit the IT Training page.

Qualtrics: Creating Basic Surveys and Registration Forms

In this introductory session, we’ll learn how to use Qualtrics for event registration and basic surveys. To register, please visit the IT Training page.

Sitecore Training

We are offering several courses in using Sitecore, SMU’s Web Content Management System. In Sitecore: Getting Started, we cover the basics of using Sitecore. This introductory training is for individuals who have never used Sitecore or will be responsible for editing existing content and adding basic pages. In Sitecore: Advanced Topics, we take advantage of HTML & CSS to spice up those pages. New this year is Sitecore: A Q&A. Have a question about Sitecore that has been bugging you? Join our open forum to get your questions answered about using Sitecore. To find out more or to register, please visit the IT Training page.

Sharepoint: Moving Inside.SMU to the Cloud

This session is designed to get you acquainted with the new look and feel of Inside.SMU (SharePoint 2013). We’ll review the basics of working with a team site and will also briefly discuss some of the new features you should expect as we move to the cloud. To register, please visit the IT Training page.

Meet the New IT Training Team

The IT Training Team 2015 was a year of transition for the Training and Communications team. Now that we are fully staffed we wanted to take a moment to introduce ourselves. To get to know us a little better, visit the IT Connect blog.

Meet the New IT Training Team

2015 was a year of transition for OIT’s IT Training & Communication team. Now that we are fully staffed we wanted to take a moment to introduce ourselves. We’re eager to serve you and hope we can meet you in one of our workshops soon!

Laurene Klassen

Laurene Klassen Laurene Klassen, Manager of IT Training & Communication has been with IT for the past seven years. She recently became a Microsoft Certified Trainer and holds her Microsoft Office Specialist Master certification. In addition to Microsoft courses, she often provides instruction for new system rollouts such as Concur and Selectica. In addition, she provides ongoing training for my.SMU.

“One of the things I enjoy most is helping people work smarter and more efficiently. I love learning new technology shortcuts and time savers and enjoy passing those on to our colleagues,” Laurene shared.

Prior to working in IT Training, Laurene worked with in Development and External Affairs. She holds a Bachelor’s of Business Administration from Dallas Baptist University and a Master of Liberal Arts from SMU. Laurene is a native of Massachusetts but is a Texan at heart.

Ian Aberle

Ian Aberle Ian Aberle is an IT Communications Specialist and Trainer for the IT Training & Communication team. Ian is responsible for much of OIT’s digital communications, graphics, and social media. Ian provides various training classes/initiatives with expertise in SMU’s Web Content Management System (Sitecore), web design, SMU’s digital signage solution (Appspace), and various tools in the Adobe Creative Cloud Suite.

“I love helping others to find creative solutions for their needs”, Ian recently commented.

Before joining the OIT IT Training & Communication team last year, Ian served as the Manager of Multimedia & Web Development for Academic Technology Services for over 10 years and managed the students of the SMU STAR Program since 2001. During that time, Ian assisted faculty and staff with digital media, blogs, podcasting, and other Web 2.0 technologies. He also provides training and guidance with software and technologies, such as the Adobe Creative Suite and Apple Final Cut Studio. These skills have made a wonderful addition to the OIT Communications Team.

In his free time, Ian likes to spend time taking photos and road trips with family. You can see the outcomes of both on his site at ianaberle.com.

Zach Peterson

Zach Peterson, who has worked for the Help Desk since 2012, has recently transitioned to the IT Training & Communication team as a Training Specialist!

You may have spoken to Zach by calling the OIT Help Desk. Now, he will begin teaching several courses on Box, Sitecore, Qualtrics, and other services as we kick off our 2016 training sessions. He’s already jumped in with both feet by launching our Canvas training and compiling documentation and tutorials on various applications.

Zach commented, “I’m really excited to be starting this new position where I can continue doing what I love: teaching people how to use all of the amazing IT resources SMU provides. Plus, I look forward to meeting the people I’ve spoken on the phone with in person!”

Before working at SMU, Zach worked for the University of North Texas on both their Denton and Dallas campuses in both technical and customer support positions. He also has K-12 IT experience from his time at Northwest ISD near Fort Worth. He holds a Bachelor’s degree in Radio, Television & Film from UNT and is currently studying towards a Master of Liberal Studies degree here at SMU. He grew up in Valley View, Texas.

Lynda

Lynda.com is one of the newest members of the IT training team. Lynda.com brings a wealth of knowledge and experience from hundreds of accomplished teachers and recognized industry experts to us through lyndaCampus. lyndaCampus provided thousands of hours of training to institutions around the world, including more than half of the Fortune 50 companies, all branches of the U.S. military, and 31 state governments. Through the lyndaCampus website, available at smu.edu/Lynda, you can access a vast online library of instructional videos covering the latest software, creative, and business skills – day or night.

Photos © Hillsman Stuart Jackson/SMU. Used with permission.

Box.SMU is Now Available

The holidays may be over, but we have one more “Box” for you to open.

We are proud to announce the availability of Box.SMU. Box is a cloud-based storage and collaboration service for SMU faculty, staff and students. Files can be securely stored and easily accessed within Box from most devices. Share large files securely with anyone – even if they are not SMU employees or students. View and comment on any kind of document, and connect with coworkers – no matter what device they use

Benefits of Box

Access files wherever you have an internet connection
View and sync files from most devices
Store your files securely with 256-bit multi-layered encryption
Unlimited storage quota
Upload files with a maximum size limit of 5 GB per file
Full text search within documents
Collaborate on documents with colleagues both inside and outside the University

Getting started

Go to box.smu.edu to log in. All active SMU faculty, staff, and students have access to Box.
Click the “Box Login” button to access Box. At the welcome screen, click the “CONTINUE” button to log in using Single Sign-On.
- If you are currently logged into another system using Single Sign-On, you will be directed to your online storage space in Box.
- If you are not logged in to a system using Single Sign-On, login with your SMU ID and your SMU Password. You will then be directed to your online storage space in Box.
Enjoy your new storage space.

Access Your Content

You can upload content easily to Box using your web browser. Share your content with your colleagues or outside of your company using Box‘s two ways of sharing. You can even access your files with your mobile device with the Box app.

Departmental Storage

While Box is an enterprise storage solution for SMU and is the intended replacement for Locker.SMU, we do not recommend migrating department files to the service at this time. Box is launching as an individual online storage space for faculty, staff, and students. Later this spring, we will provide Box storage for departments. Files commonly stored on the network drives, Locker.SMU, or Inside.SMU for departmental sharing and documents related to HIPAA and PII should remain on those services until the announcement of Box for departmental use.

Please contact IT Help Desk at 21-768-HELP if you have any questions or issues, or visit the Box service page at www.smu.edu/OIT/Services/Box.

Migrating Your Personal Box Account into an Enterprise Account

Current Box users authenticating with their SMU.edu email account will be converted to a managed Box account under Southern Methodist University on January 11, 2016.

The change to an Enterprise account under SMU will not cause any data loss to your files, alter your permission settings, or affect the folder structure of your content. However, it will give you access to several important features that are not available to personal Box account users:

Upload file size limit increased from 250MB to 5GB
Larger storage quota
Password protected sharing
Faster uploads
Detailed version history

If you would like to join SMU’s Box account as a managed user and merge your personal data, take no action.

If you currently have any content within your Box account that you would like to remove or transfer to a personal Box account, please do so by January 11, 2016.

Options to remove or transfer to a personal Box account:

Change your current Box primary email address from the SMU.edu email address to a personal address. SMU domain email address will no longer be available for use with personal Box accounts. Instructions can be found at support.box.com/entries/20359433
Open a new personal Box account with a personal email address and invite this personal account into your SMU.edu account folders that you’d like to migrate. Promote your personal Box account to be the folder owner and remove your SMU.edu as a collaborator from the folder(s)
Use a third party service such as Mover, available at mybackupbox.com, to transfer content from Box account to another

Please contact IT Help Desk at 21-768-HELP if you have any questions or issues, or visit the Box Project Page at smu.edu/oit/projects/box.

Wireless Outage Update – Resolved

Update: The wireless issue has been resolved. The root cause has been identified and a fix implemented. We will continue to monitor connections to ensure all service is restored. At this point, we are confident that wireless service is stable.

We apologize for the inconvenience.

Continue reading Wireless Outage Update – Resolved