Join Us via Zoom for Fall 2020 IT Training Courses

For this fall, we are offering our usual IT training courses via Zoom webinar. From working on web pages in Sitecore to producing videos quickly with Adobe Premiere Rush, we invite you to take advantage of these upcoming sessions!

Adobe Acrobat Basics

September 28, 1 P.M.: Adobe Acrobat is installed on almost every computer on campus, and you probably use it to view PDF files every day. Have you ever wanted to know more about what Acrobat can do? In this one-hour hands-on course, you’ll learn more about creating PDF files, editing and formatting files, publication methods, and the basics on creating your own online forms. We will also cover why PDFs are a useful file format and different use cases for them.

Collaborating with Microsoft Teams

October 14, 10 A.M.: Microsoft Teams is a next-generation communications and collaboration platform that brings the ease of Skype for Business together with the power and versatility of chat apps like Slack and HipChat. In this course we will go over the foundations of working with teams, channels, chat, file sharing, applications, and more.

Video Editing with Adobe Rush

October 27, 1 P.M.: Learn about Adobe Premiere Rush, the easy-to-use, all-in-one video editing software for online video creators. Join us as we discover the creative possibilities Adobe Premiere Rush can bring.

Sitecore Basics for Content Editors

November 16, 2 P.M.: In this course, we will look at the basics of working within web pages using SMU’s Content Management System, Sitecore. Learn how to work with text, links, images, and publication options.

And as always, stop by smu.edu/ittraining for additional information, including how to access LinkedIn Learning for any time, on-demand training courses!

Academic Technology Webinar Sessions Now On Demand!

During the spring and summer, OIT’s Academic Technology Service Directors worked with faculty and staff to provide massive amounts of online training webinars to prepare for the unprecedented new styles of teaching and learning now in use on campus. If you missed any of these great sessions, we have them available for you to view anytime!

Spring 2020: Remote Learning: From Survival to Exceptional

Fall 2020: Advancements in EdTech Conference – in partnership with the Teaching Effectiveness Symposium

Team Up! Microsoft Teams Makes it Simple.

Microsoft Teams Logo without TextLast spring, we rolled out Microsoft Teams to campus. If you haven’t had a chance to check it out, now is a great time under our new “essential personnel only” mandates for SMU.

Microsoft Teams provides individuals a customizable workspace with access to many of your essential items in one interface. MS Teams can be used to create a collaborative team workspace for workgroups to organize projects, host different channels for various topics, chat with colleagues or classmates, and even easily retrieve documents filed in One Drive or Box without ever leaving the Teams application! Continue reading Team Up! Microsoft Teams Makes it Simple.

Keep Teaching: New Faculty Support & Collaboration Forum

365_Keep Teaching ChannelIn order to better facilitate communications and collaborations with faculty as SMU’s goes online with instruction as of Monday, March 23, 2020, OIT – in partnership with the CTE and other campus academic support units – has created a Keep Teaching Microsoft Teams site.  Continue reading Keep Teaching: New Faculty Support & Collaboration Forum

MS Teams Now Open to All!

Microsoft Teams LogoThe month of April proved to be a successful one for our Microsoft Teams rollout, with the early adopter program helping to tie up loose ends. Now, we are opening up Teams to the entire SMU community!

SMU faculty, staff, and students can now head to smu.edu/teams, click the Login button, and use their SMU e-mail and password to access this new service for cloud-based team collaboration. Once you’ve accessed Teams, you can create your own teams and invite individuals to chat and collaborate on projects. Plus, as an educational institution, we also get additional features tailored to academic uses.

Microsoft Teams Logo without Text

If you’re ready to learn more about Microsoft Teams, we have some resources for you. In addition to Microsoft’s ten-part training video series, there are several courses available in LinkedIn Learning that you can access.

Microsoft Teams Update: Early Adoption Available April 15

Microsoft Teams LogoWe are one step closer to deploying Microsoft Teams to everyone on campus! Before that day comes, we are looking for a select few who are interested in being the first to try out Teams by joining our early adopter program. If you haven’t heard about Teams, it’s Microsoft’s foray into cloud-based team collaboration. It’s been compared to the Slack collaboration platform, but it is also tightly integrated into the Office 365 ecosystem found at SMU. Continue reading Microsoft Teams Update: Early Adoption Available April 15