Welcome to our eNewsletter, Spotlight on IT, where each month we spotlight a different trend or topic in the information technology world.听 If you would like to receive this publication in your inbox,听
This special edition of Spotlight on IT focuses not on a trend, but on the great work done in our IT department to prepare for the new academic year.
In addition to the services below, we have also published a听听to help students become familiar with the IT services they will come in contact with during their time at 杏吧原创. For a complete list of services, students are encouraged to check out听, a transition guide provided by the Office of the Vice-President (Students and Enrolment).
Service Desk
Last September Stats
It鈥檚 no surprise that September is our busiest time of the year, as is the case for many departments on campus. You could say that our staff have been preparing themselves mentally for the influx of requests. Last September the ITS Service Desk created 3496 tickets with 48% of the requests coming in via email.听 They had a 60% first call resolution rate and our satisfaction survey results reported a 97% satisfaction rate.
Service Desk Bookcamp
Our student Service Desk employees are integral to our service offering as they enable us to听provide听support outside of university business hours 鈥撎� till 10:30 pm Mon-Thurs, till 10 pm Friday, and from 12-8 pm weekends. 听To prepare them for the types of requests they will receive, 16 students attended a three day 鈥榖ootcamp鈥� with听presentation from subject matter experts from across ITS covering everything from passwords to wireless.
Residence Move-In Support
This weekend thousands of students will be moving into residence.听 Housing and Residence Life Services have听streamlined their processes听to ensure a smooth transition for students, and a number of service departments from across campus will be there to help, including our own ITS staff.听 We鈥檒l be there to support students with onsite network (wired and wireless) setup, account access, software access, and hardware support.
Classroom Support
Wireless Screen-Sharing
Following successful pilots in Tory 446/7 and Southam 306, wireless screen-sharing unshackles instructors from the podium, allowing them to roam their lecture room, while transmitting the video of their iPad to the classroom projector. With听Instructional Media Services (IMS)听assuming technical support, another dozen classrooms in Tory are being targeted for updating this fall.
Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI)
Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) provides students with the option to access course-specific software directly from their laptops, which are often used in class with guidance from the instructor.听 VDI was introduced at 杏吧原创听in 2014听and there are now almost 100 classrooms that are VDI-ready. In these classrooms, Wi-Fi capacity is specially engineered to allow every student to open a VDI connection
Free MS Office for Students
Microsoft is offering听students in select educational institutions, including 杏吧原创 University, the MS Office software suite, at no charge while they are at 杏吧原创.听 For information on how to download the software, visit our听MS Office page.
Systems
cuLearn Upgrade
杏吧原创鈥檚 Learning Management System, CuLearn,听will be getting its annual upgrade on Sept 3, going from Moodle version 2.8.7 to version 3.1.1, with听improvements to the gradebook and the overall system performance.听Planning for the upgrade generally utilizes the听, from the Initiation phase to the Closure Phase. Schedules and test plans are developed and actioned upon for respective areas of responsibility by both the听听and ITS. An upgrade of the LMS roughly takes about three months to complete (start to finish).
Windows 10 Deployed to Student Labs
Over 1000 campus lab computers听were updated over the summer with the latest image which includes 64-bit Windows 10 Enterprise, along with roughly听. To ensure software students need for their class work was included, the image was built with feedback from faculty and Computing Support Units (CSUs) across campus.
Next Edition
We will resume our regular format next month with a spotlight on IT security, just in time for Cyber Security Awareness Month