INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY SERVICES IT UPDATE: WHILE YOU WERE OUT

INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY SERVICES IT UPDATE: WHILE YOU WERE OUT AUGUST 2015

1 Information Technology Services was hard at work over the summer to serve faculty, staff and students better. Here are some of the things that have changed and improved since May 1, and some that will go live this fall. COMING SOON: GradeSync and ecampus can eliminate need to hand-key grades into STAR Submitting grades is about to get faster! A new GradeSync feature in ecampus is now being piloted and will be rolled out wider this fall, eliminating the need to hand-key grades into STAR. Instead, grades stored in ecampus can be transmitted to STAR with a few simple clicks using your own grade book and grading methods. And you will still have the flexibility to override a grade in the grade book if you grade on a curve, a student is at a borderline grade, etc. Once transmitted, those grades will be visible to students in the new WVU portal replacing MIX. COMING SOON: KC Blue sheet to save researchers time on WVU+kc submissions WVU+kc (Kuali Coeus) will feature a new tool that

2 streamlines the approvals and submission process, automatically routing proposals to the Office of Sponsored Programs as soon as a dean or designated approver has signed off. KC Blue Sheet replaces Electronic Blue Sheet (EBS) and eliminates not only the need to repeatedly check for approvals, but also the extra step of submitting the document. Users can watch this training video: http:// mapfiles.wvu.edu/captivate/kcpropdev/ COMING SOON: Powerful new tool will help advisors and faculty improve student success The Student Success Collaborative, or SSC Campus, is a powerful, predictive new tool that sifts through concrete data in seconds, giving advisors and instructors information that may help students stay in school, succeed and graduate. SSC Campus uses analytics to identify at-risk students and provides opportunities to create markers and intervention points for those who might not traditionally show up as at risk. The tool can also help advisors identify students who have average to good grades, but who might still benefit from additional support. WVU is one of the pilot testers of this new software.

3 COMING SOON: New WVU Portal replacing MIX to give students single gateway for multiple tasks The student portal long known as MIX (Mountaineer Information Xpress) is getting a new look and will soon give students a single gateway for: registering for and scheduling classes; paying bills; checking email; and looking at course content in ecampus, including announcements and grades if entered by instructors. Pages are mobile-friendly, streamlined and personalized by categories such as admitted student, main campus student or regional campus student. For faculty, the new portal offers seamless integration with ecampus, and makes quizzes and assignments more visible. Faculty can help students make the most of the new MIX by taking advantage of its integration with STAR, Banner and ecampus. COMING SOON: New course-evaluation tool selected, will be rolled out in pilot this fall A new tool called BLUE has been selected to replace SEI/eSEI (electronic Student Evaluation of Instruction) after thorough review. Members of the Faculty Senate and its Teaching and Assessment Committee, staff from the Provost s Office and IT staff who will be integrating the system all participated in demonstrations, discussions and Q&A sessions to identify a replacement for esei.

4 esei was developed in-house at a time when few commercial packages were available. The lead developers who knew the system design and provided technical support no longer work at WVU, and a number of commercial products now offer more functionality and user-friendly interfaces. After receiving strong feedback for BLUE, ITS worked over the summer with Procurement to negotiate the software purchase. BLUE is expected to be piloted in a limited number of courses during the fall 2015 semester, with a broader rollout in spring 2016. ITS pilot-testing walkup support at Mountainlair through Sept 25 ITS employees will offer 15- to 20-minute consultations at the Mountainlair in a six-week pilot that runs through Friday, Sept. 25. The goal is to enhance customer service, increase the use of ITS resources and build a culture of self-help by showing customers how to fix problems and find online resources. ITS Connect staff will be available to the left of the Information Desk from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday. ITS will review the use and effectiveness of ITS Connect to determine whether the pilot should be extended beyond September.

5 New self-help features available online through ITS service and support Faculty, staff and students can now use a more intuitive, userfriendly and attractive self-service system for engaging help at it.wvu.edu/help. The long-term goal of this system is to resolve more problems on first contact and to empower more users with the information they need to help themselves. ITS replaced Service Desk Express because it was no longer being updated or supported by the vendor who created it. The new tool offers several new features, including an IT Service Catalog and a new ticketing system for tracking requests and issues. It also has a self-help tool called a Knowledge Base to help users answer How do I? questions. The Service Catalog and Knowledge Base will be continually expanded and refined and. Feedback about the most useful subjects will help ensure it is providing relevant and helpful information. Login.wvu.edu is new site for WVU Identity & Access Management services To change passwords or check the status of the personal credentials you use to access WVU systems and services, students, faculty and staff should now go to Login.wvu.edu, previously known as MyID. MyID.wvu.edu will automatically redirect users to the correct

6 location, so students, faculty and most WVU staff do not need to take any action. ITS made this change to avert a possible trademark issue with the previous URL. Please direct any questions to ITSHelp@mail.wvu.edu. ITS suspends Mathematica site license, will work with colleges to secure rates ITS has suspended the WVU Mathematica site license as of Aug. 1. For this academic year, ITS has purchased the necessary copies to cover the small number of uses. License orders have been extremely low for several years, recovering just 2 percent of the $32,700 site license cost for this coming year. Based on feedback from the Academic IT Leaders, demand continues to fall for this product. ITS will continue to work with departments to secure negotiated rates necessary to cover individual unit needs. The most significant negative impact of discontinuing our site license is that students have been able to use a personal license without charge. Students can continue to use Mathematica for free in the Evansdale and main campus libraries. Those who prefer to purchase it can do so directly from the manufacturer, with options starting as low as $10 per month for personal machines.

7 MATLAB now free for all WVU students; older versions should be replaced ITS has negotiated a new contract with MATLAB that includes an expanded set of Add-Ons and Toolboxes. Student can now visit SLIC.wvu.edu, the Software Licensing Information Center, to install an identical version of the campus software, including all add-ons, on their personal computers at no charge. Students who have purchased MATLAB in previous semesters should now download the free version to ensure they have the full set of Add-Ons and Toolboxes. To learn more about MATLAB and Cody Coursework, or to watch tutorials and play a programming game, go to: https://it.wvu.edu/services/slic/ softwarelist/matlab. Save time and travel by using tools for remote meetings Faculty, staff and students have several tools that can help save time and eliminate the need for cross-campus travel for conferences and meetings. In addition to telephone conferencing, WVU offers Skype for Business and Collaborate. Skype for Business is a real-time communications environment that can be accessed through a browser-based web application or installed on computers, smartphones and tablets.

8 Office 2016 for Mac now available for download on personal devices Microsoft Office 2016 for Mac is now available for students, faculty and staff to install on personally owned devices through the Office 365 web application. All employees and students have five free license downloads for personal use, and this download will count as one of those. The entire suite of Office products is included Word, PowerPoint, Excel, OneNote and Outlook. Users must have OSX 10.10 Yosemite to download Office 2016. Older operating systems must use Office 2011. For personal use download instructions, go to: http://it.wvu.edu/services/office365/proplus/mac/office2016 WVU employees should NOT download Windows 10 on work machines Although Windows 10 is now commercially available, WVU faculty, staff and students should NOT download the operating system onto University-owned machines until further notice. Windows 10 is NOT supported by our virus protection product, Kaspersky Antivirus. Browser changes in Windows 10 also could contribute to compatibility problems with various WVU applications, such as MyAccess, ecampus and other critical tools.

9 The personal-use version of Kaspersky is compatible with Windows 10 for home use only. Users who download the new operating system on personal machines should be aware that they may encounter compatibility issues with WVU applications. MyID/Login usernames will be configured differently for new employees, students New employees and students claiming their identification MyID/Login credentials will be assigned a new username format incorporating a unique numerical identifier. Typically, usernames will be the initials of the user s first, middle and last name, with a four-digit suffix. John Paul Smith, for example, could become JPS1001, and Samantha Braden could be SB0020. Email addresses will also be changing for new users only. In most cases, the email address will be the user s preferred first name and last name, such as John.Smith@mail.wvu.edu. However, sequential numbers will be added for people who share the same name, so users with common names could have addresses such as John.Smith2@mail.wvu.edu or John.Smith7@mail.wvu.edu. Students will continue to have @mix.wvu.edu addresses. New locations added as MyPrinting service continues to expand ITS has been expanding the number of MyPrinting stations over the summer, and users can now find a map at

10 http://it.wvu.edu/services/paid-printing. This is a a web-based service that lets students, faculty and staff use their Mountaineer ID cards to print documents at machines in buildings around the Morgantown campuses. To use MyPrinting, you will need a supported web browser, a WVU email account, a valid Mountaineer Card or Value Card with a Mountie Bounty balance, and an active MyID/Login account. WVU may reach more prospective students through Common Application Prospective first-year students can now apply to WVU by filling out the same online application form used by more than 500 public and private institutions worldwide, a move that could help the University grow enrollment and broaden its geographic reach. ITS worked Admissions on the project, and WVU joined the Common Application on Aug. 1. Domestic and international first-time freshmen can apply using WVU s online undergraduate application at http:// admissions.wvu.edu/ or directly through the Common Application, http://commonapp.org/. Transfer students and students at WVU s regional campuses, Potomac State College in Keyser and the WVU Institute of Technology at Montgomery, cannot use the Common App.