Update: 3/25 LSA Technology Services Support, Cathleen Curley

From: Cathleen Curley

Date: Wed, Mar 25, 2020 at 5:13 PM

Subject: Update: 3/25 LSA Technology Services Support

Hello Everyone,

Thank you for working with us in these challenging and quickly changing times!  We have a few things to share based on recent announcements. Here are updates to our services as of Wednesday, March 25th.

Canvas quizzes:

Learn how to use Canvas Quizzes. This workshop includes creating different question types, creating question banks, building clickable rubrics, randomizing questions, and editing testing options. Join us virtually from 3–4pm tomorrow Thu Mar 26. Register at http://myumi.ch/pdkoy

Students in need of internet access:  

We have a listing of national internet providers with free or significantly discounted access.  There are also MCard discounts that you can get with various cell phone providers.  See more at the University of Michigan Finance Page.

Emergency computer repairs:

We have changed our procedures to further support physical distancing in rare cases where we need to replace computers over the next three weeks.  If this is required, we will schedule a day that you can pick up a different computer, using a secure access code to our clean room.  You will not need to interact with our team in person, and we will guide you through the process using our remote channels.  Campus Tech Repair is closed for the next three weeks. We will do our best to provide you with a comparable machine in the event you have a hardware failure and work on repairs when it is safe to do so.

Purchasing & receiving new technology equipment:

We are putting a hold on providing new machines that may have been ordered for you as part of the staff and faculty upgrade process.  We will work with you to enable you to work remotely through your existing UM provided equipment or your personal equipment until it's safe to provide new equipment.  We are continuing to process computer orders for faculty and staff upgrades and new faculty and staff.  However, we are working with our suppliers to hold equipment until we are able to safely come to campus and set up machines for uses within our University and LSA environment.   Thank you for your patience and understanding as we support the health and safety of our staff. 

Home delivery for technology accessories: 

LSA Procurement can now place orders for home delivery of accessories from select preferred vendors including B&H Photo, CDW-G, and Apple. Please place orders through OPS or via email to lsa-procurement-staff@umich.edu and make sure you have your department's approval for the equipment purchase.  Please continue to use our standard process for working with LSA Technology Services on computer specification and orders.

Remote Tool Recap:

The four tools that UofM has license for to allow faculty to hold classes live (synchronously) in a virtual/online environment and that are free to all faculty, staff, and students, are:

• Bluejeans Meeting: best for small-to-medium-sized discussion classes, focused on face-to-face, or more managed for 40-80-seat engaged learning classes using the Breakout Room feature.
  • Teaching with Bluejeans
• Bluejeans Event: best for large classes (100+), focused on lecture.
• Canvas Conferences: best for small-medium classes, focused on materials; advantage comes from having everything integrated together in a single Canvas environment.  Please note that we are aware of issues with this feature being throttled and are working on possible resolutions. Thanks for your patience.
  • Teaching with Conferences
• Zoom: cloud video conferencing, for both small and large online meetings, group messaging and webinars. 
  • Getting Started with Zoom (Faculty, Staff and Students)
  • U-M Zoom training and webinar recordings
• Google Hangouts Meet:  great as a backup option, temporary capacity to 250, recording, and broadcasting / streaming up to 100k users until 07/01/2020. See:
  • Livestream a video call (up to 100,000 viewers)
  • Record a video call
  • Hangouts Meet training and help
  • Hangouts Meet cheat sheet

All of these tools are different from Lecture Capture and Kaltura Capture or other screencast methods (which are all for asynchronous viewing).  For these, email lsa-iss-ltc@umich.edu for help and see our training at: https://ttc.iss.lsa.umich.edu/ttc/sessions/tag/lsa-remote-teaching/.

Can’t find a webcam or get to us to borrow one?  Do you have a Canon DSLR Camera? You can use it  as a Webcam or Live Streaming Tool in windows. 

Continued “Virtual face to face”:

Remember to reach out via email at lsait@umich.edu or by calling 734.615.0100 for the fastest service. Starting here will get you the first available staff member.  If you email, be sure to include important details like location, nature of the problem, any deadline you have and how best to reach you. Staff is available to help and communicate with you via email, hangouts, or "virtual face to face" conversations. We are happy to set up a Google Hangouts, BlueJeans, or Zoom meeting. These "virtual face to face" conversations are not an imposition. We expect video connection will be a regular part of our communication with you and may help us work with you more efficiently. 

Have a great rest of the week, be well and be safe.

Cathy

Cathleen A. Curley - Chief Information Officer