Faculty and Staff Tech Update 12/08: Back in the Classroom Bootcamp, New Tech Training Offerings, and More

Colleagues,

As the calendar moves through December, below please find the final Tech Update of 2020. Tech Update started earlier this year, as a way to share relevant and timely resources with you as teaching, research, and business operations moved online only. Looking ahead to the winter/spring terms, be sure to check out the Back to the Classroom Bootcamp and the changes coming to SharePoint.

For any technical assistance, the IT Service Desk will continue to be available 24 hours a day, all throughout the holidays and the intersession term, which goes from December 28, 2020 – to January 15, 2021. Please reach out through the Tech Service Portal, by email at help@northeastern.edu, or by phone at 617.373.HELP [4357].

Best wishes for a successful end of term, and a restful winter break.

– M

Marcus P. Robinson,
Associate Vice President, Engagement and Experience

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Tech Update: December 8, 2020

Attend a Back in the Classroom Bootcamp

Faculty planning to teach a Hybrid NUflex course in the classroom during the winter or spring terms are highly encouraged to register for and attend one of the three-hour Back in the Classroom Bootcamps. Due to the workshop’s hands-on nature and participants’ direct interaction with the classroom equipment to simulate the teaching experience, this event will be held in person. For the benefit of both the attendees and the community, all university safety protocols and testing requirements apply. You will need to get a COVID-19 test on the day of the workshop if you have been primarily remote. Each session has a maximum of 20 attendees to allow for healthy distancing.

Learn more and register for a Back in the Classroom Bootcamp>>

A number of virtual resources are also available at training.its.northeastern.edu, such as a NUflex classroom demo, classroom technology consultations, and the online, self-paced course on teaching a NUflex course.

Find What You Need in SharePoint

Northeastern’s SharePoint landing page will get a new look on Dec. 15, bringing with it new, modern SharePoint functionality. In the meantime, follow these quick tips to find the SharePoint resources you need today and to help you leverage the new SharePoint:

• On every SharePoint site at Northeastern, the Search bar at the top can help you find sites, files, and other resources within that site. Once you’ve entered a search term and hit Return, you can narrow your search further—to Word documents created in the last month, for example.
• When you find a SharePoint site you know you’ll want to revisit, click the star icon at the top right to “follow” that site. Doing so will make it easier to find again.

Learn How to Use Microsoft Bookings

Microsoft Bookings is a calendar management tool that enables easy requests for meeting times and also provides access to vendors or others external to the university wishing to book time slots with individuals or groups. It allows integration with Outlook calendars and can be used to automatically set up Microsoft Teams meetings. Faculty, staff, and students can attend virtual training sessions that focus on setting up a personalized Bookings page and provide an overview of available features.

Register here

Teams for Calling has Arrived at Northeastern

As part of the unified communications initiative announced last fall, phone lines across the university have been migrating to Microsoft Teams to leverage its calling and mobile-first features. Over 75% of university phone users have been successfully migrated and over 4,200 phone lines are currently on Teams calls.

Haven’t moved to Teams for calling yet? All remaining lines are scheduled to transition in early 2021. Stay tuned early next year! In the meantime, visit teams.northeastern.edu/calls/ for more information about calling in Teams and what you can expect during migration.

Strike Out Bad Passwords

Is your Northeastern password RedSox#1? That’s a popular (and therefore easily guessed) password in the Boston area. Protect your personal information by using a password that’s longer and more difficult to guess. Choose something only you would know—your friends and colleagues probably know you’re a Big Papi fan.

How to create a good password

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