Skip to main content

UITS Monitor: Keep teaching, keep learning, keep working

Monitor newsletter Mar 25, 2020
Keep teaching, keep learning, keep working. Check university announcements for latest coronavirus updates at coronavirus.iu.edu.

UITS news for March 25, 2020

Remote instruction begins March 30 through end of semester

IU’s Keep Teaching and Keep Learning websites enable switch to remote classes in response to COVID-19.

Following an extended two-week spring break (March 15-29), students on all IU campuses begin remote classes March 30. Instruction will remain online through the end of the spring 2020 semester. Faculty are using the Keep Teaching website to prepare for the switch to remote instruction. New resources, including recorded and upcoming webinars, are continuously updated, along with a FAQ and other information specific to COVID-19.

A new site, Keep Learning, is also up and running and includes tips for remote learning. The site includes tips for communicating, getting organized, managing your environment, finding course materials, collaborating in groups, and more.

Check university announcements for the latest updates

IU provides free Wi-Fi access in response to COVID-19 crisis

Parking lot hot spots, available to IU community and the general public, enable social distancing.

IU is providing free, 24-hour, high-speed Wi-Fi access to IU students, faculty, and staff, as well as the general public across the state who may not have internet connectivity due to COVID-19-related library and business closures.

UITS has set up parking lot hot spots at IU campuses across the state, enabling users to maintain social distancing while accessing the full range of internet usage from their cars. Once in range, IU-affiliated individuals can access free Wi-Fi via eduroam and IU Secure, while others can use the IU Guest network.

Here are the IU Wi-Fi “lot hot spot” locations across Indiana. All will have directional signage to help people find their connection:

  • IU Bloomington: Orange lot between Memorial Stadium and Assembly Hall
  • IUPUI: Lot 92, N. Blackford Street
  • IU East: Tom Raper Hall parking lot
  • IU Kokomo: Main Building, Havens lot next to the Well House
  • IU Northwest: Moraine Student Center, parking lot 2
  • IU South Bend: Student Activities Center parking lot
  • IU Southeast: Knobview Hall, Hickory parking lot 
  • IUPU Columbus: Campus Center, Arnold Street parking lot

For health and safety as well as to provide the service to all who need it, IU asks that people using Wi-Fi “lot hot spots” stay inside their cars and remain onsite only as long as necessary. 

IU news release on statewide IU campus Wi-Fi access

CrimsonCard and Support Center services modified during coronavirus outbreak

Support Center services continue 24/7; CrimsonCard support by appointment only.

Support Center walk-in hours have been revised during the extended spring break and the switch to remote teaching, but phone, email, and chat hours continue 24/7.

All CrimsonCard offices are now operating online and by appointment only.

IU Bloomington and IUPUI faculty, staff, and students: If you are an essential IU employee who needs a new CrimsonCard ID in order to fulfill your job duties, or a student who needs to access meal points/plans or CrimsonCash, please call 317-274-0400 or email crimsoncard@iu.edu. CrimsonCard staffers will be glad to schedule a time to meet you to issue a temporary card.

Updated CrimsonCard and Support Center hours

IU staff work from home for the foreseeable future

UITS ramps up to support stay-at-home order to work from home.

Some 20,000 IU faculty and staff are working from home in response to Gov. Eric Holcomb’s stay-at-home order due to the coronavirus. With an IU account, they have access to numerous tools, including Zoom videoconferencing and email.

IU technology leaders conduct annual exercises to prepare for pandemics and natural disasters, such as floods and tornadoes, and have used those drills to plan for the network bandwidth required during emergencies.

If you have questions or problems to troubleshoot:

For more on how IU is meeting remote working needs

Important tips about using IU’s VPN

Use IU’s virtual private network only when needed.

Unless you need to connect to a service that requires virtual private networking (VPN), you don’t need to use it for most IU services like email or external systems like Canvas and Zoom.

Use VPN when you need to access on-campus resources like shared network drives or the IU Web Content Management Service. Also use VPN to encrypt data when you are using unknown or untrusted public Wi-Fi to transmit confidential financial data or data protected by federal laws such as FERPA  and HIPAA data.

As of March 24, IU employs split VPN tunneling for most users. With split tunneling, only network traffic to IU resources is routed through the encrypted VPN. This allows for more concurrent users and provides a better experience when connecting to external systems since it doesn’t route through IU’s network first.

Note: Whether you’re connected to the VPN or not, you can access non-IU databases and journals via the IU Libraries website (for example, JSTOR ).

For more information, see VPN split tunneling at IU

Some things to keep in mind about VPN:

  • You cannot use VPN while on campus
  • Use VPN only when:
    • You are trying to access a service you can’t get to another way like a shared network drive
    • You do not trust the internet connection you are using
    • Your IT Pro has told you that you need to use VPN
  • Generally, you won’t need to use VPN if you are a student. You don’t need a VPN connection to:
    • Use learning tools, such as Canvas, Zoom, or Kaltura
    • Read your IU email over the web
    • Work with your files in Box

Keep working during prolonged campus or building closures

UITS’ Keep Teaching website a worldwide resource

Keep Teaching site was set up during 2009 H1N1 flu virus.

IU’s Keep Teaching website is helping numerous universities make a shift to remote teaching. Originally designed as a series of Knowledge Base documents during the 2009 H1N1 flu virus, the Keep Teaching site was later developed to help faculty prepare for remote teaching during campus closures and emergencies just like the coronavirus.

As described in Inside Higher Ed’s article, “Keep Calm and Keep Teaching,” IU has posted generous and clear guidelines for how to reuse the website materials. According to the IT News article, “When the class must go on,” colleges like the University of Maryland, Stanford University, and Pepperdine University were reaching out to use the Keep Teaching resources even before COVID-19.

For more on Keep Teaching

More IT News and Events

More stories