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UITS Monitor: Think outside box. Find your drive.

Monitor newsletter Apr 22, 2020
Fill out the Find your drive survey by May 22. Think outside box. Find your drive.

UITS news for April 22, 2020

Think outside Box. Find your drive.

We’ve hired movers, tell us where to put your data.

IU is preparing to retire Box cloud storage, and we’ve hired movers. A company called SkySync will migrate your data currently stored in Box to Microsoft OneDrive or Google Drive.

If you’d like to choose where we put your data, fill out this “Find your drive” survey by May 22. If you don’t choose, the default location for your data will be Microsoft OneDrive. We will send you an email one week prior to your data being migrated so that you will know when to expect the change. You will still be able to access your files and links in Box through March 2021. (They will be read-only, however.)

To get ready for the move:

  • Delete unnecessary files and remove yourself from files or folders that you don’t want or need.
  • Box comments will not be migrated to either Microsoft OneDrive or Google Drive. If any of these comments are necessary for your records or business process, please cut and paste the information into the file itself or a separate document of your choice (Notepad, Word, Google docs, etc.).
  • Faculty and staff: Institutional and departmental data, including any information that may be needed by IU after you transfer positions or leave the university should be moved into Box folders owned by a non-personal account. This will ensure continuity for your colleagues and the university. Contact your IT Pro for help. If you don’t have an IT Pro, please contact the UITS Support Center.
  • Be on the lookout for additional information about how data stored in Box accounts owned by non-personal accounts will be migrated.

For more information

A baker’s dozen cybersecurity tips for working, teaching, and learning remotely

The good news is you don’t have to be a technical expert to safeguard your home office.

Hackers, malicious actors, and thieves may be working remotely, but they’re as obnoxiously active and dangerous as ever. In fact, cybersecurity experts have seen a strong uptick in attacks during the past several weeks.

Working remotely means you’re outside many of the safeguards provided by the IU network. So, to keep your system and data secure, you’ll need to assume more of the responsibility for cybersecurity.

The good news is that you don’t need to be a technical expert to make the computer at your home office harder to hack. As always, if you need help, contact your IT Pro or campus UITS Support Center

Baker’s dozen tips to make your data more secure

Expand your technology skills

IT Training offers a world of online training webinars.

Learning a new tech skill can help build your resume, satisfy a continuing education requirement, or simply make your workday more efficient.

The Getting Started with IT Training webinars give you a quick introduction to online courses available at no cost through IU Expand. In just 30 minutes (or less!) you’ll see examples of what to expect from the course and learn how to enroll. You’ll also get an exercise file to work through what you’ve just learned.

Don’t worry if you can’t view the webinar live—they will be recorded for you to watch at your convenience.

Expand your skills

How IU’s network operations center adapted to the challenges of COVID-19

GlobalNOC is meeting unprecedented demands on the network while functioning remotely.

More than ever, a high-performing and reliable network is absolutely critical. It’s imperative to quickly resolve outages, and to upgrade connectivity to services that are in suddenly high demand.

For GlobalNOC’s director of engineering, Jon-Paul Herron, the challenge was, “how do we transition an entire network operations center to function remotely, and continue to deliver the highest support for our partners’ networks while they face increased and unprecedented demands, and do it for an unknown expanse of time?”

Through annual disaster-recovery drills, GlobalNOC developed the ability to quickly move the Service Desk to any location, but that was based on a few hours or days. The COVID-19 situation demanded a move to many locations for an unknown number of weeks or months.

How did GlobalNOC do it?

Keep Teaching through spring and summer

Keep Teaching site offers end-of-semester wrap-up and preparations for summer courses.

The Keep Teaching site has been updated with end-of-semester wrap up information, including how to conduct exams, alternative assessment considerations, and how to submit final grades.

And believe it or not, it’s time to prepare for summer online courses. A Keep Teaching this summer section includes a Canvas online course template and digital course materials.

It’s also a good time to review Keep Teaching principles.

Keep Teaching

Faculty: Get your game plan for accessibility

How to prepare for accommodation requests.

Preparing for summer and fall courses in Canvas means thinking about accessibility even now and preparing for accommodation requests.

For help, try the new, flexible online course from UITS IT Training, Assistive Technology and Accessibility Centers, and User Experience Office: “Improving the accessibility of your Canvas course.” The course answers questions such as:

  • What areas should I consider when it comes to Canvas accessibility?
  • What steps should I take to make my Canvas course accessible?

Join the course today, and complete the modules flexibly, as you plan for your upcoming semesters. 

Prepare courses for accessibility

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