
Request equipment loans to support your learning (webcams, laptops, etc.)
Your Teams meeting recordings will now be saved on Sharepoint and Onedrive rather than on Stream (like they used to). The recordings play through a new version of Stream. Learn more about how this changes affects your recordings. And visit our Stream guide for more on utilizing this tool.
IITS will be working hard to support our community's return and respond to all requests for assistance, but given the numerous ongoing projects (e.g. upgrading 60 classrooms), the expected amount of support requests, and the possibility for unexpected challenges, we ask for your patience and good will.
Keep Teaching at CSUSM (Virtual Instruction Guide)
CSUSM has been working on upgrading many of our classrooms to better support different
modes of instruction for Fall 2021 and beyond.
Specifically, we are in the process of installing cameras, microphones, and digital
whiteboards to support Live and Online courses. We are also replacing faculty lectern
chairs (seen below) and lecterns to better accomodate instructor preferences.
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This short preview video demonstrates the tracking capabilities of the new camera system as well as the new microphones and digital whiteboard. These new tools can improve student classroom experience, especially for students attending the class remotely.
The following list includes questions and concerns that have been raised with IITS leadership via the Academic Senate or Technology Policy Advisory Committee (TPAC).
Faculty may also submit new items of inquiry or general concern via the form provided below and IITS will respond.
Storage Space - As of early October, CSUSM has increased its Zoom storage space in order to provide sufficient capacity for faculty to store their recordings for the duration of the academic year. IITS is no longer asking faculty to delete their Zoom recordings.
Delete Function - The Zoom recordings deletion function has been disabled for the time being per instructions from the General Counsel's office. There are six pending class action lawsuits brought by students over the shift to remote instruction. An issue has come up over whether certain Zoom recordings must be saved. That issue may have to be decided by the courts. Until the issue is settled, General Counsel has told us that we are required to maintain all existing Zoom recordings to the extent we can.
IITS Academic Technology staff can assist faculty who require assistance to delete files not covered by the hold.
On Thursday, October 15th, and after consultation with Academic Senate, IITS implemented a change to reduce the overwhelming flow of email communications coming from the discussion forums. Due to a configuration setting in the Cougar Courses Learning Management System, the use of forums had generated over 1.5 million emails sent to students and faculty during the first three weeks of the term. This system configuration was identified while investigating reports of slow email delivery earlier in the semester. This is not a new setting, but an issue that appeared this semester due to the sheer number of instructors using forums.
The change implemented will prevent faculty and students from automatically receiving emails when users post to a forum and will unsubscribe all faculty and students from currently subscribed forums in individual courses. Those who want to receive these communications must re-subscribe. Academic Technology has a guide for this process that will be included in the email to students and faculty.
CSUSM uses a 20 year old Pointspan telephone system that is now officially in an obsolete and unsupported status with the original manufacturer. In FY 18/19, CSUSM began the effort to replace the campus’ 20+ year-old phone system. While IITS had planned to provide flexible internet-based phone systems for faculty even prior to COVID, the new realities of teaching from home have only reinforced the need for this project. Click here to visit the Phone Project status page.
This project will take place over the Spring 2021 semester, and once completed, faculty will be able to use the Microsoft Teams client on their computers, mobile phones, and on-campus phones (if requested) to make and receive phone calls from and to their current office extension number.
The new telephone system will offer faculty numerous benefits over their existing phones:
During the spring semester, facuilty will be informed in advance of the day and time the transition will take place. IITS expects transitioning faculty phone extensions to the Teams client to cause minimal if any disruption.
Since 2005, the CSU's ATI program has been working at the system and campus level to ensure that instructional/course materials are provided in accessible formats for all students. While this effort to improve digital equity and access dates back many years, this initiative has become even more important given the current realities of mostly remote instruction. For example, CSUSM saw a 2,227% increase in alternative content format downloads from 2018/19 to 2019/20, which is evidence of how much students utilize alternative formats when available, especially during COVID. While some students will provide faculty with DSS accomodations, others do not feel comfortable disclosing a disability and yet still benefit greatly from accessible content.
Phase 1: CSUSM has transitioned from self-hosting Mediasite to hosting with Mediasite.
The project was completed in December 2021.
Phase 2: IITS will be collaborating with Mediasite to move recordings from Zoom to
Mediasite. This move will give users more control of their recordings and access to
usage analytics. The project is anticipated to be completed by the end of the Spring
2022 semester.
Another option is for the campus community to transition to Microsoft Stream. Microsoft
Stream offers additional capabilities (including automatic transcription and captioning)
and integrates with the Microsoft Office Suite.
On October 6th CSUSM experienced a cyberattack that gained unauthorized access to internal campus systems. The parties involved were able to download information related to various computer systems and directory information on the CSUSM user community including first/last name, email address, and campus affiliation.
Upon IITS’ awareness, access was blocked and staff investigation found that the individual(s) accessed a few systems. Based upon our available evidence, the data is classified as Level 2. An outside firm will be conducting a full forensic investigation.
While we have no evidence of password vulnerability, IITS recommends that all faculty, staff, and students update their password.