Archive for March 2020

Free Access to Adobe Creative Cloud

by Anonymous in , , ,

Dear Students & Faculty,

Adobe has provided temporary at-home access for impacted students and faculty, so that they can continue their work remotely. Please follow the instructions below to enable access to Creative Cloud Desktop Apps on your personal device.

  1. Visit https://creativecloud.adobe.com and use your school credentials to sign in.

  2. If prompted, select Company or School Account and then enter your password. Or provide your credentials in your school’s login screen.

  3. From the Creative Cloud website, browse for and download your desired app. Click Apps on the top of the page to view all apps.

For more information on how to download or install apps, see Download and Install Creative Cloud apps.

For Higher Education students to continue developing skills, Adobe offers free “Daily Creative Challenges”. These are guided projects where participants receive creative prompts and connect with pros, mentors, and other students for feedback and support. Click on the app name to learn  more: Photoshop, XD and Illustrator. Also, for inspiration and over-the-shoulder learning, watch pros share their creative process on Adobe Live daily at www.behance.net/adobelive.

For faculty seeking to engage students during campus closures, Adobe has curated resources to help them discover inspiring projects, best practices, and new ideas so they can continue to drive valuable learning in virtual environments.

Wishing you a safe and productive return to your classes.

Adobe Sign support site

by Anonymous in , , , , ,

Information Technology Services launched a new support site this week for Adobe Sign, CSUCI's new electronic signature tool:

Screenshot of Adobe Sign support site at CSUCI


On the site, you'll find a number of short video tutorials on completing common tasks in Adobe Sign such as:
  • Preparing and sending a document for review & signature
  • Filling out and signing a document
  • Correcting a document sent for review & signature
  • Cancelling/voiding a document
As a reminder, CSUCI is transitioning away from Docusign to Adobe Sign. All existing Docusign forms must be migrated from Docusign to Adobe Sign by June 1. We encourage you to sign up for an Adobe Sign workshop (offered weekly) as soon as possible to learn how to use the new platform. Visit the support site to sign up for an upcoming workshop.

3 Tips for Zoom and Microsoft Teams

by Anonymous in , , , , , , ,

As we continue to conduct more meetings and conversations online, here are a couple of useful Zoom and Microsoft Teams tips:

Zoom:

1. Share your screen in Zoom: when on a Zoom call, click the large “Share” button (green button at the bottom of the Zoom window), and select what you want to share on your screen. You can share your entire desktop, or select a specific window to share. Learn how to share your screen in Zoom.

2. Control a participant's screen (remote control): With a participant's permission, you can also take request control of a participant's screen, or give control of your own. Learn how to request or give remote control in Zoom.

3. Mute yourself (and other participants): don't forget to mute yourself if you're not talking; this helps minimize background noise and disruption of the meeting. Meeting hosts can also use the "Mute All" button (under the "Participants" pop-out) to mute all participants while a meeting is in progress. You can also choose to mute all participants upon entry to your Zoom call (in the Participants pop-out, use the "More" dropdown and check the "Mute all participants upon entry" option). Learn more about using Mute All in Zoom.

Learn more about using Zoom here


Microsoft Teams:

1. Schedule a Teams videoconference within Outlook Web Access: It takes less than 30 seconds to schedule a Microsoft Teams meeting in Outlook online. Watch this short YouTube video for instructions. 



2. Blur Your Background: Sometimes you're working in a space where the background is distracting. If you want to blur your background while on a Microsoft Teams video call, while on the call, click the "..." (More actions) button, and choose "Blur my background" (see the screenshot below)


3. Record your Microsoft Teams meeting: If you want to record a Teams meeting, once the meeting has started, click the "..." (More actions) button, and choose "Start recording" (see the screenshot below). Learn more about recording meetings in Microsoft Teams.

Zoom-bombing is a real thing

by Anonymous in , , ,

The coronavirus pandemic has created a need for more and more people around the world to use web video conferencing tools such as Zoom to continue learning, teaching and working. Unfortunately, the bad guys and trolls are finding ways to disrupt Zoom sessions. This is called Zoom-bombing. Zoom-bombers join random Zoom sessions to cause mischief (showing pornographic images, for example) and potentially to listen in on meetings to gain sensitive information.

Zoom has released guidance for users who want to protect themselves from Zoom-bombing. Here are the top tips:

1. Avoid hosting large meetings or ‘public’ events using your Personal Meeting ID (PMI). Your PMI is basically one continuous meeting and you don't want trolls invading your personal virtual space. Instead, Zoom suggests using random meeting IDs for your large meetings.

2. Lock your meeting. You can lock a Zoom meeting once it is started and all your expected participants have joined. This prevents any new participants from joining, even if they have the meeting ID and password (if you have required one). To do this, in the meeting click Participants at the bottom of your Zoom window. In the "Participants" pop-up, select the "More" dropdown and click the button that says "Lock Meeting."

3. Require a password to join your meeting. You can require a password for any meeting when you schedule it and/or as a default for all personal ID meetings by signing into Zoom and clicking on Meetings and the Personal Meeting Room to access the password setting.

4. If you find yourself with a disruptive participant in your meeting, you can remove them. Click on "Participants" at the bottom of your Zoom window, then select the "More" dropdown and Remove for the participant that you want to eject from the meeting.

Training for Adobe Sign; transition from Docusign

by Anonymous in , , , ,

Adobe Sign is an electronic signature platform that can be used to sign documents electronically, and route them to others for electronic signature. Adobe Sign is replacing Docusign at CSUCI. Information Technology Services, in conjunction with the Division of Business & Financial Affairs, is working to complete the migration of existing Docusign forms into Adobe Sign by June 1.

To support this transition, starting this Friday, March 27, Information Technology Services (ITS) will be offering 2 Adobe Sign training workshops on a weekly basis.


Workshops are free and open to University faculty and staff.  Each workshop is 60 minutes and will be held via Zoom.

Part 1 requires no prior Adobe Sign experience, and covers the basics of sending existing forms, signing forms, and introduces routing of ad-hoc forms.

Part 2 requires completion of the Part 1 workshop, and covers form design, templates, and workflow.

UPDATE 4/14/2020: a new Part 3 workshop has been added. For participants that have completed Part 1 & 2 training, the Part 3 workshop is offered in an open "virtual office hours" format. Participants are encouraged bring their forms, processes and general questions for discussion. Participants also can get help with building forms from CSUCI Adobe Sign support staff.

Faculty & staff may RSVP for Part 1, 2 and 3 workshops here. Registrants will receive a link to the Zoom session.

If you have any questions regarding Adobe Sign, please visit the Get Help with Adobe Sign page to submit a support request, or call the Solution Center at 805-437-8552.

Stay connected with Microsoft Teams

by Anonymous in , , ,

Microsoft Teams (MS Teams) is a unified communication and collaboration platform that combines workplace chat, video meetings, file storage (including collaboration on files), and integration with Office 365 services.

MS Teams is a great tool for working remotely, and it's available to all CSUCI faculty and staff for free. 

Key features in Microsoft Teams:

  • Chat: the "Chat" section enables real-time chat/instant messaging with campus colleagues, both individually and in groups. Direct messages allow users to send private messages to a specific user rather than a group of people.
  • Teams: The "Teams" function allows communities, groups, or teams to join through a specific URL or invitation sent by a team administrator or owner. Users can create teams to facilitate collaboration.
  • Channels: Within a team, members can set up channels. Channels are topics of conversation that allow team members to communicate without the use of email or group SMS (texting). Users can reply to posts with text as well as images and GIFs.
  • Meetings: meetings in Teams can be scheduled or created ad-hoc and users visiting the channel will be able to see that a meeting is currently in progress. Teams also has a plugin for Microsoft Outlook to invite others into a Teams meeting
  • Video conferencing is built-in to the Teams platform



Keep Teaching, Learning and Working Remotely: http://go.csuci.edu/keepgoing


Faculty/Staff Laptop Checkout moving to appointment only starting today

by Anonymous in ,

Due to the Stay at Home Order, Information Technology Services (ITS) will not have staff on campus to distribute laptops to faculty and staff at Lindero Hall today.  ITS will resume distributing laptops using an appointment model next week from Monday, March 23 through Thursday, March 26. If you need a laptop for remote work please follow the process below to set up an appointment with an ITS staff member. 

Here is the computer pick-up process for faculty and staff:

  1. File a ticket in TeamDynamix or contact the Solution Center at 805-437-8552 to request a computer.  Make sure to include an email address and phone number where you can be reached.
  2. ITS will contact your Department or Division as needed to confirm priority.
  3. ITS will contact you with an appointment time and campus location to pick up and activate your machine.
Thank you for your ongoing patience and support. 

Connecting to Campus Remotely - VPN or VDI

by Anonymous in , , , ,

In an effort to be able to support our University’s remote work directive, Information Technology Services (ITS) has rolled out a new alternative solution to its VPN remote access service called Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI). 


 VDI is a web-browser-based solution that allows access to network file-shares, such as the G:\ ,  S:\ or Z:\ drives, as well as to most applications and services used by faculty and staff. 

ITS is requesting that individuals who only require access to their network file-shares and Microsoft O365 Office products such as Office, Teams, OneNote etc., use the new VDI service instead of VPN.

Click here to start the new VDI web-based service and to get answers to questions you may have about VDI.

Please note that use of this VDI solution requires no action by ITS; VDI is an entirely self-service process that may be initiated by any faculty or staff member on their computer.

ITS continues to recommend that university work be conducted on university-owned and university-issued devices that were previously defined for remote work.

We encourage you to share this information with your co-workers, and we thank you for your support and patience during this unprecedented time of need. 

Video conference best practices

by Anonymous in , , , , , ,

Zoom is a useful and popular tool to support collaboration with colleagues working remotely.
With hundreds of hours of meetings already happening every month on Zoom at CSUCI, it's a great opportunity to ensure that you're make the most out of the experience.

Information Technology Services is pleased to re-share this short and wonderful video that the Teaching & Learning Innovations (T&LI) team at CSUCI published in spring 2019. The video highlights best practices for using Zoom to engage with your colleagues.

Most of the recommendations provided in the video also apply to video-based meetings using Microsoft Teams, Google Hangouts or other platforms.



Watch Zoom Best Practices video on YouTube

Do you have other best practices for video conferences that you find important? We'd love to hear from you, share your thoughts here.

Want to get started using Zoom? Visit CSUCI's Zoom information page. You can also access Zoom directly from myCI.

Distribution of loaner computers to faculty and staff

by Anonymous in , , , ,

Information Technology Services (ITS) will be distributing laptops to faculty and staff who currently do not have a computer for remote work.

The current priority (where 1=highest priority) is:

  1. Faculty teaching a class or otherwise designated a priority by Academic Affairs
  2. Staff designated by their department
  3. Any staff or faculty working remotely
ITS can distribute 120 used Dell Ultrabook Laptops retired from a classroom this week. If the supply of these computers is depleted, ITS has other pools of computers that can be configured.  All loaner computers will have a camera, microphone, and are imaged for use by CSUCI employees. They are both Zoom, Canvas, Microsoft Teams and Microsoft Office ready as delivered. If employees need specialized software installed they can file a ticket for assistance or call the Solution Center at 805-437-8552. If possible, they will be directed to self-install software or will be instructed how to participate in a remote session with an ITS technician. In certain cases an appointment with an ITS technician on campus may be needed.

Here is the loaner computer pick-up process for University faculty and staff:
  1. First file a ticket in TeamDynamix or contact the Solution Center at 805-437-8552 to request a computer.
  2. ITS will contact your Department or Division as needed to confirm priority.
  3. Pickup location will be at the Lindero Hall courtyard, outside of the Human Resources entrance.
  4. Pickup hours are between 10AM – 2PM Wednesday through Friday (3/18-3/20) this week. Next week (3/23-3/27) will be by appointment only.
  5. Call the Solution Center number (805-437-8552) to arrange pickup. You will be asked to show University ID.
  6. Please log into the computer before leaving campus to activate your configuration. You will be able to connect to the University network in the Lindero Hall courtyard, outside of the Human Resources entrance.
Please contact the Solution Center at 805-437-8552 with any questions about this process, and visit http://go.csuci.edu/keepgoing for additional guidance on how to keep teaching, learning and working remotely. 

Keep Teaching, Learning and Working

by Anonymous in , , , ,

Information Technology Services is committed to helping our campus community to continue to communicate and collaborate during these challenging times.

Please visit the Keep Teaching, Learning and Working web site at http://go.csuci.edu/keepgoing for guidance on working remotely.

If you have a question, issue or problem related to using University technology systems, services or processes remotely, please visit the ITS COVID-19 Support web site to submit a support request. Alternately you can also call the Solution Center at 805-437-8552.

Campus updates on coronavirus (COVID-19) response can be found here.

Thank you for your continued cooperation, patience and support during these extraordinary times.

Beware of Coronavirus (COVID-19) Phishing Scams

by in , , , , , , , , , , ,

Most of us have seen and read in the news about the Coronavirus outbreak, currently known as SARS-CoV-2 or Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19). We wanted to remind you that during media intense events like this, cyber attackers take advantage of this opportunity and attempt to scam you or launch phishing attacks that attempt to get you to click on malicious links or open infected email attachments. Here are some of the most common indicators that the phone call or email you received is most likely a scam or attack (additional information on identifying scam phone calls and emails may be found at the Federal Trade Commission Consumer Information website).
  • Any messages that communicates a tremendous sense of urgency. The bad guys are trying to rush you into making a mistake.
  • Any message that pressures you into bypassing or ignoring our security policies and procedures.
  • Any message that promotes miracle cures, such as vaccines or medicine that will protect you. If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.
  • Be very suspicious of any phone call or message that pretends to be an official or government organization urging you to take immediate action. 

For the latest updates consider visiting the World Health Organization website on Health and Disease Control, the Center for Disease Control website, or our own CSUCI Coronavirus (COVID-19) Information website. Please keep in mind Coronavirus scams and attacks can happen at work or at home, via email, text messaging or even over the phone. Don’t fall victim to bad guys playing on your emotions. 

If you feel you have received a phishing attack at work, simply delete the message or if you have concerns report it to your information security team.

Information Resources: 

CSUCI Coronavirus (COVID-19) Information
California Department of Public Health
U.S. Center for Disease Control and Prevention
World Health Organization
CSU Chancellor’s Office
U.S. Department of State
Johns Hopkins Real Time Map
County of Ventura
VC Emergency
Ventura County Public Health
Santa Barbara County Public Health
Federal Trade Commission Consumer Information