COVID-19: ITDS Advice, Guides and Support

Most of you should already have our Office 365 suite on your work desktops and laptops, however, you may want to download these applications on your mobile devices. You can also download a host of apps for your mobile that include: Yammer, OneNote, OneDrive, etc.

• Installation Guide
• Outlook for iPhone, download guide
• Outlook for Android, download guide

On the go? No problem. Learn how to access your email via any browser.

• Outlook Knowledge Base Article

With most staff now working from home, it is vital that we continue to protect ourselves by looking after our IT equipment. Looking after your data and making sure your computer is up-to-date is very important in order to protect yourself and your data, as well as the University.

How do we back up our data and computer at home?

It is good practice to back-up your computer and update your software regularly.

For University devices such as PC laptops, backups happen automatically whenever you’re on campus. We recommend that you come to campus just once over the coming month and connect to a wired network. This will ensure your laptop remains up to date and protected against malicious software, and will ensure your computer will receive future updates whilst you are at home. If you are taking this option, you will need to ensure that you follow the new protocols for accessing campuses by ensuring you have the approval to attend campus and notifying the Campus Safety and Security office of your arrival.

For personal devices, backups should be stored separately to the device itself, so that they can be accessed and used if the device is damaged, lost, or compromised

What if I cannot come to campus?

We understand that this may not be possible for most staff.  If that is the case, as an alternative, we recommend that you update software from home regularly, save your data to the University supported OneDrive (see below), and practice good device hygiene as detailed in our ITDS Security Corner.

How can I store important data?

We recommend that staff use the University supported Microsoft OneDrive to help retain your data, which is covered by the retention policy. All you will need is a secure internet connection so all your devices can synchronise.

Using Microsoft OneDrive

OneDrive is a Microsoft cloud storage service that lets you store your files in one place, share them with others, and get to them from any device connected to the Internet.

• How-to Guide: Getting Started
• OneDrive Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

Microsoft Teams is a virtual collaboration application where you can create a team for yourself and your colleagues to use for instant messaging, uploading files, linking to OneNote and more!

• Installation Guide
• Managing your Microsoft Teams
• Microsoft Meetings Hacks

Connect with your colleagues and students - host and join virtual meetings.

• Zoom Installation Guide
• Learning Futures Zoom Meeting and Webinars - Quick Guide
• Zoom's support during COVID-19 - Help guides, blogs, demos, tutorials and more!
• Ensure you have the latest update of the Zoom app.

In response to concerns from users worldwide, Zoom has recently released a new version of its software. Zoom 5.0 will boost security and enhance confidentiality for all users, as well as improving a more positive user experience for all student and staff Zoom users.

However, it is important that all of our staff and students MUST update all their devices to Zoom 5.0 by May 30 due to the new changes taking place. Older versions of the software will not work after this date.

To download the latest version, please see below for more information. Please contact ITDS Service Desk if you have any issues or questions.

Having issues? Here are some handy tips to help you troubleshoot.

• Ensure you are using the latest version of the Zoom app. It can be updated:
  1. from within the Zoom app when not in a meeting;
  2. by downloading from https://uws.zoom.us/download; or
  3. from the relevant app store (iOS and Android).
• Teaching staff experiencing the error ‘host unable to sign-in due to other meetings in progress’ should contact the account owner within their school of the shared Meeting ID. When this account owner is running other, unrelated Zoom meetings, this can prevent others from starting a new meeting or lecture. This is by design, with Zoom limiting the number of concurrent sessions linked to a single account. To overcome this problem, have the lecturer or unit coordinator schedule the Zoom Meeting ID using their own account and update the student join URL published in vUWS.
• If you have limited bandwidth or experience symptoms of congestion (broken audio, regular freezes in video), limit the use of video in your Zoom call. Just use audio.
• Be sure to check your Zoom Meeting and Personal feature settings via the web – https://uws.zoom.us.  Zoom has many features that can be turned on or off to suit your individual teaching preferences.
• Zoom Recordings are now stored for 150 days on the Zoom cloud rather than AARNet Cloudstor. The link to these is still received via e-mail and can be shared by publishing the link in vUWS in a similar manner. Any recordings that require to be retained longer than this should be downloaded by the host and then uploaded to Panopto for longer-term storage.
• Use other collaboration tools that better suit your needs. For example:
  • Rule of Thumb: Microsoft Teams is a great alternative for smaller teams, sharing files, scratch space, chat function and workshops. Zoom should be used for everything else;
  • Blackboard Collaborate Ultra is specifically designed for classes and tutorials and is a great alternative for teaching; and
  • Phone, email and messaging is still very effective way to communicate with your colleagues and with students.

For teaching and learning purposes only, real-time video conferencing tool that lets you add files, share applications, and use a virtual whiteboard to interact.

• Learning Futures Support Page
• Learning Futures Blackboard Collaborate Features - Quick Guide
• Enabling Blackboard Ultra
• Blackboard Information - Preparing to scale teaching and learning online

Our responsibility in ITDS is to provide you with the best information we can to help you make the choice that suits you the best. At this time, it will be what you are most comfortable with. In collaboration with Learning Futures, we have developed a comparison guide that provides features and limitations of both.

• Virtual Classroom: Zoom and Collaborate Ultra

There is a misconception that everyone will need Citrix to work remotely. This is not the case and not everyone uses it nor will they need to. Citrix will help you remote into the University network to access documents in share drives and the use of some applications, such as eForms and Callista.

Unless you must use it, we'd ask at this time for staff to please refrain from using Citrix for daily/BAU emailing purposes. Why? Citrix is a licensed remote access platform that was designed and intended for applications that cannot be accessed in another way. When lots of people are using Citrix, the performance can slow, having a negative impact on the user experience. Using the web app means you are not dependant on Citrix performance and saves the Citrix capability for those who really need it.

• Guide to Citrix

You can download Adobe's Creative cloud on a University device and on a personal device. This will give staff access to a collection of software and tools used for marking up documents, graphic design, video editing, web development etc.

• How to install Adobe Creative Cloud on a University Device
• How to install Adobe Creative Cloud - On Personal Device (Windows and MAC) - For Staff