The University has been made aware of a recently disclosed vulnerability in Microsoft Teams that Microsoft fixed in October 2020.

Microsoft Teams should automatically receive software updates directly from Microsoft to keep you up to date with the latest version. However, we have information that suggests that some devices (running Microsoft Windows or Apple macOS) may not have received a software update for a while.

We will work with Microsoft to see if we can directly identify the devices that are affected. In the meantime, we’d like to ask you to check the software status of Microsoft Teams on any devices you may be signed in with using your University of Nottingham account.

You can check the software version of Microsoft Teams by clicking on your profile in the top right-hand corner of the Teams client, selecting “About” and then ”Version”. The version number will be displayed at the top of your screen.

If your version of Microsoft Teams last received an update in September or earlier than that, we’d ask you to manually download an update by clicking your profile and selecting “Check for Updates”. Microsoft Teams will then fetch any outstanding updates. You will not need to enter your password or restart your device after it applies.

If in the process of attempting an update you have any problems, or the device cannot or will not update, please report this to the IT Service Desk.

Thank you in advance for your support.

The post Check Microsoft Teams is up to date appeared first on The Digital Network.

Upgrading macOS

Apple have announced a new version of macOS – 11.0 Big Sur.

While an official release date is not yet known, we would strongly recommend that users do not perform the upgrade until the impact of the changes are fully assessed.

The new operating system could affect the use of some key University software due to unknown compatibility issues. We will send out further communications and provide guidance once testing takes place.

If you do decide to upgrade before Information Services carries out some software tests, we would strongly recommend the following considerations before upgrading:

• All users – Take time to prepare for the upgrade as most application issues can be easily resolved by updating before the OS upgrade.
• Users with a University managed device – Applications on University Macs can be easily updated with Mac management facilities like Munki and Jamf, by using ‘Managed Software Centre’ and ‘Self Service’, if you are not already enrolled in these systems then please ask Campus IT Support for guidance on how to get on board.
• All users – We recommend waiting a couple of releases before upgrading as this allows for any early bug fixes to be resolved by Apple.

If you have any questions about the upgrade, please contact Campus IT Support

The post New macOS update coming soon appeared first on The Digital Network.

In response to the significant increase in online teaching, Libraries and Information Services have recently negotiated a new deal with Echo360 meaning that we now have increased capacity on the Engage service.

We now have in place: –

• Additional capacity for general use which should avoid unexpected finance implications for over usage during the 20/21 academic year
• A continuation of our 4-year retention policy
• The capacity to put all new content through the Automated Speech Recognition (ASR) service, in line with Accessibility legislation, without additional costs.

Automated Speech Recognition (ASR) is a new addition to the Engage service and we have configured ASR so that any new content created from 14:30 onwards on Friday 25 September will automatically be processed through ASR to produce a transcript.

Below are some questions and answers to help you get started with transcripts:

Do I need to do anything with the transcript? – The transcripts created by Automated Speech Recognition are not automatically applied to the video as Closed Captions.

You will need to edit the transcript to make any corrections and apply the edited transcript to the Closed Captions, which will then appear on the video.

The Adding Captions to your Engage recording using the automated transcript guide describes how to use the Transcript Editor.

Will this mean subtitles automatically appear when Echo360 recordings are played back? – If the Closed Captions have been applied to the video (as above) the captions can be turned on and off by the viewer using the CC button on the tool bar of the video.

If Viewers wish to read or download the transcript with the video this is dependent on where they are viewing the video.  Check out the online Engage: Viewing Video Transcripts guide for how to do this from Moodle or the Echo360 player.

What about content I’ve already published for this term? – If you have already published your recording to a course, you will need to re-publish the recording to apply the transcripts. If this fails, you need to contact Engage support engage@notingham.ac.uk

Information about publishing is available in the Share/Publishing content to a module guide.

I’ve already embedded my recording via Moodle, will the transcript appear? – The re-publishing of a recording will not change an embedded video on Moodle.

If you require the transcript to show within the embed you will need to un-embed and re-embed your recording. The How to add individual Engage videos into a Moodle page guide shows you how.

For all guidance with using Echo360, see the Engage for Staff Moodle page:

https://moodle.nottingham.ac.uk/course/view.php?id=75128

The post New Engage (Echo360) transcript service appeared first on The Digital Network.

A round up of latest news, updates to Microsoft 365 licences and new apps and features coming soon.

All links below require log in to access SharePoint or Yammer.

• During week starting 13th July, we will be updating Microsoft 365 licences for all users. This will mean some new apps will become available for staff, such as ‘Bookings’ and ‘My Analytics’. You can read more about these new features here.
• Teams – Meeting 7×7 viewing grid coming this month, read more here.
• Microsoft Live Events – what are they & where can I learn more? Read more here.
• OneDrive for Business – shortcuts and their impact. Read more here.
• Improved sharing in SharePoint Lists. Read more here.
• Tasks – the new name for Planner in Teams. Read more here.
• Avoiding back to back meetings. Read more here.

Entitlements: what do users get in Microsoft 365?  Our Product Team have published useful information highlighting what apps Staff, Students and Associates get as part of their Microsoft 365 licence. You can read more here.

We have a number of Office 365 guides available on our SharePoint site. For technical issues with using Microsoft tool, please contact IT Services help and support. If you require further consultancy after talking with our IT support teams, this can be arranged.

For more updates:

Join the O365 Community on Yammer to read more updates and learn from your peers.
Read all the latest news via the 365 SharePoint site and meet the 365 Product Team.

The post New Microsoft 365 features coming soon appeared first on The Digital Network.

Our IT Service Desk team has been working hard throughout a relentless couple of months to support all users during this period of adjustment, and this has included providing support via telephone as well as self-service and email.

To support their wellbeing during this time of extended remote working and enhance the co-ordination of the team’s activities, a daily, all team catch-up has been scheduled to take place between 10.00 and 10.15am. As such, there will be no one to take calls on 0115 95 16677 with the exception of option 4 (remote access) which is staffed by Campus IT support teams.

The demand for IT support has returned to pre-lockdown levels and Jon Cox, Service Desk Manager, says “I am tremendously proud of how the team has adapted and continued to provide a high quality of support to our users from their homes during this difficult time.”

IT Service Desk team 2020

We hope that all users appreciate the importance of introducing this as we work hard to maintain a frontline telephone support service in the current circumstances.

Our IT Service Desk team is available Monday to Friday 8am – 6pm, and at all other times, an out-of-hours telephone service is provided by Northumbria University via 0115 95 16677.

Thank you for your support.

The post Update to our IT Service Desk availability appeared first on The Digital Network.

We would like to make you aware that we have asked our PC supplier (SCC) to suspend visits to the University to repair Staff / PGR laptop or desktop PCs. This is due to the University building closures and limits on staff availability on site.

Please take care of your devices during this time of remote working. If you do have any hardware issues with your University laptop or desktop PC, please continue to report this via the IT Service Desk or Campus IT Support. Calls will still be raised with SCC and we expect the warranty repair service to recommence once building access is restored.

To maintain your device, we recommend the following:

• Restart your PC at least once a week
• Connect to the University VPN service for a couple of hours each week to allow important security and windows updates to download in the background
• Ensure there is plenty of air flow around your device so the fan isn’t blocked
• Remember to save and back up all files to your OneDrive

Further advice on maintaining your University managed Windows device can be found on our blog – Remote working device upkeep.

The post Notice of laptop and desktop PC repairs appeared first on The Digital Network.

During times of prolonged remote working, it is important University devices are maintained while on or off campus. Based upon feedback and reported issues by users, we have some advice for users with a Windows university managed device.

When a university device is not connected to the university network (wired or wireless), it is not controlled in the usual way as it would be when on campus. As such, in some cases devices won’t receive important Windows and security updates.

Because of this, it is essential that users with a university Windows device follow some key steps to ensure the device is kept up to date.

Please note, a Windows device is referred to as your physical PC (laptop / desktop) issued to you by the university.

Maintaining a University Windows Managed Device

We advise the following regular upkeep:

• restart your device that is on or off campus at least once a week
• connect to the university Virtual Private Network (VPN) and have it connected for a couple of hours once a week
• ensure your device has enough air flow so the fan is not blocked
• remember to save and back up all files to your OneDrive

Access to University File store

To access the file store drives Home (Z), Shared (S) and Research (R) on your University Windows managed device, you can via a web browser or by connecting to the VPN, please follow instructions found on Workspace.

Known issues with preventative and reactive actions

Please contact the IT Service Desk if you have any questions, or require any further support.

Notice of laptop and desktop PC repairs

Please also be aware that we have asked our PC supplier (SCC) to suspend visits to the University to repair Staff / PGR laptop or desktop PCs. This is due to the University building closures and limits on staff availability on site.

You can read more information on our Digital Network blog.

The post Remote working device upkeep appeared first on The Digital Network.

As part of the ongoing updates to the University Print Service, we are pleased to announce a new app “Scan UoN to OneDrive” is coming soon (from Monday 17 February) to printers around the University. The new scan app will start to replace the current Workflow Scanning (Scan to Home) app which scans to users Home (Z Drive).

The new app will scan to users University OneDrive under a folder called ‘My Scans’. Guidance for using the app is available to view here (PDF).

Scan to UoN OneDrive Icon

*Update* The new “Scan to UoN OneDrive” app will be deployed from Monday 17 February 2020. As part of the deployment, users may see a message saying:

“Device has been registered and will be activated shortly. No action needed, please try again later.”

This is expected and part of setting up the new app on printers, there is no action and the app will be fully available shortly after deployment starts.

Please be aware that not all printers are compatible with the new Scan to UoN OneDrive app and as a result scan to email will be the only option. A full list of printers that will not get the new app can be viewed here (Office 365 login required). Older printers that are not compatible are scheduled to be replaced as part of the printer upgrades between February and May 2020.

In addition to the new scanning app, Xerox are also updating the software (firmware) on some printers and as a result, the Scan to Email app will have a newer look (as shown below) and name changed to just “Email”.

Updated Scan to Email interface

The post Scan to OneDrive coming soon *update* appeared first on The Digital Network.

Thank you to all students who participated in our survey

Congratulations to Khalid Moyo from the Chemical and Environmental Engineering who won the Fresher’s IT Survey Prize. A record breaking 1747 students responded to the Freshers’ survey in 2019; 647 more than in 2018. All students who completed the survey were entered into a prize draw to win an Apple iPad Air.

The prize was presented to Khalid by Paul Couchman (Director of Technology) – as pictured above.

Khalid said: “I was really surprised when I won the prize because whenever you do a survey you never think you’ll win anything. Luck was on my side I guess.

I had a good talk with Paul. I found out that he did the same course that I’m doing which I didn’t expect. He told me about the various jobs he did which let me know that the course I’m doing has many avenues that I can go into in the future. We had a few laughs and talked a bit about our personal lives.”

Paul said: “I’m very new to the University myself, so it was great to have the opportunity to meet Khalid and hear his first impressions of the University and how technology is an essential element in the everyday life of a student. We also chatted about life in Nottingham, recommendations of places to visit and, as a fellow chemical engineer, the application of fluid dynamics in the manufacture of Crème Eggs!”

The Freshers IT Survey provides vital feedback for our services. Access to IT services is paramount in the first days and weeks of a student’s career.  Results from previous surveys have lead to our increased presence on campus via Smart Bars and a number of ‘how to’ videos because of previous Fresher Survey results.

Survey results told us that:

• • 64% of students rated activating their account 8 out of 10 or above
  • 60% rated setting up their devices using eduroam 8 out of 10 or above
  • 69% were very satisfied or satisfied with the print service
  • Those who needed help from IT Services had accessed the website (1048 students), the IT Service Desk (541), and Smart Bars (262)
  • At the time of survey, 330 students had already used Microsoft Teams

There were also many positive comments about IT Services and our helpful, friendly approach – full feedback will be shared once we analyse the data.

The post Freshers IT Survey – Competition Winner appeared first on The Digital Network.

Printer replacements starting February 2020

As part of the University print service refresh project, we are starting the second phase of replacing 238 printers with new faster devices. The first phase of the rollout took place during November 2019 and replaced 72 printers.

The second phase will take place between February and May 2020, replacing 170 printers.

What is changing? – The new devices are faster (55 pages per minute) and will have a modern user interface with less physical buttons. Examples of the new interface can be viewed here (Office 365 login required).

How does this affect users?

There will be some minor disruption as the Xerox team swap printers. A plan detailing the locations and dates can be viewed online (Office 365 login required). On each day there will be a short period of time where the printer in the location is unavailable. Printers in other areas will be unaffected by this work.

Thank you for your support and patience while printer upgrades take place over the coming months.

The post Printer upgrades between February and May appeared first on The Digital Network.