ITSpotlight is designed to keep the campus up to date on ITS activities and services.
Posted January 08, 2025
by IDLT
SIUE is making an important shift in its communication and collaboration tools. Beginning in FY 2025, Microsoft Teams will become the University’s primary platform for meetings, instruction, and collaboration. This change will take full effect on July 1, 2025, replacing Zoom as our go-to video conferencing tool. Additionally, YuJa will continue to serve as our video storage and lecture capture solution.
To help you prepare for this transition, we encourage faculty, staff, a...
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Posted January 08, 2025
by ITS
At SIUE, we’re committed to enhancing your online security and streamlining your digital experience. That’s why ITS recently upgraded the e-ID system with a new Microsoft password management portal, launched on November 13.
This new portal replaces the former e-ID Creation and Maintenance page and offers a range of enhanced features to make managing your account easier than ever. With this update, you can:
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Posted January 08, 2025
As a new semester approaches, the following tips may be useful for faculty.
Blackboard and Course Management:
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If you are teaching multiple sections of the same course and want them in one Blackboard shell, please request that your sections be merged before starting work in your Blackboard courses.
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For assistance with building your co...
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Posted January 08, 2025
by Curt Price
Are you looking to improve your verbal presentation skills? Maybe you tend to slip in a few too many “ums” or maybe you need to work on your speaking speed. Microsoft Teams Speaker Coach is here to help.
Speaker Coach is another Microsoft Teams feature that you might not be using to your full potential.
Turn on Speaker Coach
From within a Microsoft Teams Meeting...
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Start your meeting and go to More (…).
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Posted December 11, 2024
by IDLT
As the term nears completion, the following tips will be useful for faculty in wrapping up their courses.
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Posted December 11, 2024
by Curt Price
With the upcoming switch to Teams Meetings, experienced Zoom users may be curious if they can do everything in Microsoft Teams Meetings that they did in Zoom.
Some feature comparisons between Teams Meetings and Zoom are available in this ITS KnowledgeBase article.
But in short, Teams Meetings features meet or exceed pretty much all of the features SIUE has had with our Zoom license.
If you're new to Microsoft Teams Meetings, the interface resembles Zoom in many ways...
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Posted November 13, 2024
Build More Engagement in Discussion Boards
By Pamela D. Williams/IDLT for Spotlight, November 2024
Discussion boards, like online courses, are here to stay, but that doesn’t mean they can’t be an engaging and lively component of your course. Here are 3 tips to help invigorate your discussion boards.
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Consider using multimedia in your prompts. A song, music video, cartoon, or brief interview can help spark students’ interest and evoke deeper responses to course...
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Posted November 13, 2024
Migration to Teams and YuJa from Zoom
by IDLT
During FY25, ITS will lead SIUE’s transition from Zoom to Microsoft Teams and YuJa for all video and web conferencing needs. Starting July 1, Microsoft Teams will become SIUE’s primary platform for meetings, instruction, and collaboration, while YuJa will serve as our video storage and lecture capture solution. This change is designed to streamline services, enhance collaboration, and reduce costs by optimizing our existing softwa...
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Posted October 09, 2024
by IDLT
Join the Accessibility Challenge: Enhance Your Course and Earn a Digital Badge!
Are your class materials, activities, and assessments designed so they are usable for all students? ITS-Instructional Design & Learning Technologies invites you to participate in our Accessibility Challenge! This is an exciting opportunity to enhance the accessibility of your courses, making them more inclusive for all students while also earning professional recognition for your efforts to maintain...
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Posted October 09, 2024
Poll Everywhere – A Campus-Wide Solution for Engagement
Did you know the University has a campus-wide license for Poll Everywhere ? We mostly focus on how the tool can be used for faculty in their classrooms, but it is also versatile to be used in events, meetings, workshops, and beyond. It’s a powerful tool that can be used to foster engagement, gather feedback, and promote collaboration in any setting.
by IDLT
For Faculty and Courses: Poll Everywhere can be used to q...
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Posted October 09, 2024
by IDLT
Transform Your Course Design with IDLT's Updated Course Planning Grid
Elevate your course development with IDLT’s updated course planning grid. This document will help you organize your content, align learning objectives with assessments, plan regular and substantive interaction, and create a cohesive learning journey for your students.
Members of our instructiona...
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Posted September 11, 2024
by IDLT
Transform Your Course Design with IDLT's Updated Course Planning Grid
Elevate your course development with IDLT’s updated course planning grid. This document will help you organize your content, align learning objectives with assessments, plan regular and substantive interaction, and create a cohesive learning journey for your students.
Members of our instructiona...
Read more...
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Posted September 11, 2024
by IDLT
Using Grade Center Smart Views for More Efficient Grading
Have you used the “Tests” or “Assignments” links available under the Full Grade Center in your course management menu? Those are default Smart Views included in every shell template, and you can create your own! A Smart View is a focused look at the Grade Center. It shows only the columns that match a set of criteria, and the view is saved for continued use. As an instructor, creating custom smart...
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Posted July 10, 2024
by IDLT
Things Faculty Can Do to Prepare for the Fall Semester
As faculty prepare for the Fall semester, summer is a great time to review parts of the course for updating, improving, and just looking at the course with fresh eyes.
Syllabus
The syllabus is the first introduction and road map for what students can expect from your course. Take this summer to review and update your syllabus. IDLT provides a syllabus template to make it easier for you to include all the necessary...
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Posted June 19, 2024
by Curt Price
Information Technology Services (ITS) administers and maintains the Cascade CMS, which is Southern Illinois University's website content management system. Cascade allows for departments to maintain the content on their departmental websites without needing to know how to code a web page.
Since SIUE started using Cascade years ago, it has been hosted locally within ITS on it's servers that it owns and maintains, but that is about to change.
Starting on June 28th, ITS and Hannon ...
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Posted June 19, 2024
by IDLT
Maximize the Impact of Your YuJa Video
Video content is a powerful educational tool in your course or training resource. To ensure your videos reach their intended audience effectively and make the desired impact, it's essential to follow some best practices.
Consider the following best practices when sharing your YuJa videos to ensure a smooth learning experience for your students.
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Share direct links. Direct links to videos in emails, training resources, discussion...
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Posted June 19, 2024
by Curt Price
Microsoft Teams is a collaboration platform available to SIUE Faculty, Staff and Students that can help you and your department improve communication, productivity, and more.
Since its launch, Microsoft Teams has become the fastest growing app in Microsoft’s history with more than 330,000 companies worldwide using it.
Collaboration
Teams allows users to share files, work on them simultaneously, and collaborate in real time. It also integrates with oth...
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Posted May 08, 2024
by Curt Price
Have you ever gotten frustrated searching for a password you swore you wrote down somewhere? How about frustratingly trying to resize windows so you can view two of them on the same screen? In some cases, technology doesn’t feel like a helpful tool but more like an annoying hassle. Here are 17 (because I had to stop somewhere) shortcuts to help make your daily SIUE life a little easier.
1. When All Else Fails, Reboot
It may be a rule as old as Windows 3.1, but it still wor...
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Posted May 08, 2024
by IDLT
Did you accidentally delete a video from your YuJa library? It happens to all of us, but don’t despair. Deleted video files remain in your recycling bin for 60 days and can be recovered by following the steps below. After 60 days, however, those files will be permanently deleted and cannot be restored, so act promptly!
Here’s how you can recover that deleted video:
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Log in to YuJa and access the My Account option in the top right corner of your screen. From th...
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Posted April 10, 2024
by Curt Price
Cascade is the website content management system used by SIUE. It allows users to make simple changes to their department's website without having to know HTML or CSS or any of the programming languages we use.
In the event that users have a question on how to do something basic within Cascade, they have the option of referencing ITS' Web Management site where some self-help options are available.
These options include, Tips & Tricks, FAQ's, Cascade & Accessibility Tutorials, a ...
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