Information Technology Services has been working diligently to improve the technology services provided to students, faculty, and staff. They have focused on implementing new campus-wide licenses for a variety of software, developing WordPress for the new NAU website, upgrading classroom and computer laboratory technology, upgrading the campus network and phone systems, and many other projects for improving efficiencies and student success.
Improved network capabilities
The variety of projects speaks to the ever-growing technological needs around campus. To bring new technologies to campus, the core technology infrastructure supporting university business and instructional applications must be consolidated, improved and strengthened. This infrastructure starts with a reliable internet connection, which was recently bolstered by adding a second 10GB connection. Telephone systems and network security have also been improved around campus.
New technology in classrooms
Over the summer, ITS replaced technology such as computers, projectors and lecterns in many NAU facilities. More than 250 computers were upgraded, and an additional 49 classrooms have been upgraded for Fall 2017. Efforts were prioritized around high-utilization facilities and aged technology. These improvements will benefit all students.
New My.NAU portal
A redesigned my.Nau portal is now available at https://my.nau.edu or https://mynau.force.com/community. My.NAU provides access to many applications and single-sign-on services using NAU credentials. This new “front door” to the university is a portal to important information, notifications and services. It is designed to work on smart phones as well.
Other improvements
- Simplified access to network resources makes it easy for students, faculty and staff logging into campus workstations and connect to the network. Users just need to provide NAU credentials; they no longer need to know domain information.
- Microsoft Office 365 for Education is now available to the entire university. Applications such as Word, Powerpoint, Outlook, Excel, Sharepoint, Skype for Business and several others are available free to students and faculty. To download the software, navigate to https://portal.office.com and sign in with your NAU credentials.
- Qualtrics is a powerful survey tool for gathering feedback and generating research data that is now available to the entire university community.
- MatLab, an engineering software to be used for teaching and research applications, is available for university use. With the new MatLab license, NAU faculty, staff and students can access tools for math, statistics, programming and more.
- BbLearn’s Collaborate Ultra was recently integrated, providing enhanced collaborative capabilities for instruction at NAU. The upgrade features a simpler user interface.