Welcome back bobcats
Find information here that will help you navigate new and changing services for the start of fall instruction.
a note from Vice chancellor Nick Dugan
Dear faculty colleagues, It is my privilege to welcome you back to campus for the 2023-2024 academic year. The Office of Information Technology has been working hard over the summer to refresh classroom technology, improve the resiliency of our services, and make sure we’re ready to support your instruction and research activities to the best of our ability. With ongoing financial commitments from Chancellor Muñoz, OIT has invested nearly a million dollars in the past year refreshing our older analog classrooms, with several spaces in the Classroom and Office Building upgraded to modern digital standards in recent months – including a full upgrade and refresh of the Lakireddy Auditorium (COB 102). This effort will continue into the fall as OIT works to refresh additional classroom spaces with enhanced Zoom capabilities for hybrid learning. We are also putting the finishing touches on our new Learning Glass and One Button recording studios in the Kolligian Library to support the development of high-quality course materials in collaboration with the UC Merced Teaching Commons. We continue to build out the OIT Service Hub with information and resources to support your research, information security, and technology procurement needs. I hope you find this guide to be a useful overview of our services and how to engage OIT to meet your technology needs. Whether it’s helping to establish a research data security plan, procuring a piece of software, or connecting you with local High Performance Computing resources or cloud computing providers, OIT is standing by to assist in any way we can. As always, if there is something I can be doing to support your work directly, I would love to hear from you. Nick Dugan Vice Chancellor and Chief Information Officer
Digital Signage
If you've ever wondered how to get your events and information displayed on digital signage screens on campus, this is for you!
In the coming weeks, OIT will launch a Digital Signage service which will allow campus departments and teams to obtain access and training to post their information to campus digital signage screens.
If you and your team are interested in posting your content to digital signage, and want to know the moment this service goes live, please add yourself to the interest form below.
Where can I find Digital Signage screens on Campus?
Scroll through the list below to see all the screens available across campus
All Things Zoom
OIT maintains a Zoom information page to keep users informed about key features and issues.
There, you'll find a searchable, interactive database detailing the level of Zoom capability of campus classrooms and meeting spaces, documentation for commonly used features, best practices, and Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs).
New Features
Zoom has added a number of features you may find useful:
- New meeting join window consolidates information about audio and video settings, “waiting for host to join” message, and waiting room message (Learn More)
- Create breakout rooms based on how meeting participants respond to a Zoom poll (Learn More)
- Enhanced chat supports text formatting, reply threading, and emojis (Learn More)
- Q&A functionality in meetings allows anyone to ask a question, but only hosts and co-hosts can answer (Learn More)
- Zoom meeting timer can show how much time in remaining in the meeting or how much time has passed since meeting started (Learn More)
Minimum Requirements
Zoom now has minimum version requirements. Please keep your Zoom client updated to stay secure and maintain access to the latest features.
The OIT System Status Page
The OIT System Status page tracks the functionality of all major campus IT systems, including a number of key vendor-hosted services such as Office 365, Zoom, network health, and more.
The Status page provides campus users quicker and more accurate information during outages, as well as increased transparency into the significant amount of work we do maintaining campus systems, platforms, and technologies.
Visit the page or subscribe to automatic alerts via the method of your choice: email, webhook, RSS, Teams, or Slack.
OIT Behind the Scenes
During the 2021-2022 academic year, OIT launched our OIT Behind the Scenes webinar series. During the year, we hosted 10 webinars about various OIT technologies and service groups....with more to come!
We also created a Behind the Scenes webinar page where you can browse session recordings, slides, resources, Q&A, and more.
We look forward to seeing you in the sessions that look most interesting to you!
We've linked directly to past webinar recordings and noted highlights from some of our favorite sessions below. We invite you to browse and take a quick peak. Catch the highlights and get refreshed on key information!
Sometimes it's good to go back to the basics. As a friendly refresher on all things OIT we have a webinar just for you! Click the image above to watch. (Note: you'll need to unmute audio when the video starts.)
There are plenty of ways to bring tech into your research. Spend some time with CIRT and learn how. Click the image above to watch. (Note: you'll need to unmute audio when the video starts.)
What You'll FIND in CONNECT
Tap MY MERCED to find:
- Persistent log in: sign in once with your UCMNetID and move seamlessly between most platforms from Connect
- Quick links to popular campus applications like email, Box, and Zoom
- Employee resources like UCPATH, APO, TRS, and more
- Faculty-specific resources like Digital Measures and Academic Case Management System (ACRS)
Tap TEACH to find:
- Access to course & student management systems like CatCourses, GRIP, Banner SIS, and Slate
Tap CAMPUS RESOURCES to find:
- Key campus resources all in one place: Transportation and Parking Services (TAPS), Office of Information Technology (OIT), Campus Safety, Library, plus many more
Remote Lab
RemoteLab is a service that allows faculty, staff, and students to connect remotely to computing environments and specialized instructional software. With one or two exceptions, the software available via RemoteLab is identical to the software installed in OIT's physical computer labs.
You don't have to download any special programs to access the RemoteLab environment - it's all available through your web browser!
OUR Spaces:
As you return to campus (or arrive for the first time!), we encourage you to take a look at Our Spaces, an interactive database that details room status, updates, and features of the over 350 campus classrooms and spaces that AET supports.
- Click on a room to bring up more details about the space.
- Click on the magnifying glass to use the Filter, Sort, and Search functions to find spaces with specific features or to get insight into your spring classrooms or conference spaces.
- Find links to report technology or facility problems in your room, reserve the room, or even request event support.
A Comprehensive Searchable Database