September 2024

Digital Housekeeping: Tips & Tricks from the Experts

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The start of fall and a new semester is the perfect time to buy school supplies, pick apples, and do some digital housekeeping. Here are our top tips for taking care of your device and your data in preparation for the new academic year. 

Set aside part of your day to organize and review files 

Did you know that the average employee spends 19% of their work week searching for and gathering information? Organizing, archiving, or deleting files helps keep your computer secure and clutter-free. Click here to read ITS’s suggestions on managing files.  

Add important university dates to your calendar 

Check the academic calendar for the upcoming year and mark important dates—including exams, university closures, and event dates—on your calendar.  

Click here to view the academic calendar 

Click here to view HR calendar 

Click here to view campus events calendar 

Learn more about OneDrive 

For improved collaboration, easy file back-up, and seamless transitions between devices, consider using OneDrive, Clark’s cloud storage solution. OneDrive saves and syncs any changes to your documents, so the most recent version is always backed up. Best of all, it is accessible from any internet-connected device with your Clark account credentials, so you have more flexibility if your computer breaks or needs servicing.  

Schedule an appointment with the technology training specialist to set up OneDrive on your computer. 

Register for a virtual OneDrive workshop 

Sign up for a technology training workshop 

Check out the faculty and staff tech training workshops being offered this fall, including: 

Contact techtraining@clarku.edu to learn more! 

Check and clean out junk and trash folders in Outlook 

Emails might wind up here accidentally that need rescuing! Otherwise, thousands of messages can sit in these folders for months, taking up space and potentially making Outlook run slower. Move any relevant emails to your inbox and delete the rest.  

Restart your computer 

Restarting on a consistent basis is the best way to make sure your device is up to date and running efficiently. ITS suggests restarting your computer once a week before you signing off so the restart process does not disrupt your workday.  

Refresh Team membership 

If you belong to or manage a Team for your group, department, or project, review its members and owners prior to the start of the academic year. With new hires and club members joining this fall, it’s easy for the membership list to fall out of date. Make sure old colleagues have been removed and new ones added with the appropriate permissions. 

If you’d like assistance with your digital housekeeping, please contact the Help Desk at helpdesk@clarku.edu or 508-793-7745. 

Advance Your Skills with LinkedIn Learning

Bahia, BrazilLinkedIn app logo on smartphone screen on office desk.

The start of school is the perfect time to brush up on your skills so you can be confident, happy, and productive for the upcoming academic year. Clark University provides free LinkedIn Learning access to all members of the campus community. Practice public speaking, explore Excel, or manage mindfulness skills! Click here to access LinkedIn Learning. 

ITS has curated a few collections. Check them out! 

In recent months, LinkedIn Learning has also introduced a new AI coaching feature, which can identify helpful skills and courses to address specific challenges you’d like to work on or area of growth you’d like to focus on. Click here to learn more about LinkedIn Learning’s AI coaching.  

Faculty members can also create specific learning paths or collections for their students and monitor progress in LinkedIn Learning. Contact the technology training specialist if you’d like assistance in harnessing the power of LinkedIn in your upcoming classes. 

Teams Phones Update

The networking and telecommunications team has continued working hard over the summer to seamlessly transition more individuals and departments to Teams phones. As of September 1, 49 of 90 departments have begun successfully using Teams phones and 72.4% of individual phone users have been migrated to the new system. 

Benefits 

Teams Phones, which make and receive calls using the internet, provides benefits such as: 

Accessibility 

Use your work phone number from anywhere with an internet connection and connect with remote colleagues. 

Cost Savings 

Reduced voice service expenses compared to the outdated system. 

Improved Reliability and Scalability

Experience consistent and dependable phone service with the ability to adapt to future needs.  

How do I use Teams Phones? 

Click here to watch ITS’s short introduction video to learn how to use Teams Phone features. 

What happens next? 

If you or your department hasn’t yet made the switch to Teams phones, you’ll be contacted in the coming months to schedule a time for the change. Please keep a lookout for emails from voip@clarku.edu. For more information, visit our Teams Phone Transition webpage.   

Together, let’s embrace this positive change and enhance communication across Clark University!  

If you have questions about this transition, please contact the Help Desk at helpdesk@clarku.edu or 508-793-7745. 

Smart School Supplies

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Tess Walsh, the technology training specialist, used to teach college writing classes and loves to learn about new technology that supports learning. Here are some of her favorite “smart” school supplies for reading, writing, and learning. 

Kindle App 

Did you know you don’t need a Kindle to read digitally? Anyone with an Amazon account can download the Kindle App for free to a smartphone or tablet and send files to the app via upload or email. With most file types, you can also highlight text and add notes while you’re reading in the app to make sure you’re prepared for class. 

Click here to view Send to Kindle options  

Rocketbook 

Those who love to handwrite notes but want to organize or archive them digitally should check out Rocketbook, a reusable smart notebook that can connect to multiple cloud accounts such as Dropbox, OneDrive, and Google Drive. Simply write, scan, and then wipe. While the notebooks cost between $35 – $60, the corresponding app is free.  

Click here to learn more about Rocketbook 

Livescribe Smart Pens 

Learners who need to talk information through to retain it, or learn best by listening, might be interested in Livescribe pens, which can record both audio and notes seamlessly and send it to your favorite device.  

Click here to learn more about Livescribe 

Please note Clark ITS is unable to support these devices. Please contact the companies directly with any questions.

Get to Know Us: ITS Bot

ITS Bot is an automated support assistant designed to answer ITS-related questions quickly and connect you to the Clark-supported technology solutions you need. Say hi to ITS Bot here! 

ITS Bot has been answering questions on the Clark ITS website since 2023. Prior to arriving in Worcester, they “grew up” in Raleigh, NC with over 700 siblings as part of the Ivy AI family. ITS Bot and their family now work at state offices, hospitals, and colleges across the country.  

What do you do? 

I sort through all the information on the Clark ITS website in a few seconds to provide you with relevant information and guide you to the right place so you can save time and learn more. I can also help you open a ticket with the Clark ITS Help Desk, to get the right help for your question. Best of all, I am available twenty-four hours a day, and just a browse and a click away. 

Can you help me do other things, like register for classes or pay my tuition bill? 

I can only help with ITS questions right now. You can always call the Clark University main phone number at 508-793-7711 to be routed to the correct office for your request.   

Are you a real person? 

Nope! I’m an AI assistant. However, I do get occasional support from my human coworkers, so please be kind during our conversations 😊