CIO FALL SEMESTER WELCOME MESSAGE
UMS Colleagues,
Welcome back to the start of a new academic year. In this inaugural issue of the IT Connections newsletter, we are pleased to provide you with updates on several projects and initiatives designed to improve access to key services for all students, faculty and staff. I would like to highlight a few of these efforts here.
This past summer saw the completion of the upgrade of our MaineStreet Student Information System (Campus Solutions version 9.2). This project required significant effort from staff across the University of Maine System and would not have been successful without close teamwork and collaboration. This upgrade has provided substantial improvements in system resiliency, capacity and performance while introducing enhanced navigational elements designed to be more mobile friendly. The foundation established with this upgrade positions UMS to focus efforts on improving usability and mobile access to critical features and functions within the MaineStreet environment. You may learn more about these efforts by reviewing the MaineStreet UX Project update in this newsletter.
Additional enhancements to streamline access to IT systems and services for members of the UMS community are covered in the Microsoft Office 365 and Single-Sign-On Login Page updates. These initiatives will serve to address known existing barriers that, until recently, US:IT had limited options to resolve. We are confident these changes will have a positive impact for the entire community.
Finally, after several months of collecting feedback, reviewing proposals and evaluating options, on behalf of the Educational Technology Advisory Committee (ETAC), we are excited to share the selection of the Brightspace platform from Desire2Learn as the Learning Management System that will succeed Blackboard Learn for the University. We are looking forward to initiating the implementation of Brightspace this Fall with the goal of full deployment for all UMS courses by Fall 2020. You can read more about this project in the LMS Update section of this newsletter. We look forward to establishing a long and rewarding partnership between the University and Desire2Learn.
This newsletter represents a key outcome of the US:IT Strategic Plan in which we identified enhancing internal and external communication as a key area of improvement. Accordingly, we hope you find the information in this newsletter valuable. On behalf of the entire US:IT team, we wish you a successful start to the Fall semester.
Sincerely,
David M. Demers, Ph.D.,
Chief Information Officer
NEW LOOK FOR UMS SINGLE SIGN-ON
A new look to the UMS Single Sign-on page is coming this fall! The new page will better indicate how to enter your University of Maine System (@maine.edu) credentials and will be accessible on a wider variety of desktop and mobile devices. This new format also includes a security reminder to log out and exit your web browser when you are done accessing services that require authentication. These improvements support a more user-friendly experience.
CURRENT VERSION
FUTURE VERSION
(Content provided by Steven Premeau, Director of Enterprise Systems Architecture & Administration)
SUMMER IMPROVEMENTS TO MICROSOFT OFFICE 365
This summer, US:IT took an important step towards improving its ability to support Office 365 for the University of Maine System. At various points throughout the summer, we enabled faculty, staff, and students to log into their Office 365 accounts using their UMS login and password. There is no longer a need to maintain a separate password to access Microsoft services. This resulted in a better experience for the UMS Campus Communities, and reduced the number of Office 365 password-related support requests by 99% when compared to the start of Fall 2018.
Over the course of this academic year, US:IT will continue to expand its level of Office 365 services and support for faculty, staff & students. Stay tuned for updates in our next issue!
(Content provided by Steven Premeau, Director of Enterprise Systems Architecture & Administration)
LEARNING MANAGEMENT SYSTEM UPDATE
As announced in August, via a joint communication from the Chief Academic Officers Council (CAOC) and the Educational Technology Advisory Committee (ETAC), the University of Maine System has selected Desire2Learn’s Brightspace platform to replace Blackboard Learn as our Learning Management System (LMS). This decision came after a thorough review and procurement process driven by input and feedback from the entire University community. The UMS Information Technology team partnered with the CAOC and ETAC throughout this evaluation and will continue to partner with students, faculty, and staff in supporting the teaching and learning needs of the University as we work to implement Brightspace.
Looking forward, we will be working towards a full implementation of Brightspace targeted for a full go-live for Fall 2020. In the interim, the IT support staff will continue to support Blackboard in the same capacity that we always have. The next steps for Brightspace include building the project team that will guide the implementation forward and starting the behind the scenes setup of the new platform. During the project, IT staff will be critical in configuring our new Brightspace solution, assisting with automated migration of content from Blackboard, building a support model to ensure the success of students and faculty, and much more.
The UMS Information Technology team looks forward to the opportunities Brightspace provides students and faculty with a modern, accessible, flexible solution that empowers their teaching and learning needs. More information about the Learning Management System review process, as well as future updates on the progress of the implementation, can be found on the ETAC website.
(Content provided by John Brown, Director of Campus Services, Campus Academic and Business Solutions)
MAINESTREET UX PROJECT
For those who are not familiar with MaineStreet Campus Solutions, this is our Student Information System (SIS) which manages student data. Typical functions include registering students into courses, recording official grades, producing transcripts, student financial aid, and much much more. Without delving too deeply into the pros and cons of our SIS, suffice to say that it handles large amounts of complex data really well. However the user interface and experience, especially for faculty and students, is far from ideal and lacks a contemporary look/feel while the overall usability is fair at best.
On the heels of a long overdue hardware and software upgrade (the CS 9.2 Upgrade Project) is the upcoming deployment of 3rd party interface enhancement tools during the 2019-2020 Academic Year. UMS is partnering with HighPoint Technology Solutions to deliver seamless integration points which are intended to greatly improve the student and faculty experience within our SIS.
| Current MaineStreet Look/Feel | Highpoint UX/UI Enhancement |
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As the User Experience (UX) project continues to ramp up towards a phased rollout and full deployment, we offer a sneak peek into some visuals of the improved experience. Please note, the visualizations included in this article are conceptual representations of the transformation capabilities. Actual look, feel, and design will be determined with broad input from faculty, students, and other key stakeholders.
(Content provided by Tiffany Maiuri, Director of Custom Enterprise Solutions.)