By Emily Weaver
Web Editor
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Tim Myatt believes the new Microsoft-based e-mail, Live@edu, has numerous features that will benefit the students and faculty.
Numerous changes in technology on the Mount Vernon Nazarene University campus were made over the summer. Information Technology Services (ITS) has been extremely busy tackling everything from e-mail changes to upgraded computer labs, which is a lot to ask for in a three-month period.
Tim Myatt, associate director of network computing, works with Information Technology Services to make technology more up-to-date for this year’s students, faculty and staff.
“Each summer we work with Academic Affairs to determine what improvements are needed in our academic classrooms and labs,” Myatt said.
Some of the new improvements made were small, but others were big changes that are hoped to enhance students’ ability to integrate technology with learning.
“There are three new traditional classrooms equipped on the main campus, and enhancements to the video production lab in the basement of the library were completed,” Myatt said.
He also mentioned that there were no major expansions or reductions in the computer labs, except that the Jetter School of Business 103 lab was upgraded with new computers.
The biggest change most people will notice when returning to campus this fall is the student webmail, which underwent a makeover in mid-July. Students are looking at a new interface and a new e-mail address, but one that will benefit them, since it is set never to expire.
“Over 6,000 e-mail accounts and tens of millions of e-mail messages were migrated in late July,” Myatt recalled. Despite the technical issues with e-mail that some may have faced, Myatt believes the new Microsoft-based e-mail, Live@edu, has a lot of features that will benefit students and faculty as well.
“It provides tools for students to communicate and collaborate in ways MVNU has not yet experienced, including calendars, document sharing, shared workspaces, blogs, instant messaging, video chat, mobile e-mail, document access and address books,” Myatt said.
The next significant change in technology at MVNU was with Blackboard.
“MVNU has decided to change Learning Management Systems from Blackboard to Moodle. The transition will take a whole year to complete,” Myatt said. He went on to say that the move to the new technology would be “well received and benefit all constituents.”
If a student goes to the website now, he or she will see the option to click on Moodle and log in. Some features are currently available, according to Myatt.
“Students may begin to see Moodle-enhanced courses as early as this fall,” he said, “but the majority of the transition will occur in the summer of 2011.”
With all the technological change to come to MVNU this summer came technical difficulties, but Myatt prepared for them.
“Considering all the things that could have gone wrong with a project of this size, we have concluded that the migration to Live@edu was a success,” Myatt said. He went on to say that they had hoped that moving all old e-mails to Live@edu would take only a day, but instead it took a week; still, new e-mails instantly arrived to Live@edu inboxes within minutes of the change.
Other minor issues to come up were problems with the password authentication.
“We are confident that the password challenges are now behind us in time for the new academic year. We also recently introduced a product called Password SelfService that allows students to manage their own password without having to contactthe TSC,” Myatt said.
He also said that an e-mail was recently sent out about the new service and contains basic instructions on how to set up a password with the Password SelfService.
The new technological changes impact how students can utilize technology not only to communicate, but to get ahead in their education.
“ITS wants to extend our best to all faculty and students for a successful academic year. We are pleased to serve the MVNU community,” Myatt said.