New to Waterloo Tech Survival Guide

Welcome to UWaterloo!

Eduroam? Nexus? Quest? If this is your first year at the University of Waterloo, you may feel like you are drowning in all sorts of new acronyms, names, and terminology. Consider this article a life jacket for navigating the waters of Waterloo’s most used tech-services. 

Eduroam 

Let’s start with the basics. Waterloo’s wireless network is called eduroam. Eduroam is a secure wireless network that is accessible across campus and available at many higher education institutions around the world [1]. Over 6000 hotspots are available at research and education institutions in more than 70 countries and territories around the world.  

Classrooms, offices, and residence buildings at all major Waterloo campus locations offer this service cost-free. You can connect to it through any computer, tablet, or smartphone and receive fast, reliable wireless internet service [2]. Accessing Eduroam the first time can sometimes be tricky, so let’s lay it out step-by-step: 

1. Access the list of available Wi-Fi connections on your device, and ensure that eduroam is listed. 

2. Select eduroam from the list. 

3. When prompted (the first time you connect and any time you have changed your password), enter your Waterloo identity (userID@uwaterloo.ca) and password. 

Although the above steps should be enough, sometimes additional information is required. If this is the case, enter the following settings, where appropriate: 

• Network SSID: eduroam 

• Network authentication method: WPA2 Enterprise 

• Data encryption method: AES 

• Authentication method: Protected EAP (PEAP) 

• Inner authentication: MSCHAPv2 

• CA Certificate: GlobalSignRootCA 

• User ID: userid@uwaterloo.ca 

• Password: Your WatIAM password 

Eduroam Configuration Assistance Tool (CAT) 

The eduroam Configuration Assistance Tool (CAT) is a downloadable program that configures the most popular devices for the eduroam wireless network (Windows 10, 8.1, 7, Vista, Mac OS X, Linux, iOS) (Android and Blackberry devices should follow the device's specific connection guides  in order to connect. See Connecting to the eduroam wireless network to learn the specific connection guides). It is unique to each university campus, and is available for free at the eduroam CAT web page. 

Connecting to the eduroam wireless network

1. Visit the eduroam CAT web page 

2. At the bottom of the page, click Download your eduroam installer 

3. In the box that appears, either select or search for your institution (in this case click University of Waterloo) 

4. Ensure that the operating system you are using is listed correctly, then press Download your eduroam installer 

• If a prompt appears below this box, press Continue 

5. Your browser will now download the .exe file. Check the downloads window of your browser to find it, and when you’re ready, run the file by clicking on it 

6. Follow the instructions in the installer, making sure to properly input your user credentials 

• When the installation is complete, you should be able to successfully connect to eduroam 

Email 

Office 365  

All undergraduate students have their own Waterloo Office 365 email address. Their email address consists of their userid followed by “@edu.uwaterloo.ca” (for example, jsmith@edu.uwaterloo.ca). The benefits of Office 365 include integration with OneDrive (5TB of personal storage space accessible from anywhere), access to the Microsoft Office suite, a large 50GB individual mailbox quota, and fully integrated email, calendar, tasks, and contacts available on all your devices [7].  

To access your new Office 365 account: 

1. Ensure you have activated your WatIAM account and set a password. You can activate your WatIAM account by clicking the Account Activation link on WatIAM 

2. Go to https://portal.office.com 

3. Enter email address as userid@edu.uwaterloo.ca 

4. Tab or click out of that field 

5. You will then be redirected to the University of Waterloo organizational sign in page. The page will look like this: 

6. Ensure your email address is entered as userid@edu.uwaterloo.ca 

7. Enter your WatIAM password 

8. Click Sign in 

Changing Display Settings for Office 365 

1. Select the application Mail 

2. Click on the Settings button

3. Click on the Display Settings option 

4. This allows you to adjust the way you see your email account when you log in through Office 365. 

Creating Folders and Filters 

• Once you have logged in and taken a look at your email, you may decide to organize messages into folders. For instance, you may want to separate your messages by which class they come from. To make a folder (for example, “Math 135”): 

• Open up the Mail application, as stated above in the Change Display Settings for Office 365 

• Under the Folders tab on the left-hand side, click the More button 

• Hover over the drop down menu with your name on it, click on the +  

• Type a name the folder 

• Now that you have set up a folder, you can filter your incoming mail to ensure that all messages from your Math 135 professor, John Smith, go directly into your Math 135 folder. To do this: 

• Click the Settings button in the top task bar 

• Under the heading My App Settings click Mail 

• Under the Automatic Processing tab, click Inbox and Sweep Rules 

• Follow the instructions given on the page 

Under these settings you can name your rules, make the conditions that must be met, and what happens to that message when all of those conditions are met. You can create any number of rules until your mail client is organized to your satisfaction [3]. 

See Getting started with Office 365 for more information. 

Quest 

Quest is one of Waterloo’s main information systems for students. It can be accessed using your WatIAM credentials, and gives students access to transcripts, grades, contact information, application status, and more. It also allows students to enroll in courses, view class schedules, and access financial information such as tuition fees and financial aid. You can log in to Quest using the web browser on any desktop or mobile device [4]. 

Visit Quest’s Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs): 

• For undergraduate students 

• For graduate students 

LEARN 

Waterloo LEARN provides an online educational content and resources for many courses offered at Waterloo. By logging in with your WatIAM account, LEARN will give you access to many (or all) of your Waterloo courses, including documents, quizzes and forums that allow you to communicate with your instructors and other students [5].  

You will be able to get notifications for assignment due dates, campus-wide announcements, and messages from your instructors. LEARN is being steadily integrated into many courses at Waterloo, so it is important to know a thing or two about it before jumping in. 

Navigating the Homepage 

LEARN can be daunting at first. It offers a lot of information to be taken in all at once, so let’s take it one step at a time. 

When you first log in you will be taken to the LEARN homepage. Here you will find a taskbar at the top of your screen with: 

• a link to My Home which takes you back to the LEARN home page; 

• a drop-down menu of your courses; 

• message alerts, update alerts, subscription alerts (with useful information like recent Waterloo news); 

• your name drop down menu (to view/edit your profile, notifications, and account settings, or to Log Out); 

• a link to a calendar of upcoming due dates. 

Many of these boxes can be minimized if you prefer a less cluttered look. 

Finding Course Content 

It can be tricky to find all of the notes, quizzes and assignments, so let this article be your guide: 

1. In the top taskbar, click Select a Course and choose from your list of enrolled courses. 

2. Courses may vary, but for the most part they will contain a new taskbar, found just under the top taskbar and the LEARN logo. From here you can access course specifics: 

• Click Course Materials, then Content to access notes, activities and documents. This is where you will find the majority of your online course materials and work. 

3. Click Connect to find links to: 

• Classlist (a list of the students enrolled in the course) 

• Discussions and Groups (which allow you to connect to other students and your instructor) 

4. Click Assessments to find: 

• The Dropbox, where you’ll submit assignments 

• Quizzes (graded tests )and Surveys (a way to provide feedback or other non-graded information to your instructor) 

5. Click Grades to access any graded materials you’ve received back 

uPrint 

uPrint is a recently implemented system for campus-wide printing. Simply put, it allows anyone with funds on a WatCard to use a computer in a campus lab or log on to a website from their personal computer and upload a file to be printed at any of the uPrint locations on campus.  

The charges for printing come directly from the WatCard’s Flex account [6]. It is a quicker, easier, and more efficient alternative to having to print directly from a computer lab.  

Here’s how it works: 

1. Login with your WatIAM credentials to http://uwaterloo.ca/uPrint 

2. On the left, click Web Print. 

3. Click the Submit a Job link (on the right). 

4. Select a printer from the list (the locations are listed on the right) 

5. If you don’t see the printer you are looking for, click one of the arrows at the top left (under Quick Find) to see the next page of printers 

6. Select the printer. 

7. Press Print Options and Account Selection in the bottom right 

8. Input the amount of copies you’d like to print and click Upload from computer 

9. Click Browse, then browse to the file you want to print and double click on it. 

10. When ready, click Upload & Complete 

11. From the left menu, click Jobs Pending Release 

12. Here you will see your submitted files. 

13. You may choose to print or cancel files individually or press Release All or Cancel All 

14. Go to the uPrint printer and swipe your WatCard to release your print job. 

15. Your job will not be released until you have swiped your WatCard at the uPrint printer. 

16. Once you print your document, your WatCard will be charged directly for the print jobs. 

If you are having any issues with uPrint print jobs in the Faculty of Arts, please contact the ACO help desk. 

Back to Fall 2017 Home

References

[1]“Where Can I eduroam?” Eduroam. N.p., n.d. Web. 25 July 2016. <https://eduroam.org/where/>. 

[2]“Wireless service (eduroam).” Information Systems & Technology. University of Waterloo. Web. June 2. 2015. <https://uwaterloo.ca/information-systems-technology/services/eduroam-wireless-network> 

[3]“Working with Message Folders in Outlook on the Web in Business.” – Outlook. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 July 2016. <https://support.office.com/en-us/article/Working-with-message-folders-in-Outlook-on-the-web-in-business-6bb0723a-f39f-4a8d-bb3f-fab5dcc2510a?ui=en-US&rs=en-US&ad=US> 

[4]“About Quest.” Student Information System. University of Waterloo. Web. June 2. 2015. <https://uwaterloo.ca/quest/about-quests> 

[5]“LEARN.” Information Systems & Technology. University of Waterloo. Web. June 2. 2015. <https://uwaterloo.ca/information-systems-technology/services/learn> 

[6]“New uPrint for Waterloo Students – Print from anywhere on campus.” New uPrint for Waterloo Students – Print from anywhere on campus. University of Waterloo. Web. June 2. 2015.<http://uprint.uwaterloo.ca/> 

[7] “About Microsoft Office 365”. University of Waterloo. Web. May 30. 2017. <https://uwaterloo.ca/information-systems-technology/services/microsoft-office-365-education/about> 

[8] [Welcome]. (n.d.). Retrieved from <https://www.askideas.com/media/13/Welcome-Picture.jpg>