News

Reminder: Join us online today for the LMS Review project information session. Hosted by executive project sponsors, Bruce Campbell, CIO, and David DeVidi, Associate Vice-President, Academic, this session will take place Thursday, September 22, 2022, from 3:00 to 4:00 p.m. Join us via Teams Webinar to learn more about this project and participate in a Q&A session.

What is happening? The Evolving the EdTech Ecosystem project team is excited to announce the launch of the Educational Technology (EdTech) Hub, a new website that pulls together information on Waterloo’s centrally supported EdTech tools; digital technology tools used to deliver and facilitate learning, learning activities, and aid in the creation and dissemination of content.

The Summer 2022 issue of the IST Newsletter is now available. The summer has been busy and we have lots of great updates and information to share. Review the newsletter to learn more about the Academic Calendar and Curriculum Management project; the EdTech Ecosystem project and EdTech Hub website launch; the Learning Management System (LMS) Review project; updates to JSM; email migrations; and more!

What is happening? Information Systems & Technology has started a Microsoft 365 (M365) changes and highlights blog. Visit the blog to learn what’s new with M365 apps and how these changes and/or new features can enhance your experience with the platform and improve the way you connect and collaborate with peers.

Where do I find the blog? Visit https://uwaterloo.ca/microsoft-365/blog today to learn more about:

What is happening? Owners of Teams sites that have unused Power Platform features enabled (e.g., Power Automate, Power Apps) may receive an email indicating that their inactive Teams environment will be disabled. 

Why is this happening? When a feature is not in regular use, Microsoft will cleanup inactive environments resulting in the deactivation and eventual deletion of the environment.

Did you know? During the summer months, Ontarians experience approximately 15 “peak energy” days, when energy is in the greatest demand. The amount of energy we use on these days typically drives a very large portion of the overall energy costs for the University. And a significant amount of the energy generated to meet this additional load comes from more emissions-intensive gas plants.

What is happening? As an extension of the N: drive to OneDrive project and the move to SharePoint Online, IST will work with Academic Support Units (ASUs) to migrate content from the network file solution, R: drive (\\filed), which uses the NetApp service, to SharePoint Online and/or Teams.  

Why is this happening? In comparison to the R: drive, SharePoint Online and/or Teams offers a more user-friendly and robust file storage solution, providing a greater amount of storage space and allowing users to access, share, and collaborate on files from anywhere on any device. Visit the Migrating R: drives to SharePoint and/or Teams project page ​for more benefits. 

What is happening? Pantheon will be updating the Content Delivery Network (CDN) that is in front of all WCMS sites (plus the campus map, search, and Scholar).

When is this happening? Between 9:00 p.m. on Wednesday, July 27 and 1:00 a.m. on Thursday, July 28.

What is the impact? Site may briefly show a status of "503 Service Unavailable". Please try reloading the website after a few minutes.

What is happening? Earlier today, IST was made aware that the student version of Gitlab was unavailable. This was a result of the service reaching storage capacity due to heavy user activity.

Additional storage capacity has been added, and the student version of Gitlab is available.

Questions or concerns? Please submit via the IST Jira Help Portal.

Information Systems and Technology (IST), along with our partners in the Office of the Registrar and Graduate Studies and Postdoctoral Affairs (GSPA), is excited to announce that Kuali has been selected to provide an academic calendar and curriculum management solution for the campus. Visit the project website to learn more.