The University of Indianapolis Technology Support Services held an “off the road” information event in the basement of Schwitzer Student Center on Wednesday, April 10. Organized by Assistant Manager of Technology and Support Services Lisa Moore Soeurt, the event covered topics such as Wi-Fi on campus, printing, illegal downloading, password protection and more.
“We have done several ‘road shows’ starting last fall, every month a semester,” Moore Soeurt said. “Last semester we would go into the residence hall and do a program at night. We had trouble getting Lecture/Performance credit doing that. So this semester we have made it more centrally located so the students could receive help here.”
Technology Support Specialist Scott McDaniel began the event by discussing the on-campus Wi-Fi, explaining how the wireless has been improved over the past year. He mentioned that the TSS has been able to incorporate Wi-Fi throughout Smith Mall, but the sections of the school that still struggle to receive a strong Wi-Fi connection are the basements across campus.
McDaniel briefly touched on the subject of printing on campus. He reminded students that if they want to print a paper, as long as they send it to one printer, it can be accessed and printed from any computer on campus.
McDaniel also explained how illegal downloading of material online could come with certain consequences. If someone is caught illegally downloading or torrenting he or she can be fined by both the school and the government. McDaniel offered an example of a student being charged hundreds of thousands of dollars’ worth of fines. Th e university will contact a student if it has found illegal or copyrighted content connected to that student’s IP address. The student will then have seven days to delete the files or else face consequences.
One of the main points addressed by McDaniel was password protection. He reminded students that no one from the university ever will ask for a password or username over email. They also provided a tip for spotting potentially fraudulent websites. McDaniel told students always to check the URL of the website and make sure it is a UIndy website. He also suggested looking for grammatical errors and odd sentence structures in emails claiming to be from the university.
According to Moore Soeurt, the issue of phishing and password fraud has decreased over recent years because of students’ technological knowledge.
“The students are pretty savvy anyway,” Moore Soeurt said. “What we really try to get across to them are the main points: how to protect your password, not falling for those phishing attempts. We do still see that, but hopefully we can put it in the forefront of people’s minds when they see that.”
McDaniel also mentioned the Technology tab on MyUIndy site, and how students can contact TSS for help with technological issues. He brought up the Ellucian GO app and how it can help students organize classes and schedules right from their phone. Senior human resource management major Abdulhadi AlAkkad said he found the event helpful.
“It was useful, and we covered some information that I didn’t know about,” AlAkkad said. “I would definitely download the Ellucian GO app, and it was helpful to learn how to face obstacles on ACE and through the help desk.”
With renovations coming to the library, changes also will be coming to TSS. TSS is currently located on the first floor in Krannert Memorial Library, but it is unknown where the office will be located after the summer renovations are finished. However, services will be available during the summer over the phone and online.
