TECHNOLOGY TODAY

New CUNY Initiatives Supporting Academia

Transitioning to One CUNY Login for University-Wide Applications

This summer, CUNY’s Computing and Information Services (CIS) began changing the way students, faculty and staff log in to our University-wide applications. The goal is to have just one username and password (called the CUNY Login) to access CUNY-wide applications and services, as well as key services provided by colleges. The new CUNY Login is the CUNYfirst username followed by @login.cuny.edu and your CUNYfirst password.

Beginning in July 2017, users began to log into Blackboard with the new CUNY Login. This was followed in August by DegreeWorks and FACTS. On October 27, 2017, we will transition CUNYfirst and the Virtual Bookstore to the new CUNY Login. The fastest way to access the applications is through the CUNY.edu Login menu, which takes you directly to the CUNY Login page.

Once the new CUNY Login is fully implemented, there will be fewer usernames and passwords to remember and users will need only log in once to access many University-wide applications. For example, if you are already logged in to Blackboard, clicking on a link to DegreeWorks (or CUNYfirst after October 27th) will automatically open DegreeWorks (or CUNYfirst) without having to log in again. If you are an advisor, you will be able to have both open at the same time and easily transition between the two applications.

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CUNY will be holding its 16th Annual IT Conference on Thursday, November 30th and Friday, December 1st at John Jay College of Criminal Justice.

This year’s panels will focus on “Instructional/Information Technology at CUNY: Opening Access.” “Access” is broadly defined, including ADA compliance, access to course materials and devices used for digital materials, Internet access, access to campus spaces and services, and access to faculty and community.

You can find more information and register for the conference here: http://www.centerdigitaled.com/events/CUNY-IT-Conference.html


DegreeWorks Upgrade Completed

DegreeWorks, CUNY’s student advising and graduation audit tool, underwent a major upgrade this summer, completed in August 2017. The upgrade provides significant new functionality to students who are seeking course advisement, fulfilling a core component of the Chancellor’s Strategic Plan to improve academic advisement and better assess student degree progress and risk.

New functions, including the new Student Educational Planner and Transfer Finder Audit, are being added to the Academic Advisement Audit. The new Student Educational Planner displays planned courses and the impact of revisions to future semesters. This new tool has already been made available, and colleges will begin to implement it on a rolling basis as they develop the appropriate templates.

The new Transfer Finder “what if?” feature, scheduled to be implemented for the Summer 2018 term, evaluates how completed courses meet degree requirements at another CUNY college to support Reverse Transfer Initiative. The new DegreeWorks functions and CUNYfirst Self-Service integration provide the ability to track student progress, improve reporting, and streamline the users’ experience.

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CUNY Virtual Bookstore Expansion

Over the summer, eight additional colleges transitioned to the CUNY Virtual Bookstore service operated by Akademos: Brooklyn College, City College, Hostos Community College, Hunter College, School of Medicine, Guttman Community College, Graduate School of Public Health, and York College. These colleges followed the original four (John Jay College, Medgar Evers College, Queens College and the Law School) that have been using this service beginning in 2014. The Virtual Bookstore provides students with textbooks and course materials in a wide variety of formats and offers a price-match guarantee on new items. By integrating with CUNYfirst, it also enables students to view a personalized list of their courses and assigned materials when they log in to the bookstore.

Faculty at the participating institutions benefit from an easy-touse Adoption & Analytics Portal that helps them make cost-conscious selections. The platform also contains a CoursePack Creator, Course Materials Recommendation Engine, and OERBased Resources. Additionally, the dashboard enables administrators and department chairs to view the textbook/course materials adoption process in real-time so they can monitor compliance with the Higher Education Opportunity Act. Notably, those colleges using the Virtual Bookstore experienced a far higher compliance rate with this Act than others. Those at one of the twelve participating bookstores can find more information about these features on your college’s personalized bookstore page.

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Hostos Wins Blackboard Catalyst Award

In June, Hostos Community College’s “Are You Ready?” online learning course won the Blackboard Catalyst Award for Optimizing the Student Experience. The Blackboard award ‘honors those institutions whose educational and administrative innovations have markedly improved the total learner experience. This includes their addressing of new and changing dynamics in fields such as student recruitment, financial aid, enrollment, retention and assessment, graduation, and beyond.’ This same project was awarded the CUNY Excellence in Technology Award for Outstanding Project Serving Students Faculty and/or Staff in December 2016.

Hostos’ “Are You Ready?” is a learning module that prepares students to derive maximum benefit from an online course. Topics include a segment on Online Learning, Basic Technology Proficiency, Using Blackboard, Technology Requirements, and Netiquette and Services for Students at Hostos.

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Brooklyn, Queens and Staten Island Campuses All On High-Speed Fiber Network

CIS completed the expansion of the CUNY Fiber Network this summer, providing all CUNY campuses with redundant, highspeed Internet access. Beginning in the Fall 2016 term, CIS expanded the CUNY Fiber Network from campuses in Manhattan and the Bronx to six colleges in Brooklyn and Queens. The College of Staten Island and Medgar Evers College were added in January 2017. The remaining college, Kingsborough Community College, was added in July 2017.

As a result of being added to the CUNY Fiber Network, these colleges now enjoy redundant Internet access at 20 Gigabits per second (Gbps) – a twenty-fold increase over the prior average. This expansion will provide the necessary bandwidth for high bandwidth uses, such as transporting large files across/between campuses and transmitting voice and videos. The fiber network infrastructure also lays the groundwork for a planned world-class research network, incorporating cutting-edge technology and providing speeds of up to 100 Gpbs.

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Enhancing Your Cyber Security Awareness

October is National Cyber Security Awareness Month, and CUNY is participating by providing information every week about steps that you can take to protect yourself at work and at home. Our goal is to help you make the most of today’s technology…safely and securely. Every week, we are providing information on different aspects of cybersecurity both by email and on the Information Security pages on the CUNY website.

All faculty and staff should remember to take CUNY’s online security awareness course, which takes no more than a half hour. This course is catered to CUNY students, faculty and staff and provides valuable information about ways to safeguard your personal information and that of your students. Additionally, CUNY’s growing security resources are listed on the CUNY Information Security pages.

You may also want to visit and bookmark SANS’ site where you can learn more about protecting yourself online with daily security awareness tips or subscribe to OUCH! — the world's leading, free security awareness newsletter designed for technology users.

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Making Course Content Accessible to Students with Disabilities

Faculty are responsible for ensuring that students with disabilities have equivalent access to course content, including to instructional materials, software, videos, multimedia, telecommunications, or web-based content used in carrying out university activities. To assist with this effort, CUNY’s Council on Student Disability Issues (COSDI) publishes a Faculty Guide to Teaching College Students with Disabilities on the CUNY Assistive Technology Services (CATS) website to help faculty in providing access to materials for students with disabilities. The guide provides the latest information about various types of disabilities, the functional limitations of students with these disabilities, recommended accommodations, and helpful suggestions on how to successfully meet students’ needs in the classroom and other college settings.

You can also find guides on CUNY’s website to make content accessible:

Finally, you may wish to check with your Center for Teaching and Learning, or the equivalent center, for any guidance or courses.

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CUNYfirst Training — Available When You Need It

Do you have questions about how to use different functions in CUNYfirst? To help with common “how do I?” questions, CUNYfirst instructional and training materials are available on CUNY.edu and within CUNYfirst.

The CUNYfirst Training page on CUNY.edu provides links to quick start, step-by-step instructional (step sheets) and reference information that can be viewed online or downloaded. The materials are organized hierarchically by user category (student, faculty and administration), academic/business area and task within an academic/business area.

CUNYfirst Enterprise Learning Management (ELM) provides faculty and administrative staff with access to interactive training courses and supporting materials from within CUNYfirst. You can access the ELM functions and course catalog from the CUNYfirst Main Menu by selecting Self Service > Learning. To help find and register for courses in CUNYfirst ELM, see Course Registration- Faculty Staff on the CUNYfirst Training page.

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CUNYfirst Admissions for Direct Admit

In July 2017, the CUNYfirst Admissions module was launched for the Spring 2018 Semester direct admits population. The new Admissions module provides an integrated, end-to-end process within CUNYfirst to manage the full lifecycle of college direct admit applications, from submission to matriculation. The July launch was the first phase in implementing full undergraduate CUNYfirst Admissions in the semesters to follow.

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We welcome your comments and ideas for new initiatives at cisfeedback@cuny.edu.