Tech News - April 2023

Welcome to the April issue of Tech News.

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Farewell to the ‘old’ Online Phonebook

• The Online Phonebook will be taken offline from the 1st of May.
• You should now use the ‘Staff Directory’ in He Whatu Pūmanawa to find staff contact and organisational information - see this video of how to use the HWP Staff Directory.
• You can update and manage your own contact details in He Whatu Pūmanawa.
• Lists of Justices of the Peace and trained First Aiders will be made available on the Staff Portal before the phonebook is removed.
• The staff intranet being built as part of the Web Project will also include a staff directory function.
• Please contact the Service Desk if you find the phonebook decommission causes issues with how staff contact information appears elsewhere.

New VPN service for staff Traveling to China 

Alibaba VPN - this service will allow our staff in China to use VPN to gain access to all UoW services with no restrictions.  The pilot of Alibaba with University staff at ZUUC has been successful. This VPN service can be used by any staff who are traveling overseas, particularly to China, and need to continue to access University services unhindered.To request Alibaba VPN, log a request in Kuhukuhu via the Traveling Staff Request form, or contact the Service Desk.

Student Printing

• This year we introduced free course-related printing from University devices for students, with an initial 500 page allocation per student.
• A number of students are printing sections of publications, in some cases at the suggestion of staff. This has resulted in some students already using up their initial 500 page allocation for the year.
• These students have been contacted directly, as well as those who may exceed their allocation before the end of the year. Students are able to request an additional print allocation, but will need to justify why this is required to support their study - the Service Desk has access to print data to support the assessment of each request.
• If a top up allocation is not approved, or a second allocation is also used up, students will need to pay for their printing for the rest of the year.
• Students who need to apply for a top up allocation or purchase printing should email the Service Desk in the first instance.
• We want to continue providing free course-related printing to students, and the costs and benefits of this approach will be known at the end of the year. We need your support for this initiative to ensure it’s a viable long term proposition.

Wireless Network Upgrade, Hamilton

• As part of the ongoing network remediation and modernisation programme, a new wireless network is being deployed across the Hamilton campus.
• From April 27th the new wireless network will be rolled out in S and L blocks.
• The changeover period may result in a brief wi-fi outage in these areas.
• As we are expanding and enhancing our wireless coverage across the campus, the new network will only broadcast Eduroam and Waikato wi-fi networks - this is already operating in C-G and R blocks.
• A reminder that to connect to Eduroam, you need to use your username@waikato.ac.nz address and password, not your firstname.lastname@waikato.ac.nz address.
• If you have any issues reconnecting to Eduroam, remove (‘forget’) the network from your device then try again.
• The new wireless network will not be broadcasting the UOW Students network. Students can connect to Eduroam with their University username and password.
• We will share this information with students in next week’s issue of Student News.
• If you have any issues as part of this network upgrade, please contact the Service Desk.

Account Lifecycle Management for Students and Alumni

Approval has been gained by the Vice Chancellor to proceed with ending the Alumni Google Account for life offering and terminating Student Google Accounts.   A project team, including the Development Office, Communications team, and Student Services, is currently putting together a plan for this. More information about this will be communicated in the near future.

Teaching Rooms and Audio Visual Spotlight

2022/2023 AV Refresh Programme Update

Just a reminder that we love to hear your feedback about our teaching rooms. The good and perhaps not so good!  You can email your feedback to teaching_rooms@waikato.ac.nz.

If there are any issues during your teaching, make sure you call 6066 using the teaching room phone. These calls are answered immediately.

Upcoming Training

Drop us a line at its.training@waikato.ac.nz and let us know what you think would be good refreshers for existing staff, and essential topics for new staff.

Planned Maintenance