CaTS Blog

The purpose of this email is to share important information about a few major instructional technology system changes.

Video Conferencing Tool Selection
The CaTS-ITS department worked with the Faculty Senate IT Subcommittee during the March meeting and shared the need for one video conferencing tool to be adopted as the primary tool used for all students and faculty. The use of one tool is not only student-centered, it is more efficient to support and provide training.

Webex was selected as the primary video conferencing tool for use at Wright State University.

What does this mean for Zoom and Blackboard Collaborate Ultra?
Our Zoom evaluation trial will end on May 31, 2022.  Blackboard Collaborate Ultra use will end on August 5, 2022.

What do you need to do now in regards to your videos stored on Zoom or Collaborate?
Zoom evaluation customers will be given instructions early next week with details on how to copy and preserve any recordings from this Spring and last Fall they wish to keep.

Blackboard Collaborate Ultra customers have nothing to do now. CaTS will preserve all Collaborate recordings and make them available outside of Blackboard in the coming months.

Pilot and Panopto Retention Schedules
The CaTS-ITS department worked with the Faculty Senate IT Subcommittee during the March meeting and shared the need for a retention schedule for both Pilot and Panopto. A retention schedule will not only ensure system security best practices, but it will also allow for improved system performance. 

Pilot course content will be kept for six years and Panopto video content will be kept for three years. Panopto content that has not been accessed for the last 13 months will be archived. During this initial attempt of retention for Panopto, we will archive all of the content and slowly move to the three-year retention schedule.

What do you need to do now in regards to your videos or content stored on Panopto and Pilot?
Nothing. Additional information will be shared in the next days and weeks outlining a three-phase ITS Resource Alignment Project. Each phase will provide additional information including a webpage that will provide a timeline; infographic outlining the phase; and how-to document/video if action is necessary. At this time, faculty do not have to take action to download any Panopto video content. Additionally, the Pilot retention process will not begin until the end of Fall Semester 2022.

The message about Zoom will be sent to the faculty affected on Monday, April 18, 2022.
The message about Phase I Blackboard will be sent on Wednesday, April 20, 2022.
The message about Phase II Panopto will be sent to on Thursday, April 21, 2022.
The message about Phase III Pilot will be sent on Monday, August 8, 2022.

We appreciate your attention to this important message. 

On Wednesday, February 23, from 5–7 a.m., CaTS will be performing an upgrade to the campus network which could cause intermittent network outages during this time.  

If you have any questions about this outage, please contact the CaTS Help Desk at 937-775-4827, or helpdesk@wright.edu.

CaTS will be conducting an emergency upgrade on the wireless network tonight from 9:15 – 10:45 p.m. Individuals may experience intermittent disconnections from the wireless network during this time.

If you have any questions regarding this upgrade, please contact the CaTS Help Desk at helpdesk@wright.edu.

In order to maintain effective data security and efficient system performance for our users, CaTS will be instituting a weekly maintenance window for all persistent VDIs. During this time, your system may be unavailable and you should expect that it could reboot.

When is the Weekly Maintenance Window?
Wednesday mornings, between 1–4 a.m.

What Actions Do I Take Now?
When you are done using your VDI for the last time before the next maintenance window is scheduled to occur, please ensure that you save and close out of any applications. You should also sign out of or reboot your VDI, but should not shut it down as this could prevent updates from running.

When Will This Begin?
This maintenance window will begin on March 2 and will remain in effect every week moving forward.

Questions?
If you have any questions or concerns regarding this maintenance window, please contact the CaTS Help Desk at 937-775-4827, or helpdesk@wright.edu.