UTech News

Prepare for teaching during the January term and spring semester with remote delivery workshops with [U]Tech’s Teaching and Learning Technologies (TLT) team.

Due to scheduled maintenance, PeopleSoft HCM will be unavailable Saturday, December 5, from 1:00 a.m. until 5:00 a.m. ET.

On June 15, CWRU user login requirements were changed to promote stronger security and improve usability. This change requires users to convert passwords associated with their network ID (abc123) to passphrases.

Learn how to easily administer remote testing with [U]Tech's Teaching and Learning Technologies team (TLT) workshops and resources.

Upcoming workshops

TLT is offering two workshops that will prepare faculty and staff for end-of-the-semester remote testing:

Learn how to easily administer remote testing with [U]Tech's Teaching and Learning Technologies team (TLT) workshops and resources.

Upcoming workshops

TLT is offering two workshops that will prepare faculty and staff for end-of-the-semester remote testing:

Due to scheduled maintenance, Peoplesoft Financials will be unavailable Saturday, November 28, from 10:00 p.m. until 6:00 a.m. and Sunday, November 29, from midnight until 4:00 p.m.

Because of scheduled maintenance, the EMS Spartan Reservation System will be unavailable from Saturday, November 28, at 9:00 p.m. until Sunday, November 29, at 2:00 a.m.

On June 15, CWRU user login requirements were changed to promote stronger security and improve usability. This change requires users to convert passwords associated with their network ID (abc123) to passphrases.

[U]Tech's Teaching and Learning Technologies team (TLT) is available to help with faculty’s technology questions. [U]Tech offers various training and support opportunities for common technologies like Canvas, Echo360 and Zoom, as well as discussions focused on pedagogy and teaching strategies.

PeopleSoft Financials will be unavailable Saturday, November 7, from midnight until 4:00 a.m. due to a security health check and vulnerability remediation, which will be conducted by the vendor at that time.

[U]Tech Software Center has upgraded Origin to version 2020b. Along with this upgrade comes a new annual license that will expire October 31, 2021. This upgrade and annual license is available to all students, faculty and staff free of charge.

Due to scheduled maintenance, the EMS Spartan Reservation System will be unavailable from Wednesday, November 4, at 10:00 p.m. until Thursday, November 5, at 4:00 a.m.

[U]Tech's Information Security Office wants to draw your attention to an increased threat from malware, as cited in the media very recently—specifically ransomware that encrypts files and demands a ransom be paid for their release.

Due to scheduled maintenance, PeopleSoft HCM will be unavailable Saturday, October 31, from midnight until 4:00 a.m. ET.

Due to phishing attacks originating from compromised accounts in the online survey platform Qualtrics, starting today, Duo two-factor authentication will be required to log into Qualtrics.

[U]Tech’s Teaching and Learning Technologies (TLT) team is here to help with your technology questions. The team offers various training and support opportunities for common technologies like Canvas, Echo360 and Zoom, as well as discussions focused on pedagogy and teaching strategies. 

It’s still October, but Case Western Reserve University’s last in-person classes are only three short weeks away. [U]Tech's Teaching and Learning Technologies (TLT) team is here to support faculty and staff as they consider their assessment strategies for final exams.

Due to scheduled maintenance, Peoplesoft Financials (FIN), Peoplesoft Human Capital Management (HCM) and the Student Information System (SIS) are scheduled for maintenance Sunday, October 25, from 1:00 a.m. until 9:00 a.m.

Due to scheduled maintenance, PeopleSoft HCM will be unavailable Saturday, October 24, from 3:00 a.m. until 7:00 a.m. ET.

Due to scheduled maintenance, the EMS Spartan Reservation System will be unavailable from Friday, October 23, at 10:00 p.m. until Saturday, October 24, at 2:00 a.m.

[U]Tech's Teaching and Learning Technologies (TLT) can help faculty with technology questions. TLT is offering various training and support opportunities for common technologies like Canvas, Echo360, and Zoom, as well as discussions focused on pedagogy and teaching strategies.

Due to scheduled maintenance, multiple systems will experience a brief outage Tuesday, October. 20, from 3:00 a.m. to 6:00 a.m.

The following systems are affected:

New annual software licenses for SAS 9.4 are available through the [U]Tech Software Center. Along with these licenses comes an upgrade for SAS 9.4 TS1M6 to version SAS 9.4 TS1M7.

Zoom releases new features and fixes almost every week. In order to take full advantage of these new features, Zoom must be updated regularly.

In preparation for next week’s presidential debate, [U]Tech’s Information Security Office recommends an increased awareness of cybersecurity threats, particularly phishing emails.

Due to scheduled maintenance, PeopleSoft HCM will be unavailable Sunday, September 26, from 3:00 a.m. until 7:00 a.m.

Starting October 13, Google will change the retention policy for items in the Trash in Google Drive. Previously, trashed items would be retained indefinitely.

Canvas will be unavailable for approximately 10 minutes beginning at 3:20 a.m. on Monday, September 21 as maintenance is performed.

Due to scheduled maintenance, PeopleSoft HCM will be unavailable Sunday, September 20, from midnight until 4:00 a.m.

[U]Tech's Teaching + Learning Technologies (TLT) team will host workshops on remote testing to help faculty:

PeopleSoft Financials will be unavailable due to scheduled maintenance Sunday, September. 13, from 3:00 a.m. until 6:00 a.m.

Due to scheduled maintenance, PeopleSoft HCM will be unavailable Friday, September. 11, from 10:00 p.m. through Sunday, September 13, at noon.

Due to a scheduled upgrade, the Advance system will be unavailable from Friday, September 11, from 6:00 p.m. until Monday, September 14, at 8:00 a.m.

Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, the storage used for recorded videos in Zoom has increased dramatically. In order to contain costs [U]Tech is making two changes to cloud recording in Zoom. Starting Friday, Sept.

Lolita Hines, assistant vice president of finance and administration with University Technology, co-authored a piece titled "Technology Business Management and the IT Service Catalog".

The CaseWireless network experienced a disruption this morning. [U]Tech engineers resolved the issue around 8 a.m.

As part of the resolution, users may need to accept a new certificate before logging on to the CaseWireless network.

Granta Edupack 2020 is available now through the UTech Software Center. Formerly known as "CES Edupack," this revised title and version comes with an expiration date of August 31, 2021.

Zoom experienced a significant worldwide outage August 24. [U]Tech understands the disruption that this caused, especially to faculty and students on the first day of classes. 

This month, Google will release a new, integrated Gmail experience. The new Gmail puts email, chat (Google Chat), video collaboration (Google Meet), tasks and document collaboration into a single workspace.

The beginning of the semester is a good time to update your Zoom client. New features, such as video filters, are included with bug fixes when these updates are applied.

Because of scheduled maintenance, Peoplesoft Financials Reporting (FIN Report) and Peoplesoft Human Capital Management (HCM) will be unavailable Sunday, August 30, from midnight until 3:00 a.m.

Due to scheduled maintenance, PeopleSoft HCM will be unavailable Saturday, August 29, from midnight until 5:00 a.m.

On Saturday, August 22, Zoom made a change to the meeting setting, "Only authenticated users can join." Previously, this selection required all participants to sign into CWRU Single Sign-On (SSO) to join the meeting.

A software upgrade for the Health Education Campus wireless system will take place Friday, August 28, from 3:00 a.m. until 6:00 a.m.

Campus community users may experience intermittent wireless network outages with CaseGuest, CaseWireless, during this time.

With the fall semester underway, University Technology continues to offer a number of iPads for loaning to assist a limited number of faculty members in their remote and dual delivery instruction.

[U]Tech C.A.R.E. Center on Kelvin Smith Library’s lower level formally re-opened Monday, August 17, with adjusted hours for the Fall 2020 semester.

Hours will be:

Due to scheduled maintenance, Peoplesoft SIS will be unavailable Saturday, August 22, from midnight to 5:00 a.m. During this time, campus users will be unable to view or update student details, including student account data, class schedules, class rosters, as well as other functionality.

Faculty scheduled to teach in a classroom this fall are invited to sign up for a 20-minute session to help (re)familiarize themselves with technology available in the classroom to support face-to-face and dual-delivery instruction.

UTech upgraded SAS JMP Pro to version 15.1 on the Software Center. This upgraded version includes a new annual license file that will expire July 31, 2021.

Need a wireless connection when away from Case Western Reserve University’s campus? Connect your wireless devices securely at more than 10,000 eduroam wireless network spots available at other research and educational institutions.

In an effort to prepare for the fall semester, UTech has purchased a number of iPads for loaning to assist a limited number of faculty members in their remote and dual delivery instruction.

Microsoft 365 is now available from the Software Center for faculty, staff and students, replacing Office 2016.

[U]Tech has upgraded Mathcad to Mathcad Prime on the Software Center. Mathcad Prime is available to all CWRU faculty, staff and students at no cost.

PeopleSoft Financials will be unavailable on Sunday, Aug. 9, from 3:00 a.m. until 6:00 a.m. due to the monthly system reboot.

Due to scheduled maintenance, PeopleSoft HCM will be unavailable Saturday, August 1, from 2:00 a.m. until 7:00 a.m.

In an effort to prepare for the fall semester, University Technology has purchased a number of iPads for loaning to assist a limited number of faculty members in their remote and dual delivery instruction.

Due to scheduled maintenance, network users in several buildings may experience intermittent network outages July 31 from 3:00 a.m. until 6:00 a.m.

The following buildings will be impacted:

Due to scheduled maintenance, network users in several buildings on campus may experience intermittent network outages July 29 from 3:00 a.m. until 6:00 a.m. The following buildings will be impacted:

Turnitin will perform maintenance on August 1 from 11:00 a.m. until 5:00 p.m. During this time, the following services will be unavailable:

Starting July 28, UTech will require passwords for all Zoom meetings and webinars. This includes those created before May 30, as well as those using your Personal Meeting ID (PMI). 

Due to scheduled maintenance, PeopleSoft HCM will be unavailable Saturday, July 25, from midnight to 7:00 a.m.

Due to scheduled maintenance, network users in the several buildings may experience intermittent network outages July 24 from 3:00 a.m. to 6:00 a.m.

The following buildings will be impacted:

Due to scheduled maintenance, network users in the following buildings may experience intermittent network outage on July 22 from 3:00 a.m. to 6:00 a.m.

Starting July 28, University Technology will require passwords for all Zoom meetings and webinars. This includes those created before May 30, as well as those using your Personal Meeting ID (PMI).

Because of scheduled maintenance, Peoplesoft SIS will be unavailable from Friday, July 17, at 3:00 p.m. until Monday, July 20, at 8:00 a.m.

A software upgrade for the wireless system will take place Friday, July 17, from 3:00 a.m. to 6:00 a.m, affecting Samson Pavilion and the Dental Clinic. Users may experience intermittent wireless network outages with CaseGuest, CaseWireless, CaseGaming and Eduroam during this time.

University Technology will perform a network hardware replacement at the Peter B. Lewis Building Friday, July 17, from 3:00 a.m. to 6:00 a.m.

Users in the following campus buildings may experience both data and voice network outage during the maintenance window:

On June 15, CWRU changed user login requirements to promote stronger security and improved usability. This change will require users to convert passwords associated with their network ID (abc123) to passphrases.

Due to scheduled maintenance, PeopleSoft HCM will be unavailable Saturday, June 27, from 2:00 until 6:00 a.m. ET.

UTech recently updated the chat tool available on help.case.edu.

University Technology's Teaching and Learning Technologies group and University Center for Innovation in Teaching and Education (UCITE) are offering Dual Delivery Summer Camp to help faculty prepare to teach this fall.

CWRU ISO Risk Report

Windows 10: SMBleed Vulnerability

What is happening on the ground:

University Technology ([U]Tech) required passwords for all meetings and webinars that were created on May 30 or after. Any meetings created before May 30 without a password, but scheduled to occur after May 30, may not have a password applied.

On June 15, CWRU will change user login requirements to promote stronger security and improved usability. This change will require users to convert passwords associated with their network ID (abc123) to passphrases.

As reported in The Daily, UTech's Teaching and Learning Technology group and the University Center for Innovation in Teaching and Education are offering additional remote training sessions this week for

As reported in The Daily and on

On May 30, Canvas will release a new, redesigned Rich Content Editor (RCE), which enhances the content creation experience in Canvas. RCE is the tool that lets users bold text, make lists, insert links, add superscript and much more when writing text. The new RCE updates feature:

​Statistically, most of our passwords are insecure. As humans, we want to minimize the amount of effort needed to access our accounts, so we tend to create passwords that are easy for us to memorize.

Summer camp is in session! UTech’s Teaching and Learning Technologies, in collaboration with UCITE, will be offering a 6-week Dual Delivery Summer Camp starting June 1. Join us for a summer of discovery, community, and fun as we prepare for dual delivery in the Fall.

A 180 day retention period will be applied to Zoom Cloud recordings starting May 30. One hundred eighty days after a recording is made in Zoom, it will be sent to Zoom’s recording trash for 30 days and then deleted permanently.

In preparation for teaching remotely for Summer courses, TLT and UCITE are collaborating to lead a variety of workshops focused on remote teaching strategies. Workshops include:

In an effort to increase security and better protect the Case Western Reserve University MyApps users, everyone in the campus community logging in from a web browser or setting up on the Citrix Workspace app will be required to use Duo two-fact

Since the start of remote learning, teaching and working, Zoom has become an indispensable tool for almost everyone at Case Western Reserve University, with the number of users more than tripling in a few short weeks.

With the increase of remote work comes an inherent increase in technology usage, to facilitate communications and functions required to complete tasks and projects.

As finals approach at CWRU, some faculty may opt to use online proctoring for examinations that are now being given in a remote environment.

With the large shift of users to remote work, teaching and learning, the use of phone call-backs for Duo authentications has increased significantly the past two weeks. The university incurs charges for telephone call-back authentication.

The University Center for Innovation in Teaching and Education (UCITE) and University Technology ([U]Tech) will offer "Campfire Tales: Not-So-Scary Stories about Teaching and Learning Remotely" Monday, May 4, from 1 to 2:30 via Zoom.

Service Desk metrics in response to COVID-19 were interesting as was the volume of Zoom activities.

In light of their timely research into coronavirus and COVID-19, UTech was pleased to award 6 research faculty, at no cost, an additional share on the RCCI research cluster "Rider" to supplement their membership for the next 12 months.

In response to security issues and concerns related to Zoombombing, [U]Tech strongly encourages all Zoom users to protect their meetings by using a meeting password or selecting the "Only authenticated users can join" option.

CWRU's HoloLens is featured in an article in the Wall Street Journal. Learn how it's being used to continue education from a distance.

UTech Teaching & Learning Technologies (TLT) developed a plan for supporting May term faculty as they prepared to deliver that instruction remotely. The plan was quickly crafted, well-thought out and in full service of the individual faculty needs.

As the Cleveland Clinic prepared to take over CWRU’s Samson Pavilion to use as a surge hospital during the COVID-19 pandemic, UTech's Network Engineering and Unified Communications teams did some very quick work to reconfigure the wired and wireless network in the Health Education Campus to act a

United Communications team provided a simpler version of Jabber for the student advisors and counselors to prepare for COVID-19 response and remote work environments. All departments who needed this feature were set up for it this team.

In an article in The Chronicle of Higher Education, "Partners, 'vultures,' and other dispatches from higher ed’s grand move online," Sue Workman, VP of UTech/CIO, discussed changes to technology

MediaVision facilitated a Match Day livestream. Match Day is when graduating medical school students find out where they will continue their education. The much-beloved annual event for the CWRU School of Medicine for the first time had to be done virtually.

Twentyeight UTech professionals stepped up to volunteer across the division to provide the added support needed to help the campus transition to remote working, teaching and learning.

The Research Computing team has played a major role with Teaching & Learning Technologies (TLT) in helping UTech acquire and provide training and support for remote proctoring software.

Teaching and Learning Technologies (TLT) partnered with MediaVision to develop resources for faculty to record instructional content both on campus and remotely. The combined effort of the MediaVision team and TLT team helped to ensure that content met instructional needs.

Mark Griswold, Professor, Department of Radiology, School of Medicine and Director of the Interactive Commons, wrote to share, "We have started shipping the [Holo]Lenses we have out to the students. First [online] class is Tuesday. I'll keep you posted on how it goes.

A UTech Content Response Team for COVID-19 -related tech updates self-created to make rapid changes to the UTech website in these unprecedented times. Even though the team has other responsibilities, the goal is to have a rapid content response when the content is approved.

Marc Buchner, Associate Dean, Engineering and Associate Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science reached out to say, "I just wanted to take this opportunity to add my very deep and very sincere thanks on behalf of the School of Engineering to the whole UTech team who have done so

Provost Ben Vinson also expressed gratitude for UTech, "Thank you so much for all of your hard work and tremendous efforts.

VP of UTech/CIO Sue Workman participated in Mentoring Monday, as coaches/mentors to other NEO women. Bizwomen Mentoring Monday presented by Advance Ohio provides advice from women who have made it! Mentoring Monday pairs women leaders with business women seeking insight.

In response to the COVID-19 virus, President Snyder announced that beginning Wednesday, March 18 CWRU

In an effort to increase security and better protect the data Case Western Reserve University users are storing and sharing via Google’s G Suite applications, everyone in the campus community who has registered for two-factor authentication with Duo will be required to use it to access any G Suit

Due to a change in licensing, access to Microsoft products on the Software Center will be changing effective February 1. Faculty members who are university employees, staff, and students will retain their current access to Microsoft products.

Microsoft will no longer provide security and functional operating patches for the Windows 7 operating system as of January 14, 2020. As a result, Case Western Reserve will discontinue its support for Windows 7 on the same day.

The UTech Software Center has added Wolfram Programming Lab to its list of titles. This online subscription is available to all students, faculty, and staff at no cost.

A message from Adobe was sent to users of Adobe Creative Cloud and Acrobat Pro that their licenses will be expiring at the end of November 2019.

As a reminder, Case Western Reserve University is in the process of transitioning from Cisco AnyConnect, our existing Virtual Private Network (VPN), to Fortinet FortiClient.

MATLAB has been upgraded to MATLAB 2019b for faculty and staff and MATLAB 2019b TSH for students in the [U]Tech Software Center. It is now available at no cost to all students, faculty, and staff, and is available for Windows and Mac systems only.

Origin was upgraded to Origin 2019b in the [U]Tech Software Center and is available at no cost to all students, faculty and staff. It's available for the Windows operating system only. Origin is a data analysis and graphing software application used worldwide.

An update of Duo, our multi-factor login tool, recently took place that changes the voice prompts of the "Call Me" feature in Duo. Previously, users would be able to press any key to authenticate.