Each week, the Continuity & Community digest includes information about new and changing UC Merced services and platforms, tips for how to use existing services more effectively or efficiently, feature highlights, and resources that may be of value.

Be sure to visit the OIT pages dedicated to Educational Continuity For Instruction , Continuity For Learning , and Continuity for Remote Work . These pages, along with a broader set of crowd-sourced, curated resources for faculty , students , and staff are being updated frequently with new information to aid your transition.
WEEK 4: April 22, 2020
IN THIS ISSUE
  • Zoom: Single Sign On Changes
  • Zoom & Accessibility
  • Zoom Quick Tip: Polling
  • Professor Ashlie Martini on Academic Group Uses for TEAMS
  • Kaltura Self-Help
  • Library Resources Available
  • Remote Qualifying Exams & Defenses
  • CETL - Student Engagement Strategies
  • Curated Resources
  • HR: Telecommute Agreements & Job Bank Program
  • Box Feature: Changing Folder Ownership
  • Staff Assembly: Upcoming Virtual Leadership Chats
  • Curated Resources
ZOOM
SINGLE SIGN-ON IS HERE
As of Monday, April 20, your Zoom login now includes the familiar UC Merced Single Sign-On (SSO). This change increases campus security against Zoom bombing and adds the protection of 2FA to your Zoom account.
ZOOM AND ACCESSIBILITY
When using online tools for remote work, it is important not only to use tools with an accessible interface, but also to know how to use them so people with disabilities can participate.

The University of California Office of the President has created resources dedicated to making your remote online experiences accessible.
QUICK TIP: ZOOM POLLING
Want to give a pop quiz in a class, include something interactive in your discussion session, or capture some quick data from your meeting participants?

Once you enable the feature in your Zoom client, you can set up polls in advance, launch them during your meeting, share general results with the participants, and capture individual responses after the Zoom is done.
TEAMS
TEAMS FOR ACADEMIC COLLABORATION
Hear about how professor Ashlie Martini and her research group have been using Teams for efficient communication, easy meetings, and increased remote collaboration.
LEARN MORE ABOUT TEAMS
CALL FOR STAFF PARTICIPANTS
Teams is the de facto successor of Skype for Business (SfB), UC Merced's instant messaging platform. SfB will be decommissioned in 2021, so now is the perfect time to make the move to Teams.

If your group looking to get started with Teams, use the form below to volunteer for the OIT Teams Beta test group and be among the first to learn about Teams features.

Interested in learning more about teams? Check out this Microsoft blog post: Everything you need to connect with your teammates and be more productive
UPDATES FOR FACULTY
.....AND DID WE MENTION KALTURA IS AN OPTION?
Kaltura is a video streaming platform, integrated with CatCourses, that UC Merced uses to manage and distribute supplemental videos produced by instructors.
UC MERCED LIBRARY COLLECTIONS & SERVICES
The Library’s vast electronic collections are as available as ever. If you need assistance accessing Library collections, including the HathiTrust Emergency Temporary Access Service or JoVE: Journal of Visualized Experiments , your options include:

GRADUATE DIVISION: REMOTE EXAMS & DEFENSES
Graduate Division has prepared comprehensive suggestions to help faculty plan for qualifying exams and defenses during this time.

Committees are encouraged to work with candidates to arrange for oral portions of exams and defenses to be conducted remotely and synchronously if at all possible, and to consider asynchronous alternatives if necessary. 
INCREASE STUDENT ENGAGEMENT
Increasing student engagement during emergency remote instruction presents us with much the same challenge as with onsite courses. Some students always share their thoughts and others remain quiet.

Whether you're needing to increase synchronous or asynchronous engagement, CETL has a number of strategies that may help you with this challenge.
CURATED RESOURCES FOR FACULTY
Have a great resource that you'd like to share? Tell us about it!
UPDATES FOR STAFF
HUMAN RESOURCES UPDATES
UPDATE YOUR TEMPORARY TELECOMMUTE AGREEMENT
Human Resources announced last week that temporary telecommuting agreements are being extended through May 31. If you previously submitted a  Temporary Telecommute Agreement , you'll need to complete a simple form   to extend the agreement.

Don't forget to note any University property you brought home, such as laptops and phones!
JOB BANK PROGRAM
Human Resources has developed a   Job Exchange Bank   for represented and non-represented UC Merced staff employees.

The program is designed to identify underused staff and match them with departments and units that can use their abilities for other tasks, assignments or projects.
BOX TIP: CHANGE FILE OR FOLDER OWNERSHIP
Do you know how to quickly update Box collaborators or even change file ownership within Box? It's pretty simple once you know how, but it can be less than intuitive if you've not done it before.

To change collaborator access to a file or folder, click "Manage Collaborators" within the "More Actions" tab of the file or folder in question within Box.

Click below to learn more about managing collaborators in Box.
STAFF ASSEMBLY: VIRTUAL LEADERSHIP CHATS
Staff Assembly Virtual Leadership Chats aim to cultivate more staff access to leadership and provide an opportunity for Q&A to build community.
Wednesday, April 29th
3:00pm – 4:00pm 
CURATED RESOURCES FOR STAFF
Have a great resource that you'd like to share? Tell us about it!
EXPLORE PAST CONTINUITY & COMMUNITY DIGESTS
Missed an issue? Explore past issues of Continuity and Community
to look back on important news and updates.