Moving to ConnectU from MetroConnect
July 23, 2012
Message from James Lyall, Chief Information Officer/Associate Vice President for Academic Computing
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Dear MSU Denver Faculty,
As you may already be aware, the MetroConnect portal will become ConnectU on August 6, 2012. While originally only a branding change of MetroConnect was expected, technical complexities required a duplicate portal to be deployed and not all data are able to be migrated automatically. Faculty, staff, and students should use ConnectU for all regular activities beginning August 6, 2012. MetroConnect will remain available as an archive until September 30, 2012.
If you currently use Blackboard to present your course content, you should be able to perform the same activities in ConnectU as you do in MetroConnect on August 6. For example, your students will still automatically be directed to your Blackboard course once they access the ConnectU portal. The most significant impact is for those faculty, staff, or students using MetroConnect’s “MyCourses” feature. If you use the “My Courses” tool set, you will need to move your content to either the new ConnectU’s MyCourses feature or to the Blackboard Learning Management System (LMS). The process for moving your content to ConnectU is the same process used each semester to download and upload courses, but it will need to be uploaded to ConnectU rather than MetroConnect. You can find additional resources for the My Courses on our website at http://www.mscd.edu/technologytraining/documentcenter/metroconnect/.
We understand this is an inconvenience for some of you and want to provide as much support as possible to minimize the disruption. If you have been considering a move from MyCourses to Blackboard, this is an excellent opportunity to make the transition. Blackboard has some benefits over MyCourses including the ability to copy your course each semester using just one click, the ability to add teaching assistants and the ability to utilize advanced features such as video chat and course templates. If you are interested in moving to Blackboard, the Educational Technology Center has developed tutorials, increased open lab hours, and will have dedicated resources available to assist you. If you prefer to continue using “MyCourses,” you will be able to continue doing so with ConnectU.
If you have any general questions about the name change process, please refer to the MSU Denver Got U? website here http://www.msudenver.edu/gotu. As always, if you have any technical questions or need assistance, please contact the MSU Denver Helpdesk at 2-7548, toll free at 1-877-352-7548, or submit a request directly at http://www.msudenver.edu/gethelp/.
I am not a member of the Metro State Faculty listserv, so please send any questions, comments, or concerns to me directly. We want to provide this type of information consistently and as effectively as possible to faculty, and welcome your feedback about your preference for these types of communications.
Thank you,
James
James M. Lyall, Ph.D.
CIO | Associate Vice President
Metropolitan State College of Denver
Denver, CO 80217-3362
303.556.3892
