If you use Jabber and find that you are NOT connected to “phone services” this morning as indicated by an x by the computer/phone icon at the bottom of the left panel, please sign out of Jabber and sign back in.

• On a Windows computer, click the gear icon in the top right and select Sign out. Click Sign in and you will be automatically signed back in.
• On a Mac computer, ciick Jabber in the top menu bar and select Sign out. Click Sign in and you will be automatically signed back in.

CBTS performed maintenance on the phone system over the weekend and it appears that in some instances Jabber may not reconnect to phone services without the sign out/sign in step.

If you have any questions or problems, please contact the ITS Service Desk at servicedesk@denison.edu or 740-587-6395.

Denison’s phone vendor will be performing planned maintenance on Saturday 5/30 and Sunday 5/31 from 12:00 – 6:00AM EDT. Minimal disruptions are anticipated but there is a very small chance of the following:

• Interruptions to calls in progress using the Jabber softphone app or desk phones that are located off-campus.
• Desk phones becoming unregistered during the maintenance and not automatically re-registering.

ITS recommends avoiding calls using these devices during these time periods.

If you are using your desk phone at home and find it is not displaying your name and line number as it typically does after the maintenance: unplug your desk phone, wait 10 seconds, and plug the phone back in. The phone LCD display should light up and it should re-register within a minute or two.

If you have any questions or phone issues, please contact the ITS Service Desk at servicedesk@denison.edu or 740-587-6395 and include your Denison phone number along with a description of the problem.

If you are currently using the Grid View Chrome extension in Google Meet, Information Technology Services (ITS) recommends that you follow the steps below to remove and re-add the Chrome extension as a better source that is more routinely updating the extension is now available. You may encounter issues if you continue to use the currently installed Chrome extension.

To remove and re-add Grid view:

1. Click this link: original source for the Grid View Chrome extension
2. If it says Remove from Chrome in the top right, click that. If it says Add to Chrome, no action is needed.
3. Click this link: new source for the Grid View Chrome extension
4. In the top right, click Add to Chrome and then click Add extension to confirm.
5. If you are in a Google Meet when you complete the above steps, please leave and rejoin the Google Meet so the changes take effect.

NOTE: Google’s native tiled layout now displays up to 16 participants so Grid View is only necessary if you attend meetings larger than that. To learn more about Grid View, see the Google Meet Grid View Quick Reference Guide.

If you have any questions or problems, please contact the ITS Service Desk at servicedesk@denison.edu or 740-587-6395.

Google Calendar has a handy Appointment Slots feature that allows you to set up a block of appointments on your calendar that other people can reserve. For example, you can set aside 2 hours that you’re available to meet with people in 30-minute slots. Appointment slots are a great tool when you don’t know who needs to meet with you, but you want to make yourself available. To learn how to use the Appointment Slots feature, check out the Denison Appointment Slots Quick Reference Guide and Appointment Slots video.

For more information about Google Calendar, please visit the MyDenison Google Calendar page. If you have any questions, please contact the ITS Service Desk at servicedesk@denison.edu or 740-587-6395.

Google has added the following new features to further enhance online meetings:

• Ability to easily share videos with audio in Google Meet when using Google Chrome. To learn how, see the Google Meet Video Sharing Quick Reference Guide or Sharing a Video in Google Meet video.
• See up to 16 Google Meet participants at once with Google’s tiled layout. This feature is only available on computers – not on mobile devices. Google Meet selects a layout for your meeting but you can select a layout yourself if you like. To learn how, see the Google Support article on selecting a layout. If you would like to see more than 16 participants at once, you can use the previously announced Grid View for Google Meet Chrome extension.
• Video conference anywhere with Google Meet low-light mode on mobile. No action is necessary to enable this new feature – it is automatically on. To learn more, see Google’s announcement.

For an overview  of Google Meet and links to Google Meet resources,  please see the MyDenison Google Meet page. If you have further questions, please contact the ITS Service Desk at servicedesk@denison.edu or 740-587-6395.

Google has added the ability to share higher-quality video with audio in a Google Meet. Previously, sharing video with audio in a Google Meet required use of workarounds and the quality was unpredictable. Recognizing the need for high quality video/audio sharing, Google has expanded the options available to allow you to easily share any video you can play within Chrome. To learn how, see the Denison Information Technology Services Google Meet Video Sharing Quick Reference Guide or Sharing a Video in Google Meet video.

If you have any questions or issues, please contact the ITS Service Desk at 740-587-6395 or servicedesk@denison.edu.

As previously announced, Information Technology Services (ITS) has been working with our phone vendor to expand the options for Denison phone service during this remote work-at-home phase. The options include the Jabber “SoftPhone” app which allows you to make and receive calls on your Denison phone line(s) on your Mac or Windows computer. It also allows you to turn on and off forwarding to your cell phone. You can find more details on Jabber and other options in the Phone Options Remote Work Guide along with the request process for each. 

If you believe you would benefit from use of Jabber, please place your request by 4/29/2020. Requests placed by this date will  have the typical $6.43/mo. fee waived by CBTS for the next two months.

If you have any questions, please contact the ITS Service Desk at servicedesk@denison.edu or 740-587-6395.

Information Technology Services (ITS) has been working with Denison’s phone provider, Cincinnati Bell Technology Solutions (CBTS), to expand and test the options for Denison phone service during this remote work-at-home phase. Please see the Phone Options Remote Work Guide for an outline of available options and the request process for each.

If you have any questions, please contact the ITS Service Desk at servicedesk@denison.edu or 740-587-6395.

To further enhance Google Meet security for educational institutions, Google has made the following changes effective immediately:

• Only meeting creators and calendar owners can mute or remove other participants. This ensures that instructors/meeting hosts can’t be removed or muted by students or other participants.
• Only meeting creators and calendar owners can approve requests to join from external participants. This means that students/other Denison participants can’t allow external participants to join via video and that external participants can’t join before the instructor/meeting host.
• External meeting participants can’t rejoin nicknamed meetings once the final participant has left. This means if the instructor/meeting host is the last person to leave a nicknamed meeting, external participants can’t join again until the instructor/meeting host restarts the nicknamed meeting.

Additionally, Google has announced that they will be extending access to premium features to educational institutions until September 30, 2020. That means all Denison account-holders will continue to be able to do the following until that date:

• Have up to 250 participants per video call.
• Live stream a video call (up to 100,000 viewers within a domain).
• Record a video call.

If you have any questions, please contact the ITS Service Desk at servicedesk@denison.edu or 740-587-6395.

ITS is offering a series of  30 minute online workshops to highlight key skills/features in G Suite apps including Chat, Calendar, Docs, Meet, Sheets, and Slides. You can find dates and descriptions for workshops on the ITS Training Calendar page in MyDenison. No RSVP is necessary to attend. Please join when you can!

These workshops will be held using Google Meet. To join, click the More Details link in the calendar entry on the ITS Training Calendar and then click the Join Hangouts Meet link.

If you have any questions, please contact the ITS Service Desk at servicedesk@denison.edu or 740-587-6395.