Over the last number of years the university has developed services and solutions to meet the growing mobility needs of staff. Please note that all remote working arrangements will need to be agreed with relevant line management and in line with UCC Human Resources policies.

IT Services has invested and developed remote access systems that support and facilitate these new ways of working. Most of the services required by staff are now available via a standard web browser from anywhere. Developments in cloud services and primarily the rollout of Canvas,  Microsoft Office 365 and other productivity tools means that the university is not entirely dependent on the campus Data Centres in order to perform the day to day business of the university. 

We advise all functional and academic units within UCC to familiarise themselves with the services and options detailed here, and to install and test the required software.

Supporting Remote Learning, Teaching and Research

UCC has successfully delivered many fully online programmes over the past number of years.  All modules and associated enrolments already exist within Canvas, allowing a module team to support students remotely if campus is closed. Naturally, not all aspects of the on-campus experience can be replicated online, but high-quality content, as well effective online assessment can be managed remotely using the suite of online tools at our disposal.

Staff

• Our Remote Teaching Cheat-Sheet will get you started on the basics of teaching online.
• UCC Library has created a Remote Working Section detailing services and assets that can be accessed online 
• All UCC Staff have been enrolled into a Teaching with Technology course. Together with colleagues from the Centre for Digital Education and UCC Library, we will use this course to actively support teachers during an extended period of campus closure. 
• How to Record your Lecture
  • While Canvas can be used to easily share static content such as files and links, it also easily allows a teacher to incorporate digital resources, host live or recorded lectures (audio and/or video), as well as build collaborative activities, so that the remote learning experience can be engaging and interactive.
  • Recording and uploading audio and video can easily be done from your webcam or mobile device from on campus or from home, so you can deliver pre-recorded or live content to your students. 
  • Panopto can be used to upload or record video from your webcam or mobile device.  These videos can easily be included in your course material on Canvas, see this page for instructions
  • Canvas allows the recording of shorter video snippets using it’s own in-built video recorder. The Canvas support pages contains information on how to create your own video snippets
  • With PowerPoint, you can add speaker notes and audio to a PowerPoint lecture and upload it to Canvas like any other file. Watch a short video (7 minutes) on how to add audio to your PowerPoint and prepare it for uploading.and here is a guide from Microsoft on how to record Audio in PowerPoint. This is a really simple but highly effective way to deliver your lectures online.
  • We also have some additional information about using audio/video to as part of your teaching. If you need some additional assistance about using video/audio to support your teaching please visit our Canvas training page or you can also book a consultation session.

Students

All UCC Students have been enrolled into The Success Zone Canvas space. Additional support information on Remote Learning is also available from the Student IT website.

Support for Remote Learning and Teaching

Canvas has 24/7 support for both staff and students. Questions about Canvas including technical issues as well as advice and support about using the platform can be directed to the Canvas 24/7 support desk, via online chat, email and phone (1800 852 159) who will escalate any specific issues to the appropriate channels in UCC if needed.

UCC Library

The Remote Working section of the UCC Library outlines the services still available to you while you study from home. 

Research

Online library resources can be accessed off campus via the library website using your UCC credentials. If you have any problems accessing e-resources, contact libraryresources@ucc.ie or library@ucc.ie

Go to the Libraries Remote Working page for information on library services that you can avail off online.

For researchers who may need to access on-campus services, or for accessing specific on-campus software or data, please review the remote access section below.

Supporting Administration and Non-Academic services

Services available Remotely:

Detailed information on remote calls, meetings, conferences and webinars using UCC-supported platforms such as Microsoft Teams and Google Meet is available on the AMVS webpage.

All staff can access Email, Word, Excel, Teams, OneDrive etc. by logging into Microsoft Office 365

Additional services available remotely include:

• Employee Self Service
• Agresso
• QuickMinutes
• T4 CMS
• NAS (accessible via Virtual App)

More information and appropriate links are available at https://www.ucc.ie/en/staffapps/ 

Some services require staff to use MFA(Multi Factor Authentication) in order to log in. More details can be found at https://www.ucc.ie/en/it/services/mfa/

Business Applications

Most back office business applications  (ITS, HRIS, DMIS, Agresso Back Office etc.)  are not available remotely by default. To access these services, staff must use VirtualApp, which is coordinated with the respective business support functions.

The university has a limited number of Virtual App licenses, so in the event of extended campus closure, IT Services may have to prioritise usage for some users to ensure the university's main business process continue to function.

Remote Access:

If you turn on OneDrive Folder Protection, you will be able to access your work computer's Desktop and Documents folders directly through OneDrive for business. See details here on how to turn it on: Folder Protection

If you have emails in Microsoft Outlook that are only accessible on Campus, then you should move these locally stored emails back up to the cloud, making them accessible anywhere. See details here on how to do so: Outlook PSTs

If you have further requirements about accessing campus based services remotely please contact us at helpdesk@ucc.ie

Working Securely Off Campus

There is a guidence note available for staff to help us take appropriate measures when working remotely to protect the security of the devices we use and the data we process. Please do sure to read the Working Securely When Off Campus section of this site.