Are you working on an interesting campus project or research topic? Our Drake alumni network would like to hear from you!

The Office of Alumni Relations is looking for faculty & staff to be speakers in a new virtual ‘Back to Class’ series. This is an opportunity for alumni to connect with campus and a chance for you to share your knowledge. The topic and time can be decided based on your schedule. After the session is completed, the video will be accessible on the alumni website.

To sign up or learn more, take this survey. For questions, reach out to alumni@drake.edu.

— Amelia Klatt, Office of Alumni Relations

As faculty and staff return to campus this week, please be aware that construction is still affecting the streets surrounding the University.  University Avenue will have one lane open in both directions and some closure of the south parking lane as the Harking Center and Home2 Suites complete their streetscape. Access to parking lots off University Avenue will remain open. The intersection of 25th Street and Forest Avenue and 24th Street between Carpenter and Forest are currently closed for storm sewer installation and should reopen the week of Aug. 10 after street paving is completed. For those who park in the Fine Arts Lot east of 25th Street, please access the lot from the south off of University Avenue.

— Kevin Moran, Facilities Planning & Management

ITS has completed the work to integrate Zoom with Blackboard and Zoom is now ready for academic use across campus. Zoom uses single sign-on (SSO), so once you’ve logged into Blackboard, you won’t also need to log into Zoom.    

There are instructions and links to Zoom training in the knowledge base area of the IT service portal at https://drake.teamdynamix.com/TDClient/2025/Portal/KB/?CategoryID=18578 

Getting Started with Zoom (FAQ) is full of helpful links for both you and your students including links to videos tutorials, longer recorded presentations, and webinars hosted by Zoom.   

If you encounter issues with accessing or using Zoom, please submit a Zoom Issue online or contact the support center at 515–271–3001.  

–Jerome Hilscher, Information Technology Services 

Human Resources is now located on the third floor of Old Main. Beginning Aug. 3, HR team members will work on-site on a staggered schedule combined with continued telecommuting. To mitigate risk, we ask that you contact us by email so virtual interaction may take place as much as possible. For questions, please contact drakehr@drake.edu.

— Mary Alice Hill, Human Resources

As we all navigate through a new academic calendar and course offerings/formats together, it is more critical than ever to drive student success, preparedness, retention, and savings through timely course material decisions.  We are one month from classes starting and we are at about 87% of adoptions compared to last fall. If you have not provided information, please do so this week, if possible.

For specific methods on how to submit your Fall 2020 book order, email/phone/online order submission are all acceptable. If you have any questions, do not hesitate to reach out myself or Donna Hallstrom by phone or email.

Three easy steps to access Follett Discover via Blackboard

1. Log into myDrake.
2. Click on the Bb icon on the main ‘mydrake’ screen.
3. Find the Tools channel, scroll down and click the Follett Discover link OR find the Follett Discover channel and click the Launch Discover link.

— Katie Wilz, University Bookstore

The University Bookstore has made an important change to its text department. As part of the Bookstore’s new Shop by Author program, course materials are now arranged on shelves alphabetically by author instead of by course.

Whether it is a student shopping or a team member picking online orders, a person now starts at “A” and walks through the department one time, collecting course materials based on authors’ last names.

Before Shop by Author, students may have had to jump around to different areas of the text department to find their books, especially when a title was used in multiple courses. This new alphabetical arrangement will save students time and ultimately deliver a better shopping experience.

In future semesters, the Bookstore will introduce students to technology that will allow them to scan a QR code as they enter the text department to see a shopping list by author, specific to their class schedule.

However, this fall, in light of COVID-19, the Bookstore will be promoting its website as the best way for students to shop for their textbooks. This change to its layout will allow the store team to be more efficient fulfilling these online orders and give the Bookstore more space to store the packages that student’s have selected to pick-up in-store. In addition to the website, the University Bookstore will have clerk service to assist the student’s who come to the store to shop, rather than using the website.

As your classes get underway, ensure students are prepared by letting them know they can find their materials at the University Bookstore.  Don’t forget to share that the Bookstore price matches against eligible competitors, so students can shop with confidence knowing they’re getting their materials at the lowest cost possible.

If you have any questions about the Bookstore’s new Shop by Author program, or any of its course materials affordability programs, please feel free to email Katie Wilz at kwilz@follett.com or call 515-274-3401.

— Katie Wilz, University Bookstore

Blackboard Collaborate Ultra is making improvements to security and adding new meeting features, along with other updates.   

June 13 changes:  

Shared camera option:  The share camera option gives you the ability to share more than one camera. Share your video and share another camera connected to your computer. Students can see you and anything else you want to show. You’re only limited by the number of cameras and USB ports in your computer. NOTE: The video will appear backwards to you in the preview but will appear correctly to others in the session and in recordings.

New edit session layout: The settings are separated into three tabs rather than three expandable menus. Update user experience for creating and editing sessions which also prevents unintended changes to a session from being accidentally saved. Administrators and session owners now need to save changes with the Save button.

Download polls: Now moderators, instructors, and administrators can download a session’s Poll report. This report (found in the Session Reports) includes the poll question and how each attendee responded.  

Download recordings: Recordings are available all the time for session owners and system administrators. Use the Allow recording downloads check box to let everyone else download the recording.

Whiteboard tool updates: It is now easier to select and rotate items on the whiteboard.  

Added in April/May:  

Guest access changes to improve security: The Guest Access check box is clear when a new session is being created. The check box must be selected to allow guest access. Scheduler users still have the option to enable guest access if they choose, in order to allow public access to their session.   

Meetings larger than 250 members (webinar mode): More on Collaborate’s webinar mode. Current upper limit is 500 members. 

July 16 update:  

• Improved security on all new recordings 
• Public access is now “off” by default for new session recordings.  
• Only those enrolled in the course can view recordings by default. 

 — Karly Good, ITS

ITS is updating current campus Microsoft licenses to a new version that will allow all faculty and staff to take advantage of the dial-in conferencing capabilities of Microsoft Teams. After the new licensing is applied, you will be able to schedule meetings in Teams and have attendees join meetings by calling a toll free phone number instead of using the Teams app. As the new licensing is applied, you will receive an automated email letting you know your conference phone number and associated PIN. Please watch your inbox for an email like the example below in the coming week. We recommend that you save this email for future reference.

For more information on using Teams for meetings, see Holding Virtual Meetings Using Microsoft Teams (Best Practices).

— Christopher Mielke, ITS

Drake’s Speaking Center, which was on hiatus in the 2020–2021 academic year, will be reopening in Fall 2020. More details will be forthcoming as the semester approaches, but if you have used the Speaking Center in your classes in the past, you can include it in your planning for the fall.

— Arthur Sanders, Associate Provost