Automatic Logoff
Over the last two semesters (Fall 2024 and Spring 2025) the VCU Instructional Computing Services team has observed a recurring challenge many instructors have been facing in our centrally-supported classrooms; logging in (and by extension, logging off). While this is something most of us do multiple times a day nearly every day of the week […]
Top Hat Engage Virtual Edition
Top Hat Engage Virtual Edition is a free summer webinar series designed to help instructors re-energize their teaching and address challenges like declining reading habits, managing large classes, and improving student affordability through low- or no-cost course materials. The series takes place on June 18 and July 17 and features sessions led by faculty, including a keynote from […]
Updated (2:35pm) – Top Hat Single Sign-On Restored!
Update (2:35pm) – The VCU Shibboleth team has implemented the new certificate for Top Hat Single Sign-On (SSO) authentication and this has been tested with the VCU CAS portal. Authentication services have been restored. Update (1:50pm) – Top Hat’s engineering and support teams have identified the issue with Single Sign-On (SSO) authentication and have reached […]
Top Hat Training Sessions!
Technology Services and Academic Affairs are excited to partner with Top Hat to offer a series of virtual training sessions (via Zoom) for VCU faculty to explore Top Hat, our student engagement platform. With VCU’s institution-wide license, Top Hat is free for students. Whether you are new to Top Hat or looking to enhance your […]
Don’t forget to sign-out (of the computer)!
We’ve recently received some calls and tickets from instructors in centrally-managed classrooms stating they are unable to sign-in to the podium computer because another user is already signed-in. For more information about VCU’s centrally-managed classrooms and the computers provided for instructors and students to use, please visit the VCU Classroom Technology website at https://classroomtech.vcu.edu/resources/classroom-computers/. The […]
TopHat Summer Camp
Top Hat is offering its annual faculty development series called Summer Camp. Delivered in weekly installments throughout July, Summer Camp offers a mix of keynote speakers and faculty-led sessions with a focus on learning to use Top Hat. This year’s featured keynotes include Teaching a Great First Day of Class with Dr. James Lang, and […]
Updated: Top Hat SMS submission now available!
Update: As of 9/8/2023, Top Hat SMS submission is now available again! If you have any questions, please respond to this email or contact [email protected]. Original Post: Top Hat’s SMS text message submission functionality is temporarily unavailable to students with US phone numbers due to new regulations around SMS messaging from application providers to users of […]
VCU Network Connectivity Issues – June 17th, 2022
VCU Technology Services teams are troubleshooting network connectivity issues from this morning. Today (June 17th, 2022) at 5 p.m. Eastern Time, a firewall profile will be reapplied to the login.vcu.edu authentication service used for logging into VCU services to return the service back to the baseline standard for operational security. For customers, this will be a disruption of […]
New Adobe Products and Features
All Adobe Creative Cloud users at VCU now have access to Adobe’s Substance 3D collection of apps and services. To learn more, please visit: https://substance3d.adobe.com Adobe Spark is now Creative Cloud Express. In addition to the same features Spark previously offered, Creative Cloud Express includes two additional applications for quick and easy editing: Premiere Rush for […]
Teaching with Technology Survival Camp 2021
This four-day boot camp, sponsored by VCU Online and Academic Technologies, is designed to assist faculty in preparing for online and technology enhanced courses. The boot camp, in Canvas and on Zoom, will include morning workshops and afternoon open office hours for personalized assistance with course design and technical support. Enroll For more information, contact […]