Photo illustration by Allison Terry.
Missing messages, failed log-in attempts and lack of knowledge about a new email system are all problems Texas Tech students said they have experienced this week.
But Josh Robinson, the College of Media & Communication media productions manager, said students will benefit from Texas Tech’s technological leap to the new Office 365 email server.
Robinson said the change was overdue, and it will affect students positively in terms of interactivity and “keeping up with the times.”
Microsoft Office 365 for Education is an online office and software services suite available to Tech faculty, staff and students, according to the university’s IT Help Central website.
“I think the biggest advantage now is that students have the full power of Microsoft Office in a cloud system that is similar to Google Docs,” Robinson said. “You can actually share and edit off the same documents, and then you can still do the same thing you’ve been doing for years with Microsoft.”
While Tech strives to keep up with the latest and greatest technology, Robinson said, the rollout is running a little behind schedule.
A timeline to upgrade faculty and staff email accounts to the new system has not yet been determined. Scott Hall, managing director of Tech’s IT Help Central, said that as of Wednesday, Sept. 23, almost two-thirds of students had been switched over to the new email server. Those still using the old server are expected to transition within the next few weeks.
According to the results of a recent poll by The Hub@TTU, not all students are happy with the recent changes. Of the 55 who had participated as of Wednesday, Sept. 23, 45 reported having faced some sort of difficulty with the new system.
“I woke up and all my contacts were gone and my email didn’t work,” said Shelby Cason, a junior environmental engineering major. “I was freaking out because I couldn’t get any emails that day.”
Jake Ware, a sophomore honors arts and letters major, had difficulties logging into his email. Ware said he was re-routed multiple times before finally being able to access Office 365.
There is a small window of time when a mailbox is not accessible while being moved to the new server, said Hall, the managing director of IT Help Central. Most other difficulties will the email system will be easily solved with a little time, he added.
“It is an educational issue,” Hall said. “As people use the system more, they will be able to get used to it and better understand many of the new features the server offers.”
Hall said help references, introduction videos and more information on Office 365 can be found on the IT Help Central website.
About Breann Robinson
