Reporter
After a shaky start to CSU Bakersfield’s new student email system this quarter, the Information Technology Services department has resolved password issues.
Earlier in the quarter, a conflict between CSUB and Microsoft Outlook’s password systems caused students to have issues logging into their email accounts. ITS solved this problem by resetting students’ passwords to the same ones used for myCSUB and Blackboard.
“Now, we’ve gone to the same system we use now for myCSUB, which I think is much easier and reduces a lot of support headaches both from our student, staff and faculty side, but also from the IT service side,” said Faust Gorham, associate vice president for ITS.
A licensing issue has also been fixed, which means that every student can now download Microsoft Office 365 for free. This gives students access to Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint on up to five devices, a setup that would ordinarily cost $150.
Another early issue involved contacting students through their personal accounts with information about their student accounts, as there was no guarantee that students would receive and read their emails.
As the quarter progresses, more people are logging into their accounts, and this issue is solving itself.
“We have 16,000 accounts right now. The number keeps getting higher and higher as the quarter goes on,” said Gorham.
While the number of accounts keeps growing, the number of calls to the CSUB Help Desk has decreased significantly since the password problem has been solved.
“The first two weeks were insane as far as the number of calls and tickets going into the help desk. That number is very low now,” said Gorham.
Students feel that, although the password issue has been resolved, the email system has room for improvement.
“I don’t like it,” said Emmett Wirtz, a senior majoring in criminal justice, “It’s just a hassle to get into.”
Wirtz suggested that the email could be accessed through a more direct link. Other students experience no problems with the Outlook website but find fault with the phone app.
“On the website, everything’s fine. The layout is really user-friendly,” said Aide Gutierrez, a sophomore majoring in biology, “Although for the app, I don’t get notifications on my phone.”
Although website and app layout changes have not been mentioned, improvements to the email system such as increased storage and spam filtering can be expected.
“Microsoft continues to invest, both in features that are available, and the size of how much you can store in their environment,” said Gorham.
CSUB’s ITS department continues to evaluate technological issues, as well.
“There’s a lot of things that I think we’re taking a new fresh look at and going, ‘does this really make sense?’” said Gorham.
