Overview
As a community faculty member at Metro State, there is technology available to support your curriculum development and classroom instruction. The Microsoft M365 Suite is a staple to our technology environment.
Metro State Service Center Technology Assistance
The Metro State Institutional Effectiveness and Technology (IET) Service Center serves as the primary point of contact for accessing Metro State's technology services and support.
Service Center Location, Hours, and Contact options
The Service Center can help with most technology needs, including classroom support and D2L Brightspace. Keep this information handy.
M365 and Microsoft Office
Community faculty have access to Microsoft Office in a variety of ways. While actively teaching, CF have access to install Office on their personal computer or can access Office using the web-based version. There are, however, some very specific circumstances when CF will or will not have access the locally installed version and an exception process available to bypass these scenarios:
Actively Teaching at Metro State:
Not Actively Teaching at Metro State:
- Access to full Office suite (Word, Excel, Power Point) installed in the Virtual Lab
- No Access to Office (Word, Excel, Power Point) on personal computers using a locally installed M365 version
*Exception Process* CF needing access to a locally installed version on their personal computer can request this through their academic Dean. Once approved, CF will have access for 1 semester. Once you are teaching again, access to the locally installed version will automatically be provided. To submit an exception, please have the Dean submit an exception request on your behalf.
- Access to Office (Word, Excel, Power Point) using the online version
- Access to email (online or other mail app)
Not Actively Teaching at Metro State but Teaching or Staff at another Minnesota State Institution:
Virtual lab and off campus access to resources
Faculty, staff, and students have access to the virtual lab, which is a virtual computer with access to Metro State software on or off campus. The virtual lab is available to any Community Faculty regardless if they are teaching or not. Note that the virtual lab has a full installation of the Office suite available.
For more information about the virtual lab, see the article on Virtual Computer Lab Access and Saving Files.
Available software at the University
Institutional Effectiveness & Technology (IET) maintains a software catalog listing all available software for faculty and staff. Any Community faculty needing specific software are required to submit requests before the upcoming semester. IET sends out multiple communications reminding faculty of the request process and deadlines, however, this specific information can also be found in the article Academic & Administrative Software Catalog Overview. These deadlines (March 15 for summer and fall and October 15 for spring) are important due to the System office software contract review requirements for new requests and the technical process and timelines necessary to deploy software to labs.