The following resources are for Wilkes employees working from home during an extended campus closure. ITS suggests all employees who will be working from home read through all applicable areas of this guide while preparing to leave campus.

Contacting the Help Desk

If staff are still reporting to campus, the Help Desk will function normally. In the event that staff are directed to work from home, the Help Desk will no longer be able to take direct calls. Instead, all support requests should be submitted via email to helpdesk@wilkes.edu. ITS staff will then contact you via email to initiate support. If phone support is needed, staff have been equipped with cell phones to contact you once you provide them with a contact number.

Taking Your Computer Home

In the event of a full campus closure where some or all campus employees are instructed to work from home, employees should be prepared to take their work computer home. This will be contingent on each employee having Internet access at their home. Employees who do not have home access should discuss options with their manager.

Laptop Users: Laptops should have little issue being taken home and setup on a home wireless network. Employees should remember to take their power cable. You may also want to take your docking station, monitor, and other peripherals if you believe you will need these at home. IT Services can provide assistance disconnecting equipment and getting it ready to take by contacting the Help Desk.

Desktop Users (iMac): Not all desktop computers have a wireless card in them. If you have an Apple iMac, this will definitely have the ability to connect wirelessly and can be taken home in this instance. Remember to take your power cable, keyboard, and mouse. Please take care when moving your computer. Lay the machine down on the seat of your car and make sure nothing is near the screen that can scratch it. Contact the Help Desk if you need assistance connecting to your home Internet.

Desktop Users (Dell): Not all desktop computers have a wireless card in them. If you have a Dell desktop, your computer probably does not have a wireless card. That means you will need to connect it with a wired connection at home. To do this, you should make sure your home Internet router/modem has a network port available. If it does, make sure you bring home your network cable when you take the rest of your computer and peripherals home. If it does not, you will need to make other arrangements to work from home. This may include working from a personal computer, borrowing a departmental computer, or borrowing a laptop from the Farley Library. If you take your computer home, remember to take your power cable, keyboard, mouse, network cable, and monitor (if separate). Please take care when moving your computer and monitor. Lay them down on the seat of your car and make sure nothing is near the screen that can scratch it. Contact the Help Desk if you need assistance disconnecting your computer and/or connecting to your home Internet.

Printers: Most users should not need to print at home and are encouraged NOT to print out employee or student information at home. If an employee's job requires printing, printers that can connect locally to a computer may be taken home. Contact the Help Desk if you require assistance connecting your printer at home.

Communication Tools

Email: Wilkes email (through Google) should continue to work normally. Wilkes users should access this through the MyWilkes Portal.

Phone: Users can NOT take their Wilkes desk phones home. These will only work on campus. Departments should distribute lists of home/cell phone numbers if this form of contact is essential. User who have Wilkes' cell phones should make sure to take these home.

Chat: Google provides a Chat tools with Hangouts. You should see this in the email window in the bottom left corner when you are signed into Google or can access it through the tools menu in the top right corner (see below). This tool can be used to chat with other colleagues with Wilkes accounts.

Live meetings: Google provides a Meet tool in the main tools menu (top right) where you can invite others to a live video meeting (also part of Hangouts). Google has extended the capacity of Meet for education users up to 250 participants per call. The University also uses Zoom for meetings. Anyone can sign up for a free Zoom account on their website (zoom.us). The free account will allow for small group meetings up to 45 minutes. (This may be limited do to heavy traffic as many employers go online). Wilkes has a limited number of Zoom Pro accounts. If you believe your group needs longer time limits or higher participant limits, please contact matthew.koch@wilkes.edu to request a Pro account. These will be provided on a limited basis.

Live classes: Faculty should refer to the OTTL page for information regarding running your courses fully online. They provide several tools to facilitate online learning, including live course tools.

Banner Access

Employees who need to access Banner from home will need to connect to the campus VPN first. There is a link in the portal above the links to Banner to download the VPN if you haven't done this before. (See the image below where it says "UPDATE: When working remotely...")

Directions for connecting to the VPN are also on the ITS FAQ Page. Please limit the time you are connected to the VPN. A high number of connections will strain the network's resources and slow the connection down for everyone. Please disconnect as soon as you have completed your work in Banner.

Shared File Access

Network File Shares/Home Drive: Your Wilkes file shares are on-campus resources and are not readily accessible off campus. For this reason, ITS suggests copying down files you will need onto your computer before you leave campus. If you need to share files with colleagues, you can set up Google Drive folders and give them access, which is available anywhere. (Please delete these temporary shared folders once you permanently return to campus.) If you have to access a Wilkes file share from home, you will have to connect to the VPN.

VPN Access: If you need to access a campus network resource or file share from home, you will need to connect to the VPN. Many simultaneous users will strain the network's resources, so we ask all users to be very conscientious during this time to only stay on the VPN for as long as needed and to make sure you disconnect when compete. Directions for connecting to the VPN are on the ITS FAQ Page.

Google Drive: Your Wilkes Google account has access to a program called Google Drive which can be accessed through the Google Apps menu on the top right of your Google Mail screen once you have logged in. Google Drive allows you to create folders to store your own files and also allows you to share access to these folders with your colleagues. If you are unfamiliar with storing your files this way, Google offers many tutorials online.

Security Concerns

Home Connections: When you are using your computer on the Wilkes campus, you are protected from malicious software attacks by multiple layers of network security. Your home connection will not have this level of security. For this reason, you should be extra cautious when using your Wilkes computer at home. Try to only access known websites and only download programs that you need for work. Only leave your computer on while you're working to minimize the time it is connected to your home wireless network. Try not to transfer files between your personal home computers and devices and your Wilkes computer. Viruses and other malicious programs can be easily transferred through USB flash drives and other media.

Phishing Scams: At this point, most employees should be familiar with the fake email scams that employees have faced the past few years on campus. Unfortunately, it is likely that these attacks will increase as more employees become disconnected working at home. There are also new emails circulating specifically using the current national emergency as fodder to target employees. Please be vigilant in making sure each email you get is from a legitimate sender. Always check the address sending you the email, as this is the most obvious sign that you've received a phishing email. If you are not sure whether an email is legitimate, please email it to helpdesk@wilkes.edu and we will check it for you. As always, if you receive a malicious email, just delete it and do not reply.

Protect Your Credentials: During an extended closure, it becomes even more important that employees are protective of their login information. Always remember that NO ONE, including ITS staff, will ever email you asking for your username and password. If you receive an email asking for login credentials, it is a fake email. If you suspect someone has gotten your credentials for any reason, please contact helpdesk@wilkes.edu as soon as possible so that we can reset your password.

Physical Security: When taking your computer home, please keep your computer secure and exercise caution when working. It is likely that your computer contains Wilkes user data and/or has access to sensitive data, so still use the same security precautions you use at work and lock your machine when not in use. Try not to have liquids near your computer and limit proximity to pets and children when possible.

Additional Library and ITS Resources

Library guide for distance learners: http://wilkes.libguides.com/distance

Main ITS website: https://www.wilkes.edu/its

OTTL site for teaching online: https://sites.google.com/wilkes.edu/ottl-contingency-planning/home

Main Wilkes coronavirus information page: https://wilkes.edu/coronavirus