The general assessment is that the university systems and services are well prepared for the increased usage:
- Email and email lists can be used as usual and will manage the increase in usage.
- Log in services needed for various systems have been upgraded and the assessment is that these should support the increased usage for now. Further upgrades will take place should the need arise.
- Skype for business for making phone calls can be used as usual and will cope with the increase in usage.
For anyone teaching online, please read the following
The assessment is that the learning platforms Cambro and Moodle will cope with the increased usage due to online teaching. Respective learning platforms are prepared for an increase in simultaneous users, but the system can still experience peaks for a limited period when written assignment or other examinations need to be handed in.
Zoom is the recommended service for meetings to use primarily for teaching and is well-developed for conducting various forms of education. The system is shared with all other higher education institutions in Scandinavia and its capacity has increased to handle up to 100,000 simultaneous users. If you experience problems with the capacity, you can try Teams, which is a part of Office 365, or use Skype for business. These services do not offer group rooms, so-called Zoom Rooms, but other than that function in similar ways.
Umu Play is a service similar to YouTube where teachers can record and upload recorded lectures or equivalent. Iit is important that the videos used in teaching are also available offline. This to ensure accessibility if the service should fail or overload. If this is the case, you may need to use an alternative service. An alternative solution to Umu Play is Stream, which is a part of Office 365.
For anyone increasing their use of online meetings, please note
Teams (a part of Office 365) is assessed to cope with the expected increase in usage. An alternative to Teams is to use Skype for business
Skype for business is assessed to be able to cope with the expected increase in usage. The service can be upgraded if necessary. If Skype for business is failing, try using Teams instead.
Zoom is recommended for teaching, lectures and meetings with students and other participants outside of Umeå University. Zoom can also be used by students without the need for an employee to invite to a meeting.
Read more about those circumstances under our FAQ at the bottom of this page
You usually do not need to use a VPN (virtual private network)
If you work remotely on your regular computer, you can access most systems and software. For instance, you can access your email, Cambro, Moodle, Skype and many other systems without a VPN. The VPN service is strongly overloaded at the moment, and we recommend all users to exit their VPN once the system/software requiring a VPN is no longer needed.
Read more about VPN and how it works (only in Swedish)