Information for MBA Remote Students

You’ll access your courses through WISE, the Willamette Instructional Support Environment. This learning and collaboration system provides course sites for official university classes.

If you can't find a course you believe you should have access to, contact your professor to make sure you’re enrolled and the course site is published and available.

If you need immediate assistance, please email wise-admin@willamette.edu.

Refer to your WISE course for instructions on communicating with your professor. Unless otherwise instructed, Willamette email will be the preferred means of communication. Refer to your syllabus or look for an email link in your WISE course.

The timing of some of your classes may be adjusted to allow for social distancing on campus. Please refer to your WISE course or contact your professor.

Check your WISE course for instructions, and if you are unsure, contact your professor. To submit an assignment, follow these instructions (note that WISE is based on the Sakai LMS platform, so the instructions reference Sakai). Other professors may ask you to send in your assignments via email. It’s important to closely follow the directions of your professors in each of your classes.

This short tutorial will walk you through the process of setting up Zoom on your computer or smartphone.

Or you can go directly to our Zoom website, and set it up.

To access Zoom to attend a class, use the link your professor has placed in the WISE site for your class.

Here are a few tips for attending classes remotely:

• If you have headphones or earbuds, use them. The sound quality will be better, and you’ll experience fewer distractions.
• If several people are using Zoom to attend class from the same space, mute the speakers on all but one computer (otherwise, you’ll likely get audio feedback).
• If you’re not actually speaking to your class, mute your microphone. This will minimize background noise for everyone.
• Try to find a quiet place to attend class, with few other things around you competing for your attention. Don’t multitask.
• If you’re used to taking notes on your computer, you may need to switch to handwritten (or try to juggle back and forth between screens). Zoom sessions can be recorded for later re-viewing, which could minimize the need to take real-time notes, but this can only happen if everyone in the class is comfortable with being recorded.
• It can be hard to stay engaged with a course that doesn’t require you to get up and physically go to class, talk to other human beings face-to-face, and immerse yourself in the environment. Try to replicate the structure of regular coursework as much as possible by setting aside specific times to do any asynchronous work, attending class from your desk or a classroom rather than in bed, and communicating regularly with your professor and peers. Set yourself a goal of participating in class at least (X) times per session (think about how often you do so in regular classes, and challenge yourself to replicate this over Zoom).

Zoom emerged as the preferred video conferencing platform during the Covid-19 pandemic, and because of that status, it has been heavily scrutinized by industry experts in privacy and cybersecurity. If these experts had applied the same scrutiny to other video conferencing platforms, similar issues would have been exposed. Willamette closely monitors security issues reported with Zoom, to help ensure that our use is private and secure. We have always had Zoom integrated into our technical architecture in ways that provide greater privacy and security, as compared to most other organizations. Here’s some additional information:

In privacy terms, Willamette is the Controller of the Zoom data. This means that it is our responsibility to control the privacy of Zoom classes and recordings in the same way that we control the privacy of on-campus classes. We are using WISE to make Zoom links and recordings available to class participants, which means they are available to only the registered students in a course.

Zoom has a comprehensive privacy policy that explains how they use personal data. It describes in detail the fact that it captures and uses some personal data in order to provide the service. The data that it captures is reasonable, given the service that it provides. It carefully states that a user's personal data is not sold; however, it does state that Zoom shares some personal data with some third parties for those companies’ business purposes. We have confirmed that when Zoom shares user data with third parties, it first completely anonymizes and aggregates the data in order to protect users’ identities and privacy.

Some privacy experts have criticized Zoom for offering an 'Attention Tracking' ability, which provided the option for a call’s host to be notified anytime someone on the call does not have the Zoom Desktop Client or Mobile App in focus for more than 30 seconds. Please understand that feature has to be explicitly turned on, and Willamette University has always had this function disabled and Zoom disabled it for everyone in April 2020.

Some privacy experts have reported that Zoom makes it possible for a remote person to turn on a user's camera without their knowledge. Willamette has verified that on July 10th, 2019, Zoom corrected this issue and users are prompted and must agree before their camera is turned on.

Zoom does allow administrators to see details of how, when, and where users are using Zoom. These administrators are in WITS, and there are four of them. They have access to this information so that they can provide support to users in case of any issues, and they understand that this data is private and to be accessed only when supporting the use of Zoom.

Zoom provides AES 256-bit GCM encryption, one of the most secure encryption standards used today. This means that external individuals cannot tap into a call.

On April 1st, 2020, the Zoom CEO made a public commitment to do the following within the next 90 days: have third party security experts conduct a comprehensive review, aggressively address any issues found, and be transparent about the status. Willamette closely monitored these results and has enabled the additional security features that arose, to help ensure that our Zoom implementation is private and secure. Zoom is committed to maintaining a focus on security, and Willamette will continue to monitor their performance.

To minimize the spread of the COVID-19 virus, it is important to practice social distancing. If you want to meet with others one-on-one or in small groups to study or socialize, please maintain at least a 6–foot distance, and practice good sanitation.

Individual professors and departments have developed plans to accommodate these activities, and your professor will communicate with you about your specific course or the work you’re doing. Not everything can be replicated, but we’re working hard to ensure that your learning experience will be as strong as possible, even while it is altered.

The WITS Help Desk is the primary source of technology assistance and information for members of the Willamette community, and staff will assist you with any technical issues related to remote participation in classes. You can reach the WITS Help Desk at 503-370-6767 or wits@willamette.edu. It is staffed Monday thru Friday from 8am to 5pm. We also have the ability to gain remote access to your computer, with your permission, to resolve issues.

MBA students are required to have their own laptop. PC computers are preferred as some courses use software that operates best on the PC platform. However, many students work successfully with a Mac. Microsoft Office 365 is provided to all students free of charge. If you are planning to use an employer-owned computer, please ensure that you have administrative access.

Panopto is the lecture capture service at Willamette, and it is integrated with WISE. Panopto lectures can be accessed from your WISE course site. For more information, please visit the Panopto student faq page.

If you need immediate assistance, please email wise-admin@willamette.edu.

WISE requires one of these browsers:

• Firefox (Windows, Mac, Linux) - free download here
• Chrome (Windows, Mac) - free download here
• Safari (Mac)

Ancient browsers (Netscape, Internet Explorer) will not work with WISE.

Safari can cause problems trying to upload files to the Resources and Drop Boxes tools.

Older versions of Safari and WISE have known compatibility issues. If you are using an older Mac, WITS recommends using Mozilla Firefox or Chrome.

WISE is based on the Sakai LMS platform and their online user guide answers most of the "How do I..." questions.

If you don’t have access to the internet, consider whether there’s a public library or other free wifi access in close proximity. Several internet providers, including Comcast, Spectrum Charter Broadband, and others, are offering some free internet services during this period. If you cannot get access to the internet, you should contact your professor and discuss your situation. They’ll be as accommodating as possible.

Your professors will still be holding office hours and meeting with students by appointment, although these meetings will most likely be over Zoom. Please contact your professors if you have not heard from them about their plans.

At the Atkinson School, tutors will hold remote sessions and should be contacted individually. 

MBA Career Management is doing ZOOM meetings that can be scheduled through Handshake at: http://willamette.joinhandshake.com. In addition, students can email or call MBA Management for assistance. 

The Hatfield library offers many different ways to get reference help including phone, email, and text messaging.  They will also provide research consultations using Zoom video conferencing. For more information about getting research help see: https://library.willamette.edu/ref/ask/.

If an Atkinson student’s living situation makes it impossible or difficult to participate in classes remotely, please contact Associate Dean Tim Johnson or Assistant Dean Will Fruhwirth to discuss alternate arrangements.

The Atkinson School intends to open registration in April. Details will follow.

At the Atkinson School, students can withdraw as late as the day prior to the final class session.

At the Atkinson School, students should contact Karen Arthur, karthur@willamette.edu, to discuss any registration changes.

We’ll do our best to meet your accommodations during this period. Please note that we don’t have specific information about how each course will be delivered. Reach out to your instructors to discuss how changes in instruction may impact you. If you need additional accommodations, contact Accessible Education Services at 503-370-6737 or accessible-info@willamette.edu.

The Accessible Education Services office will remain open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday. You can reach Accessible Education Services at 503-370-6737 or accessible-info@willamette.edu.

Reach out to your professor if you have any questions related to your coursework, and be sure to regularly check the WISE page for your course.

We realize that your work environment or assignment may change during this time. In the Atkinson School, we advise our interns to abide by their employer guidelines including working remotely through the end of the semester. Meetings with Faculty Internship Advisors will be arranged by phone or via Zoom. If you have additional questions, students should contact Assistant Dean Beth Ursin, eursin@willamette.edu, for guidance on internships.