Spring 2021 IT Resources

PennOpen Pass

PennOpen Pass is now required for entry into any Penn building.  PennOpen Pass is a daily symptom checker to reduce the risk of COVID-19 to the Penn community. If you have no symptoms and have not been in recent contact with someone who may have COVID-19, you get a Day Pass to enter Penn buildings. Otherwise, the tool will direct you to the next steps.  For more information, please see this list of frequently asked questions about PennOpen Pass.

Visitors to the Annenberg School for Communication  will need to complete  PennOpen Pass each day and display the pass to the guard upon entry to the building.

PennOpen Pass is available currently only to those with a PennKey, though development is in progress to make it available to everyone. For visitors to the Annenberg School building without a PennKey, there will be a verbal attestation lane available.

Tools for Remote Productivity 

Annenberg faculty, students, and staff have access to the following online tools to facilitate remote productivity. For additional help with any of these, please contact  support@asc.upenn.edu  or call  215-573-8361  from 8am to 6pm.

Office 365 (Outlook, Word, Excel, Skype for Business, Teams)

PennO365 will allow you to use Microsoft’s productivity suite online or install applications on your local computer. Skype for Business and Teams have built in audio/video conferencing components including screen sharing. Teams is particularly powerful as a collaboration tool. For more information, please visit  ISC’s how-to page for PennO365.

Zoom

Zoom is a powerful videoconferencing suite that allows you to hold virtual meetings with up to  300 participants. Annenberg also has a 500 and 1,000 person Webinar license that can be requested for ASC events. The University of Pennsylvania has a university-wide license with Zoom. Learn more at its Zoom resources page. 

Virtual Desktops

Annenberg faculty, staff, and students can use virtual desktops that will allow you to run a version of Windows 10 through your web browser or VMWare Horizon client. These virtual desktops will allow you to connect to your network drives (i.e. H: drive or other shared drives and printers) as well as access numerous library resources without having to log in to a VPN. 

Cloud Storage

Penn+Box is  a cloud storage solution that allows you to store, retrieve, and share files between computers and collaborators. For more information, visit  ISC’s Penn+Box  page. Microsoft OneDrive is another cloud storage option available through PennO365.

Forwarding your PennNet phone

Please find instructions here for forwarding your  PennNet phone to an off-campus number.  This will allow people phoning your office at Penn to reach you in a remote location.

Canvas

Instructors teaching this semester, and students enrolled in classes at Penn, all have access to Canvas pages for their courses. Penn has produced this guide for faculty, staff, and TAs using Canvas. If you require assistance with your Canvas page, please contact ASCCanvasSupport@asc.upenn.edu.

Additional Support

For additional help with any of the above, please submit a support ticket by emailing ithelpdesk@asc.upenn.edu or visit ithelpdesk.asc.upenn.edu. You can also call  (215) 573-8361  to leave a voicemail. We're available between 9am and 5pm.

Additionally, log into Microsoft Teams to join the daily 11am IT support meeting. Everyone in ASC is part of the Team "ASC-Walter's Coffee Shoppe.” Inside of that Team, there is a channel called IT Support with a Zoom link to our weekday meetings specifically made for you in mind!

Penn also offers  virtual IT support for students. Click here to read about its 24x7 support  by phone or email, with a focus on Zoom,  BlueJeans, and Canvas.