Extra! Extra! myWidener is here! Search. Click. Done.

Today we officially say goodbye to CampusCruiser and move on to myWidener. We hope you agree that the new site makes it easier to find what you need quickly.

MyWidener treats every resource you access as a task, whether it’s a link to a web form, site, or app. While we organized those tasks into logical groupings, like “Library Resources” or “Employee Services,” the most powerful way to use myWidener is simply search for the specific task you’re looking for. Wondering what’s on the menu at the Pride Cafe? Just search for “menu.” Once you’ve found a task you use regularly, click or touch the star in the task’s button. It’ll be added to your favorites, which show up at the top of your window every time you log in.

We wanted to thank our university colleagues for their support through all of the long hours with helping us build out these new sites. Just a little fun info we wanted to share, the following has been built out for myWidener:

  • 187 tasks in 32 task centers
  • 44 public office web sites
  • 20 internal SharePoint web sites

Have a question? Please email us at cruisercloseout@widener.edu. If you have feedback on myWidener, please send us a note by selecting the feedback option under your name (or the hamburger icon on your mobile device), then select “Send Feedback.” We welcome your questions, feedback and support.

5 things you should be doing for the CampusCruiser closeout

Here are the top 5 things you REALLY need to do if you haven’t already:

  1. Download all your data within CampusCruiser.

We have no guarantee that CampusCruiser will be available until March 15th, and even if it is, there is very limited support.  Therefore, we are directing everyone to download their data as soon as possible if you haven’t done so yet.

  1. Move your office data to a Group in Office 365.

Do you currently have an office within CampusCruiser that is only for use by internal students, staff, and faculty of Widener?  If so, you can create an Office 365 group for your office. For assistance with creating the group, please contact the helpdesk by opening a quick ticket. http://quickticket.widener.edu and select “Microsoft Group Creation” from the dropdown.

Also, don’t forget to extract your memberships list out of your offices!

  1. Remove all mail.widener.edu accounts from your contact lists.

We recommend when sending an email to check the address of the person you are sending the message to.  If it shows that it is a mail.widener.edu account, please click on the black X to delete that account for your contact. If you are unsure, please contact the helpdesk for assistance.

  1. Sign up for e2campus alerts.

Remember to sign up for the e2campus alerts.  Please go to the Omnilert page and register.  Click here to register for the e2campus alerts

  1. Subscribe to the blog.

We highly recommend subscribing to this blog to receive notifications when new information is posted.


Do you have a question or concern?  Please send an email to cruisercloseout@widener.edu for further assistance.

What will happen after Campus Cruiser’s sunset

We know that the community is eager for new information about the Campus Cruiser closeout process. Due to Cruiser’s upcoming disappearance, we have had to make a series of quick decisions. The good news is that we are able to consider a lot of options in the weeks before the holiday break, and now we’d like to share more information with you about our progress.

Announcing MyWidener

ITS is already constructing the platform to replace Campus Cruiser. Over the next two months, a sophisticated, mobile-friendly website will emerge, which we will call MyWidener. The essential features of Cruiser (committees, clubs, organizations, WebAdvisor, etc.), will all be available through this single point of access

MyWidener will use keyword searches to navigate and access services directly. While the new site is under construction, you may be interested to see a public version using the same software at University of Michigan: http://maizelink.umich.edu. (Note: everything you see there is just a link to web sites and applications that UMich uses. Our links will be tools that are specific to Widener, e.g. StudentPlanning, WebAdvisor, Office365, etc. The underlying software, rSmart OneCampus, doesn’t provide us with any of the applications or modules, it simply allows us a better way to find and access our own information.)

For departments that currently use Cruiser to publish websites, we have good solutions to offer as well. Members of the Cruiser Closeout team will be reaching out to those departments to coordinate.

In the meantime…

Campus Cruiser is still running for now. You may continue to use it to access administrative services, such as time sheets. Moving our essential services over to MyWidener is a top priority, and we do have a backup plan if we lose access to Campus Cruiser prior to the expected final shutdown in March.

As always, the best way to follow up to this message with questions or comments is to email cruisercloseout@widener.edu. ITS staff also continues to make updates to the Cruiser Closeout FAQ.

A few words about process

ITS is relying on the advice and feedback of Faculty Council TIRC and other stakeholders as we make changes. Even so, the urgency of this project has required us to make some of our decisions faster and with less input than we prefer. Thank you for your cooperation as we’ve worked through this challenging situation. We are also grateful for all the work you have done to move/manage your own information on extremely short notice.

Widener will be in a much better situation once this migration is complete.

Cutting Over to Canvas: T-minus 3 months!

Attendance at Bridge Week Tech Tuesday was even greater than expected! Thank you to all that contributed to this full day of faculty development. The Senior Trainer we brought in from Canvas shared how impressed she was with our beautiful campus and your thoughtful questions.

Have you downloaded the Canvas apps yet?

Recent Canvas News

All Fall ’18 courses were loaded into Canvas on May 1st. The template has been polished and streamlined for greater efficiency. A few additional notes:

  • Customize your dashboard – in the Courses tab, select the star next to the courses you want to see on your dashboard 
  • For help with importing materials into your classes, visit Passport to Canvas: Add Course Content- Files  
  • 24/7 Canvas Support is available via live chat or phone (833) 735-0335. They have already provided exceptional assistance to hundreds of callers over the last few months; take advantage of their expertise if you need it!

Important dates coming up

Per our previous Canvas blog post:

  • All instructional materials on CampusCruiser should be downloaded prior to the start of the Fall ’18 semester. There is no direct transfer of materials from CampusCruiser into Canvas, so do allow yourself the time to accomplish this task.  
  • For guidance on bringing course content into OneDrive, visit: Passport to Canvas: O365 & Your Files. This self paced course also contains dozens of guides and short Widener-specific videos to help you navigate the transition.  
  • If you feel you will need assistance from TLT to get your classes up and running, be sure to schedule help via TLToffice@widener.edu before July 31st. August will be a very busy month for TLT and we want to make sure you get the support you need.  

Your Textbooks and Canvas 

Publisher content for the following textbooks have been integrated: 

  • Cengage MindTap 
  • McGraw-Hill Connect 
  • Pearson MyLab and Mastering  

To use this content in your course, you will need to enable the link in your course navigation. For help with adding a textbook to your course, visit: Passport to Canvas: Linking Online Textbooks. 

BIG NEWS! Weekly, Interactive Canvas Workshops throughout Summer

Light fare provided. Please join TLT for a series of two live, interactive Canvas workshops! Each session will focus on various features and functionalities necessary to get your classes running smoothly. These interactive workshops will run for 90 minutes in the FISHtank- Wolfgram Library. All sessions will be capped at 12 participants, so sign up soon! 

WORKSHOP #1: Using Your Syllabus to Drive Your Canvas Course: Mastering Files, Settings, and Modules

In this work session, you will use your syllabus to design the organizational structure of your Canvas course. You will export your files from CampusCruiser, understand accessibility and file sharing permissions, and design your course layout.  

WORKSHOP #2: Meeting Your Learning Objectives Through Assignments, Assessments, and Discussions

Join this session to dive deeper into Canvas by designing assignments, assessments, and discussions in your Canvas course. We will discuss various settings and uses of each tool and start building your content! 

T-Minus 4 Months

Summer Term Courses are loaded into Canvas! 

When you log into Canvas, you will see that summer’18 terms and courses have been added to the dashboard. If you do not see them on your dashboard, check the Courses tab.  Courses can be built right in the template or imported from a previous semester.  Fall ’18 courses will be loaded into Canvas on May 1st.

Passport to Canvas Training (Self-Paced Course) 

Do you prefer self-paced learning? If so, join the newly published Passport to Canvas Training course and get ready to travel the world of Canvas with TLT.  Your voyage through the continents explores everything necessary to get your files off CampusCruiser and shows you how easy it is to create an engaging course within Canvas. Once you have joined the course, keep an eye on the Passport announcements on your Canvas dashboard, as we’ll keep you informed of any additional helpful material we add. 

Important Deadlines 

ALL of your teaching materials need to be downloaded from CampusCruiser before the start of the fall’18 semester. If you are not sure how, join the Passport to Canvas Training course and watch a short video in North America titled: “Getting Your Files Form CampusCruiser to Canvas”. Additionally, if you feel that you will need assistance from TLT to get your Canvas courses up and running, please contact us to schedule assistance (TLToffice@widener.edubefore July 31st.  We would love to work with you one-on-one or in small groups before the start of August. In August, TLT will be very busy supporting new faculty, updating classrooms, and preparing for kick off events, and our time will be quite pressed. Schedule time with us today! 

Big IT projects getting under way

The most frequent question I’m asked is “What is going to happen with Campus Cruiser?” After talking with many members of the community about your needs, it’s time to share where things stand.

Three projects in one

Campus Cruiser is really three products in one: an email system, a learning management system (LMS), and a portal for internal collaboration and administration. Consequently, ITS and its many campus partners are actually preparing to undertake three major projects:

  • Complete the transition to Office 365, including email migration, for all students and remaining faculty/staff. (~6 months)
  • Identify and implement a state-of-the-art LMS. (~18 months)
  • Identify and implement tools to facilitate internal collaboration and provide access to online administrative resources. (18-24 months)

Make no mistake: this is a huge undertaking that will touch every member of our community. But the outcome will be worth it: streamlined technology platforms that truly match the needs of a dynamic campus environment.

Where do we start?

For now, we’re focusing on the first two pieces: full migration to Office 365 and implementing a new LMS. The portal question is very important, but will be much easier to sort out after we’ve addressed the other two.

Office 365

It will be advantageous to all be on the same email, calendar, and productivity software. Going forward, we’ll all have Outlook calendars to schedule appointments with each other. Faculty and staff will finally have a single email address. And we’re excited to provide all of our students with free access to the Office productivity tools like Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote, and OneDrive.

We know this is a big undertaking, but we are committed to helping our community migrate their email and get running quickly on Office 365. Our project team, led by Chris Smith, has developed a migration plan for all of us to start next academic year on the same system. Chris will be sending out more information to the community next week to share additional details about the plan.

A new LMS

There is an appetite on campus for a learning management system with improved features, a more elegant interface, and superior mobile device support.

With substantial support and guidance from the TIRC Committee, Joanne Caione-Keating is ramping up an interdepartmental project team to conduct a quick, but careful review of the current leading platforms. We expect the selection to be completed before commencement, and for early adopters to be able to begin learning and working in the new LMS this summer. Over the following semesters, we will work with faculty to support the migration of their courses and help them learn the new system.

Through their TIRC representatives, many faculty have already indicated their interest in the selection process. In addition to multiple, by-invitation sessions, there will be opportunities for any interested faculty, staff, or students to see demonstrations of finalist products and provide input. We will also be supporting “sandbox” environments of the top products for any faculty who want to experiment with the systems hands-on. We are committed to making the selection process transparent, faculty-driven, and learner-centered.

Joanne will make announcements about the project plan and evaluation schedule in the next week.

About change

These are big projects with ambitious timelines. But in my first months as CIO, it’s been clear that a lot of campus processes and pedagogical developments have been in a holding pattern while the University community awaited clear signals about our path forward. We hope you agree with us in ITS that implementing and supporting state-of-the-art digital platforms is a strategic investment in our institutional effectiveness. I, for one, can’t wait to see how much better off we’ll be once these projects are done.

All of us involved are aware that changes like these place demands on your time and may occasionally be disruptive. We will do everything in our power to be considerate of impacts on you, but we also hope that we will continue to receive the support and encouragement that so many of you have already expressed. Technical support, training, and communications are core components of our project plans. If you have concerns as they get under way, please do not hesitate to contact Chris, Joanne, or me.