HOPE SMITH
editor-in-chief
collegian.editor@tccd.edu
Effective Sept. 30, TCC will transition from Google Workspace applications to Microsoft 365 applications.
Students, staff and faculty will not be able to access their TCC Google applications, emails or files after and are encouraged to start saving their Google files beforehand.
Resources are available in the TCC Student Hub Canvas through the “myTCC Resources” page under News and Information. There, instructionals are provided.
Lisa Self, NE professor in Child Development and Education, emphasized the importance of informing students on the switch so they are prepared.
“However TCC wants to use our resources, great. And it sounds like it’s something that really helps us financially, so we’re not having to support two different platforms,” she said. “So I just want to make sure that, you know, all the students understand that the email is going to have a little bit of a change.”
As faculty, she feels it’s important to communicate with the students so as not to confuse them.
“I thought this was important, too: In our training, that doesn’t mean Google things will be blocked. Like Google Translate, for example, is still available.”
The decision goes back to choosing an application that would best suit TCC’s needs, director of administrative systems, Martin Patrick said. Microsoft was an application of interest because of its email system, however before it was more “business centric” and did not meet TCC’s educational needs, Google did.
After Microsoft 365 had a rebrand and rename, TCC IT began moving towards Microsoft applications.
“It became a major focus of our technology initiatives as we’ve gone through the years because it aligns with what we want to do,” Patrick said.
The problem: managing both Microsoft and Google, two different systems, led to more management and security concerns. The solution and current move was making a full transition to Microsoft.
“The primary focus was manageability and security, and we believe it will be an easier experience for students and faculty because faculty use this also as part of their education,” Patrick said.
Lead IT Project Manager Mita Saha explained that as part of their communication plan, they are making multiple outreach efforts with TCC to ensure everyone is informed about this coming change.
“[At] the New Student Orientation, there will be slides that will be shown and they will be discussing this so that the new students will know during their classes in the fall,” she said. “New Student group Advisement and Directors of Counseling are all made aware of that, so the students will have different avenues to learn about it as well.”
