USC provides OneDrive and Skype resources for students


By
 in

Many free online apps are available to students including the Microsoft Office suite which became available to all current students beginning in the summer of 2015. In an email sent out by Chief Information Officer Doug Shook to all students Feb. 21, Information Technology Services announced they will be expanding the free apps available.

USC is offering Microsoft OneDrive as part of an initiative to increase campus technological resources. Photo courtesy of Microsoft OneDrive.

Students now have access to Microsoft OneDrive and Skype for Business accounts. OneDrive for Business in an online file-hosting service which allows students to have up to five terabytes of storage for files. Asbed Bedrossian, director of Enterprise Middleware Applications, said these services are a part of an initiative spearheaded by Shook to go toward increased technological resources across the campus.

OneDrive uses the native Microsoft format for the Microsoft Suite. This allows students to avoid converting files from other online programs such as Google Drive. Office productivity applications allow students and faculty members to store their work documents and share with anyone who has a Microsoft account.

Director of ITS Organizational Initiatives and Communications Leyla Ezdinli explained how the addition of OneDrive was advocated for by students and faculty. “ITS has received requests from students and faculty and staff for students to have access to OneDrive to simplify, share and collaborate on files,” she said.

To optimize the backup and storage process, desktop and mobile apps are available for student use. The USC ITS’ website details how to access and use the OneDrive for Business apps in addition to other online storage options available. Other Microsoft Office 365 apps are now also available to students.

Another new tool available for students to encourage collaboration is Skype for Business. According to USC ITS, Skype for Business is a web conferencing platform that enables web conferencing, instant messaging and screen document sharing. This service allows users to call each other on desktop computers, laptops and mobile devices.

This interface has the potential to form enterprise ties and facilitated access to students and faculty members at the University in the future. Bedrossian envisions that “in the university environment [these new technologies] can connect everybody [to] do [the] workflows.”