Over the past week, I've had the opportunity to be part of a group testing the new e-mail system at Miami University. The new system, called muConnect powered by Google, will soon host all undergraduate students. It is set up in the same format as Google mail (aka Gmail) and will allow students to have their Miami e-mail address for life.
As an avid Gmail user for the past year, this change is very beneficial. The Gmail system is very straightforward. It also offers more applications than in the Microsoft Exchange system undergraduates are currently using, including Google documents, which allow Gmail users to post, edit and share documents with one another without the hassle of e-mailing them from person to person.
As students begin to migrate their e-mail accounts, there are frustrations they may run into. One option for students is to migrate all saved Miami mail to the Google system, which takes a couple of days depending on the amount of saved mail. Those with mail clients on their phone may see a mass amount of unread mail. Though there is a simple solution of waiting for the all of the mail to migrate by logging into muConnect through myMiami, and marking the mail as read, new mail coming in for hours and hours might throw you off and get a bit annoying. Of course that's just how it works and it has to happen, but trust me, it's worth it.
Also, students who have not used Gmail will have a new format to get used to. E-mails traveling back and forth between two recipients will continue to appear in the inbox as one message with a number in parentheses following the senders name indicating the number of messages in the thread. Opening one of these messages you will see the entire conversation and be able to click on each individual message rather than scrolling through one giant e-mail body. This concept makes much more sense because it gives you the ability to jump to a specific message rather than searching through an unsorted string of e-mails.
Another frustration may come with not having the option to search through all Miami students, faculty and staff through an address book. Though I was informed this feature is being worked on, it's something that was offered previously and should be added to the new system as soon as possible to avoid errors in e-mail addresses. I know the feature is more of a luxury than necessity because e-mail addresses can be found through a "people" search on myMiami, but having a feature taken away is confusing.
Though Miami has the option of giving students many features of Google mail, they have opted to offer mail, calendar and documents. I encourage the offering of the chat feature to allow students to communicate, for example, for group projects without having to clog each other's inboxes. The option then gives students the option to chat via video, which can be very beneficial if a group member is at home for the weekend but has access to a computer with a video camera.
When it comes to migrating e-mail accounts, I encourage students to attend one of the drop-in sessions to be assisted in moving the account. Things can get complicated when you have to make changes not only to the e-mail system, but also to your iPhone or BlackBerry and a desktop client like Apple Mail. Instructions are offered online for those who want to brave the change on their own, but with help being offered, it can only be beneficial and you don't have to worry about a wrong click. If you do choose to attend one of these sessions, do bring your own computer as recommended. Obviously if you have a desktop e-mail client you would have to bring your own computer, but even if you don't having your own laptop in front of you makes the transition easier than making the change while on a university computer.
Overall, the transition will benefit students at Miami. Because the format is easy to understand, more Miami students will want to use their e-mail address for life. This will increase the alumni connection to Miami and also put Miami's name out there even more when e-mail recipients see "muohio" at the end of an e-mail address.
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