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In the event that routine work or academic functions are disrupted due to prolonged campus or building closures, you may find it necessary to work or teach a class from off campus. We provide a variety of services to connect you with colleagues and students remotely so that work and learning can continue uninterrupted. Students should visit our learning remotely page for more information. 

In preparation, you should make sure you have tested your access to the following equipment at home:

  • Laptop or desktop computer.
  • Microphone – this may be built into your laptop or computer, or you may use an external device such as a USB microphone or headset. If you’re looking to purchase a microphone, Zoom has the following recommendations.
  • Webcam – a camera may already be built into your laptop, but you can also use an external USB camera for video conferencing. If you’re looking to purchase a camera, Zoom has the following recommendations.
  • Internet – either commercially provided (e.g., Comcast, Fios), or configure your phone to be a wireless hotspot. Many providers are relaxing their policies and offering lower cost options to help people stay connected. If you are having trouble with your home connection, please see our troubleshooting tips.

Be prepared! It’s best to know these options will work for you before you actually need them. Test access to your equipment and resources at home before the need arises and contact us if you have any questions or issues. We have a number of remote readiness consultation sessions scheduled where you can bring in your laptop and get your questions answered on how to work from home.

If you do not have equipment at home that meets these standards, please consult with your supervisor.

Working Remotely

Meet & Chat Online

Microsoft Teams combines modern online meeting technology with persistent chat (similar to Slack), file storage, and collaboration. The full functionality of teams is now available to faculty, staff, and students. To get started log in to Microsoft Teams from your web browser or download the Teams app from Microsoft.
Zoom Meetings also provides a robust platform for online collaboration and meetings, pairing full video and audio conferencing capabilities with content sharing and cloud recording. Faculty, staff, and students automatically receive fully licensed accounts. Once logged in, download the Zoom Client for Meetings from the Zoom Download Center on your home computer to access the full benefits of Zoom. We recommend taking a few extra steps to help secure your Zoom meetings to ensure that only people you invite attend.

Access Your BU Phone/Voicemail

Even when you are away from the office, there are several options for accessing your calls and voicemail.

You can have your voicemails delivered by email. Once configured, you will receive an email with an attached sound file whenever someone leaves a voicemail on your line. You will still be able to check and manage voicemails by calling 3-9999 on campus or 617-353-9999 when off campus.

The Single Number Reach feature will ring both your desk phone and another number simultaneously, allowing you to receive your calls both on and off campus. Alternatively, you can choose to simply forward all your calls to another number and not have it ring your office phone. 

Duo Two Factor Authentication

You are encouraged to set up Duo Two Factor Authentication on more than one phone in case you don’t have your mobile phone with you or are not at your office phone. You can use the Manage Devices feature to add, remove, or change the devices that Duo can use to verify who you are.

When you are logging in, you can choose which line Duo will send the authentication request to (via smart phone app, SMS text message, or phone call depending on what you chose).

Virtual Private Network (VPN)

Due to current capacity limitations, please only connect to the VPN when using a service that requires VPN and be sure to disconnect from the VPN when you are no longer using that service.

Please note that most BU and cloud resources, such as Blackboard, BUworks, Office 365, and BU Google Mail don’t require the use of VPN.

Services that do require the use of VPN include: General Purpose network drive (GPNAS),  Shared Computing clusters (SCC) logins to scc4.bu.edu, and to connect remotely to an on campus computer using RDP for Windows or ARD/VNC for Apple.

Services that require Two Factor VPN with Duo include: Restricted Use network drive (RU-GPNAS),  BUMC Y Drive, FreezerPro, and remote connections to computers at BUMC or HIPAA Components.

BU’s Virtual Private Network (VPN) creates a “tunnel” between your computer and the campus network that identifies you as a member of the Boston University community when you are not connected directly to the campus network, allowing you access to restricted networked resources. Most BU and cloud resources don’t require connecting to the VPN. If you need to access resources that require connecting to VPN, please see our instructions for installing the VPN on your computer.

Store Files in the Cloud

When you save your files in one of our cloud file storage options, you can always access the latest version of your files no matter where you’re located as long as you’re connected to the internet.

Research Computing Support

Make sure that you can connect to the Shared Computing Cluster (SCC) from your laptop or home computer. Additional SCC documentation is available on TechWeb. As always, Research Computing Services staff continue to be available to assist researchers both through email and in Zoom/Teams appointments which can be scheduled by sending us an email.

Teaching from Anywhere

A number of remote teaching resources are available in addition to remote teaching preparadness trainings to help faculty. If you’d like training on these topics, please see our schedule. In addition, recordings of trainings and other resources can be found on the Learn from Anywhere Technology Support & Resources page.

LfA Classroom Help

Learn from Anywhere (LfA) classroom overview and FAQ have been created to walk you through the technology available in classrooms. Faculty can schedule a LfA prototype classroom visit where IS&T’s Learning & Event Technology Services (LETS) team will give you an opportunity to visit two classrooms that have been outfitted with technology enhancements to support LfA. You can also view a LfA Classroom Technology Checklist which provides a step-by-step list of actions to take prior to entering an LfA classroom, as well as steps for getting set up once in the classroom. A one-page summary of the checklist is also available here for you to print and take with you.

Provide Your Course Resources Online

If your course doesn’t already have a site on Blackboard, the first step is to request a course site and set it up. We have a number of quick start guides for instructors on how to use many of the features in Blackboard. If you need assistance with Blackboard or other educational technologies, please email askedtech@bu.edu.

Faculty at the Questrom School of Business should refer to the Questrom Teaching page or email questromhelp@bu.edu for assistance in using Sakai.

Post key class materials

  • Add content such as your class notes, readings, and presentations.

Communicate with your class through Blackboard

  • Announcements are an ideal way to post time-sensitive information critical to course success. Add announcements for due dates for assignments and projects, changes to your syllabus, corrections/clarifications of materials, and exam schedules.
  • Course messages are private and secure text-based communication that occurs within your course among course members. Although similar to email, you must be logged in to a course to read and send course messages. Message activity remains inside the system, and you don’t have to worry about email addresses that may be incorrect or outdated.
  • Online discussions allow students to take time to ponder before they post ideas. You can observe as students demonstrate their grasp of the material and correct misconceptions. You can extend your office hours and reach students more often during the week so that learning is continuous.
  • The email tool allows you to send email to other people in your course without launching a separate email program, such as Outlook or Gmail. You can send email to individual users or to groups of users.

Assess your students

Record a Lecture

Kaltura Capture allows you to easily record audio, video, and your computer screen, and integrates with My Media or Media Gallery in Blackboard.

If you already use Echo360 in your class, Echo360 Universal Capture enables instructors to record audio, computer screens, and webcam video. These asynchronous recordings can be edited and saved on computers or shared on Blackboard for students. Please see our capture guide for information on how to install Echo360. If you would like to see if your classroom is currently setup for Echo360, you can find your classroom to see what technology is in the space.

Hold a Synchronous Class Online

Zoom Meetings provides a robust platform for online collaboration and meetings, pairing full video and audio conferencing capabilities with content sharing and cloud recording. There are features in Zoom that allow you to replicate the classroom experience including screen sharing, whiteboards, breakout rooms, and sharing videos with sound.  Log in to Zoom Meetings to automatically create your account. Students, faculty, and staff automatically receive fully licensed accounts. Once logged in, download the Zoom Client for Meetings from the Zoom Download Center on your home computer to access the full benefits of Zoom. For a quick and persistent way for someone to meet with you, locate your Personal Meeting ID to share with others. We recommend taking a few extra steps to help secure your Zoom meetings to ensure that only people you invite attend. If you have an accommodation request, please work with Disability & Access Services.

Library Resources

You can easily access many BU Libraries resources online with just your BU username and password. For help with accessing library resources please visit askalibrarian.bu.edu. Members of the BU community can also access the same software that is available in the BU Commons @ Mugar from anywhere in the world on their own device. Visit the BU Common from Anywhere page to get started.