This newsletter provides information on the features and benefits of Live@Edu and how staff can utilise it to access their students’ written work and multimedia files.

The following features are examined in more detail:

• Student Email
• Office Live Workspace
• SkyDrive

All applications require an internet connection.

Student Email

Live@edu enables students to retain their Curtin email accounts indefinitely. Keeping in touch with peers and lecturers and being notified of alumni events is much easier.

For more information about student email, access the Windows Live Mail Help Center.

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Office Live Workspace

The Office Live Workspace provides a structured document sharing facility which enables students to collaborate on complex projects, store research and share work in progress. At present Office Live Workspace only supports use of the following browsers; Firefox, Internet Explorer (Windows), or Safari (Mac).

Students can essentially access a web version of Microsoft Office (Word, PowerPoint and Excel) through their student email account, which also means they don’t have to purchase a license for this software. Once a document is created and has been saved to the Office Live Workspace, students can access it from anywhere – they simply need to login to their Live@Edu account and can continue working on their documents stored within the Office Live Workspace.

Students are not constrained to using only one computer to access and edit their documents and they no longer need to always keep a copy saved to their USB. Students can work on group assignments from any location and multiple authors are able to write and edit project documents at the same time allowing students to work collaboratively and efficiently in an online environment.

Live@edu also provides students with the capacity to:

• create a profile and allocate sharing permissions;
• post photos and videos online; and
• create and share a calendar which can be viewed and updated online or on a mobile phone.

For more information about Office Web Apps, access the online Help Center.

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SkyDrive

The SkyDrive is essentially an online area where students are provided with 25Gb of free storage space in which to store their files and documents. The previous student email system was restricted to only 40 megabytes-per-user, which was limiting for students who today are highly mobile and use email to store and send very large files. This additional storage space means that students can now create and upload larger multimedia files, presentations or videos which they can share with their lecturers and peers as required.

How do my students share a file with me via their SkyDrive?

If your students need to share files with you via their SkyDrive they need to follow these steps.

1. Scroll over the document that you have created (or uploaded to your SkyDrive) and that you wish to share with your lecturer.These will be stored under Office > Your Documents.
2. Click on More > Share > Send a link.
   
   
3. Type in the email address of your lecturer, provide an optional message and then click Send.
   
4. Your lecturer will receive an email with the embedded link to your document.
   

Tip: Staff are advised to reply to student emails regularly to acknowledge receipt of the emails with links.

For more information about Windows SkyDrive, access the SkyDrive Help Center.

Collaboratively written with Jessica Short, Student Relations Technology Consultant, at CITS.

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