LITS Student Guide: 2020-2021

This guide provides resources to support your library and technology needs while you participate in Mount Holyoke's Flexible Immersive Teaching (FIT) model, and covers the basics you'll need to begin your work in the 2020/21 academic year. Use the menu on the left to learn more about how to access course materials, journal articles, research or technology help, software, and other materials.

We also encourage you to review the LITS website and contact us at ask-lits@mtholyoke.edu if you have questions about the library and technology services that are available to you.  

This guide is being updated regularly. We will continue to add content as new information is available and welcome your suggestions. Please use our form to submit feedback on this guide.

LITS buildings are currently closed, but we are available and able to provide you with remote help and support! Please see our Services and hours page for details about how to connect with LITS' service teams. 

Select LITS spaces will be available at reduced capacity for residential students following the College-specified arrival quarantine period currently set for February 1. You will access these spaces using your OneCard and should expect to schedule your visit in advance. Visit the LITS study spaces for spring 2021 page for details.

Technology plays an essential role in your live class experience! LITS encourages all students to take the following steps before your first class meeting, the better to to set yourself up for success. Many common issues can be avoided or mitigated with the following steps.

Communicating with Peers and Professors

1. Check to see if your professor has asked you to post an introductory video or text post to Moodle!
2. Your faculty member may not have yet made your course visible. Don’t worry! As long as you are enrolled in that course in my.mtholyoke, you’ll have access to that course in Moodle beginning the morning of the first day of classes.
3. Once your courses have been made visible to you, look at the “Course Announcements” forum in each of your courses, and make sure you know where in each course your faculty have posted links to Zoom sessions.
4. Test your Zoom settings and access by first logging into Zoom with your Mount Holyoke credentials, then testing your microphone and speaker in Zoom within Settings.

On the First Day of Class

1. Restart your computer that day, before your class start time.
2. Close any applications that are open on your computer which you don’t need during class.
3. If you see a “low bandwidth” message while in a live session, turn off your video and use only audio and close any applications that are open.

Zoom Tips

Zoom is Mount Holyoke’s primary videoconferencing tool. You’ll use Zoom to participate in live class sessions and other activities!

• Learn more about installing and using Zoom at Mount Holyoke!
• If it’s your first time using Zoom at Mount Holyoke, be sure to go to mtholyoke.zoom.us to get to our institution's domain on Zoom, then click Sign In, and use your Mount Holyoke email address and credentials (as you would use for email or Moodle) to sign in to Zoom.
• You do not need to sign up as a new user of Zoom.
• You can run your own meetings, too! All Mount Holyoke students can initiate video and audio conference calls of unlimited duration using this tool.

Moodle Tips

Moodle is Mount Holyoke’s learning management system.

• Visit moodle.mtholyoke.edu and log in as you would to your Mount Holyoke email account.
• We recommend you download the Moodle mobile app for easy access and an alternate way to access Moodle course content. Keep in mind that some features of the mobile app will work differently. Learn more about what you can and can't do in the moodle mobile app here.
• When you first open the app, you will be prompted to enter the URL of your Moodle site.  Enter "moodle.mtholyoke.edu".

Kaltura Tips

Kaltura is Mount Holyoke's new platform for video management.

• Kaltura is accessible from the “My Media” tab in Moodle, as well as at kaltura.mtholyoke.edu.
• Your professors may ask you to use Kaltura to either create or upload video content as part of an assignment.
• Kaltura automatically captions all submissions.
• If you record a Zoom meeting to the Zoom Cloud, a copy of that meeting recording will be automatically added to your Kaltura account.
• Kaltura also offers a mobile app, Kaltura Mediaspace GO (KMS GO), which is available on the App Store and in Google Play. You can upload media from your mobile device with this application. When setting it up the first time, please enter the domain name "kaltura.mtholyoke.edu" and then log in as you would for email or Moodle.