Remote Learning Overview

The IT Help Desk is now offering tech support on Zoom in addition to email (support@packer.edu) and phone (718-250-0280) support.

Every school day from 2:30 to 4pm, students, families, and faculty and staff can use Zoom to speak to Will Mondesi and Ramon Thompson in the IT Department. For Zoom details, please log in.

Click to read our complete guide to IT Support, addressing the following topics: 

• Remote Tech Support
• Virtual Tech Center Office Hours
• Packer’s Tech Center Hotline: 718-250-0280
• Hardware Care and Repair
• Loaner Laptops
• Data Care and Backup
• Network Access and Security (GlobalProtect)

What steps is Packer taking to prevent zoom-bombing? 
Our protocols for student/faculty Zoom meetings provide a great deal of protection. Our recent Zoom account-upgrade has allowed Packer IT Services to institute mandatory passwords and waiting rooms for all Packer Zoom meetings, and meeting hosts have the ability to lock meetings so that no further participants can be admitted.
 
Why does Packer believe that Zoom is preferable to Google Meet?
Zoom is a superior tool for group meetings. It provides a greater number of tools and more flexibility for teachers and students: break-out rooms, collaborative whiteboard space, on-screen annotation). It also has the strongest waiting-room features. Google Meet has lower video quality and fewer features (limited waiting-room features, no break-out rooms, no collaborative whiteboard or on-screen annotation). 
 
That sounds like pretty solid security. Is there any remaining risk of zoom-bombing?
The measures we have taken (passwords, waiting rooms, participant identification, and locked meetings) make it unlikely that a Packer meeting can be infiltrated. However, Zoom meeting details (URLs and passwords) must still be kept confidential by all members of the community. If these details are shared inappropriately (forwarded to individuals outside our community, or posted on the internet), security could be compromised. But, once again, the measures we have taken do provide a good deal of protection, and our faculty have been instructed on how to abort a meeting quickly should it be infiltrated. 
 
What are digital platforms doing about security concerns? 
No digital platform is completely airtight — not Zoom, not Google, not Microsoft. That said, the current reliance on technology has led such companies to strengthen security and be more transparent about how they operate. For instance, Zoom, the videoconferencing platform Packer is using most heavily, has committed its development resources for the next three months solely to security and privacy. Please refer to Zoom’s K-12 privacy policy here.

Packer IT services is here to help. However, before you contact us, restart your laptop and try your task again. A reboot can fix many ills!

Otherwise, please submit any questions about connecting to remote learning, or GlobalProtect, to support@packer.edu.

Things to Know about GlobalProtect

Students can connect to Packer's remote learning platforms, even while GlobalConnect is still connecting. 

• This is true for Google Classroom, Gmail, Drive, Zoom, etc.
• Be sure to restart your laptop and log back in to receive the latest profile configuration.
• (Of course, if Global Protect is not connecting due to an underlying internet or wifi issue, you won't access anything - see below.)

GlobalProtect must be connected for access to on-campus resources from the Libraries.

• Essentially, Library resources are licensed to our building location, not to Packer users or our domain. 
• So, to access library databases, you need a GlobalProtect connection. 

GlobalProtect provides several functions and can not be removed.

• It provides our first line of defense against malicious website content. 
• It provides off-campus access to on-campus resources provided by our Libraries and Packer IT.
• It enables the filtering of internet content, which Packer is mandated to provide on students devices. 

GlobalProtect not connecting may be a symptom of an underlying network issue (rather than a problem with Global Protect).

• Even if a user's wifi router is providing a wifi signal, but the router is connected to an offline cable modem, no data (including from GlobalProtect) can get out to the internet. That's not a GlobalProtect issue, it's an internet access issue.
• When in a hotel, or other location that provides free or paid wifi, users must usually open the login (or acknowledgment) web page for the guest wifi network before the laptop is granted access to the internet. Again, wifi is "connected", but until the user "signs into" the local network, no data (including from GlobalProtect) can get out to the internet. 
• If a user's home network is dicey, it will make connecting to GlobalProtect (or any internet resource) more challenging.
• Make sure you don't have too many browser tabs or desktops, and make sure you aren't attempting to too many applications (Command-tab to see all open apps). Every open window and every process running on your laptop consumes valuable processor speed and takes up precious memory.

Helpful Hints for Success with GlobalProtect

• Open your laptop several minutes before a scheduled meeting to allow GlobalProtect to connect.
• Even if GlobalProtect is still trying to connect, try going to the online resource you need. (If it's a Packer resource, chances are it should be whitelisted in Global Protect.)
• If GlobalProtect is not connecting and www.packer.edu can't be reached, check your home internet connection.
• Restart and try again. (Another reason getting set up several minutes before a meeting is smart.)

When using a hotel or other wifi network with a "log in" screen (...even if only to accept the network's terms and conditions).

• Turn wifi off and then on again or restart.
• Connect to the local wifi network wifi.png again.
• Open a browser and go to www.packer.edu.
• (that should prompt the authentication page for the local wifi network to appear, if there is one)
• After the laptop is authenticated into the wifi network, GlobalProtect will connect.