Switch from Bruin OnLine system to Gmail has firm timeline, with first transitions in March
- Incoming freshmen and transfer students will have access to the new Gmail UCLA application starting in March when they sign their Statements of Intent to Register.
- Current undergraduates are set to have access to their accounts in fall quarter.
- Graduate students are not yet scheduled to make the transition, but they may make the shift in the future.
SOURCE: Mark Bower, an associate director of Managed Network Services
Compiled by Kylie Reynolds, Bruin senior staff.
By Trisha Nangia
Feb. 28, 2012 12:40 a.m.
The shift to Gmail from Bruin OnLine email services now has a timeline.
Incoming freshmen and transfer students will have access to the new Gmail UCLA application starting in March when they sign their Statements of Intent to Register, while current undergraduates are set to have access to their accounts in the fall. Graduate students are not currently scheduled to make the transition.
Last year, a task force proposed making the change to Gmail to avoid modifying the URSA system, which is used by both graduates and undergraduates, said Mark Bower, an associate director of Managed Network Services.
A procedure is currently being developed to transfer eligible individuals. This includes establishing guidelines on who will be classified as an undergraduate, Bower said. He added that the board overseeing the transition also needs to establish guidelines on whether alumni and retirees will be included in the first round of transfers.
Graduate students are not currently included in the timeline, but they may make the shift to Google Apps in the future, he said.
C.J. Okoye, a first-year applied mathematics student, said he’s looking forward to the changes.
He does not find the current email system useful ““ the system is not organized chronologically and attachments are difficult to send, he said.
He expects himself and other students to use their university email accounts more often after the transition.
“My UCLA account should be my professional email, but I use it the least because it’s so difficult to use,” Okoye said. “Gmail is more interactive, it’s aesthetically pleasing and it’s user-friendly. It will make people more inclined to access their UCLA email.”
Shannon Meagher, a second-year psychobiology student, positively anticipates the shift to Gmail accounts, as she currently forwards all of her UCLA emails to her Yahoo! account.
The switch will not require the school to pay Google for the service because the application is governed by a system-wide University of California contract, Bowers said.
Students will also have access to collaboration tools like Google Docs and Google Calendar under the new system.
“UCLA can deliver a richer set of collaboration tools and email capabilities for the same cost,” Bower said. “For us to go try to develop what Google has developed will cost the same money or more.”
Minor costs do exist when it comes to building the UCLA portal for the Gmail account, Bower said. The service, however, is available to the UC at no cost because of its contract with Google.
Bower said initial feedback on the Gmail UCLA application from test groups has been positive.
“We’ve seen that collaboration capabilities are widely used,” Bower said. “Our students are using Google already so it’ll be something that will require little or no training simply because of the familiarity of it.”
With contributing reports by Melissa Truong, Bruin contributor.
