News Brief: KPU changing student emails in batches until May 5
KPU is changing students' emails in batches from Jan. 16 to May 5. (Keet Kailey)
Kwantlen Polytechnic University’s IT department is moving student email accounts to new servers, incorporating additional Office 365 features.
These changes are being made because some features of Office 365 weren’t available to students in their previous email accounts, such as Microsoft Teams. Email storage capacity of 50 GB and “accessibility for tablets and smartphones, plus calendaring functions” are other changes students will have in their new accounts, according to KPU’s website.
“There was a need to allow for more collaborative work between students and faculty,” says KPU Chief Information Officer Reza Khakbaznejad. “With the current technology and a directory in the service we had, that wasn’t possible.”
He says moving students and faculty to the same directory takes advantage of Microsoft Teams features, offering more collaborative instant messaging and sharing documents within the program.
In an email announcement sent to students on Jan. 5, active student email accounts will be moved in batches starting Jan. 16, with all mailboxes should be moved by May 5, excluding April 13 to 21 due to exams. Khakbaznejad says roughly 2,000 emails are being moved per day.
“As a three-semester university that operates year-round, the change was always going to happen at a time when classes were in session, but we have tried to minimize the impact on students,” Khakbaznejad said in a follow-up email to The Runner.
Email addresses will change from “@email.kpu.ca” to “@student.kpu.ca.” Khakbaznejad says IT wasn’t able to keep the same email addresses due to technical challenges and changing them was the best way to reduce the impact for students.
Students will receive an email from IT Service Desk one week before their email change. Everything in the email account will be moved into the new one, and emails sent to “@email.kpu.ca” will automatically forward to “@student.kpu.ca” for two months after the move.
However, OneDrive files from the previous email account will need to be manually moved to the new one. KPU’s website has instructions on how to copy all files to the new OneDrive.
On the day the email changes, students can still use their old email address until the move is complete. If you see an “error message (code: 500)” when trying to log into your old account, this means your account has been moved. To access the new email account, log in on Outlook.com or the New Email Portal at one.kpu.ca. You will be asked to log in and reset your password. Instructors are also automatically informed about changes to students’ new emails in their classes.
Khakbaznejad says making these changes was something KPU has been considering for the past year due to the pandemic and the emerging of “collaborative technologies into that teaching and learning space.”
Email accounts will also have additional security protections with the new server through the Microsoft 365 Safe Links and Safe Attachments features.
“These features will help protect mail recipients from scams and malware by scanning the content of web pages and attachments linked to and included in emails, and shared via OneDrive,” reads KPU’s website.
Students who are experiencing issues with the transition can contact the IT Service Desk at servicedesk@kpu.ca or 604-599-2116.
