HillConnect Brings New Features to Hamilton E-mail
by Emily Delbridge '13News Writer
March 04, 2010
For the greater part of a decade, Hamilton has been using the Sun Java Communications Express system for e-mail, paying $30,000 or more per year for service. Gmail, on the other hand, costs nothing. According to members of Hamilton's Information Technology Services (ITS), the reduced cost was among the many benefits that led them to adopt Google Apps for Education.
Beginning on Monday, March 1, ITS began transitioning all students to HillConnect, an umbrella for the suite of applications available through Google Apps for Education.
The staff agreed that migrating to HillConnect, would offer significant enhancement in the College's communication capabilities. The applications include HillMail, HillChat, HillDocs and HillCal (the Hamilton-specific versions of Google's Gmail, Google Talk, Google Docs and Google Calendar, respectively).
HillMail offers over seven gigabytes of e-mail data, a quota 14 times larger than the old system. It also allows for an increased e-mail attachment size of up to 25 megabytes, and stores messages in the inbox as a thread, or "conversation," grouping messages with their replies.
ITS Training Coordinator Maureen Scoones highlighted the interface provided by HillCal. "The drag-and-drop editing environment allows users to create and share personal calendars very easily." She explained that the HillCal interface could facilitate scheduling meetings between HillConnect users if they choose to publicize their availability, and that its increased accessibility can help users to easily manage their time.
Student reaction has been mixed so far. Some are reluctant to get used to a new interface, but others are pleased with the new features. One of the volunteer HillConnect testers offered comfort to those who miss the familiar setup.
"As with all new systems, there is a bit of a learning curve. [But it's] fairly short for Gmail."
Whitney Bachow '13, who was among the students making the transition to HillConnect on Monday, March 1, said, "I like it. I like that if I have the inbox open, new e-mails will automatically appear without me refreshing the page. Also, Google has a mobile phone interface that makes it easier to check my mail and type messages from my cell phone."
Along with the features that HillConnect offers, having data reside on Google's servers allows for increased reliability and less server down time. HillDocs features live editing, something that could help collaboration between multiple students or faculty members, and diminish the need to e-mail different versions of the same work. HillChat is an instant messaging program that resides within HillMail and HillDocs.
There are also various "Labs" that can be enabled within HillMail, such as "Undo Send" and YouTube previews within e-mail messages.
Prior to this week's transition, ITS gathered feedback from beta testers and early adopters to ensure a smooth migration without data loss. ITS has received many questions and opinions regarding the change. For more information regarding HillConnect visit http://www.hamilton.edu/hillconnect or call the ITS Help Desk at x4181.