Accessing Your Office Computer Files Remotely

by Sarah Kain Gutowski, Chair, New Member Mentoring Program

As we move deeper into the semester and your workload is increasing (it's not just me, right?), the last thing I really want to do is encourage you to bring lots of work home with you. 

But let's face it -- it's a necessity, right?

You may have a thumb drive that you use to shuffle files from your office computer to your home computer, and sure, those are nice -- but what happens when you leave that thumb drive plugged into the USB port of your office computer? When you wake up an hour early to work on those handouts/meeting notes/governance report, the last thing you want is to be stymied by technology. So while I will urge you to keep home time YOUR time (a rule I preach and have yet to follow myself -- hey hypocrisy!) it might help you to know that you can access your computer files from home with a web address and your MYSCCC login.

First, type https://roam.sunysuffolk.edu/+CSCOE+/logon.html into your web browser (or, you know, click the link and then bookmark it). You'll arrive at this:

Then, enter your MYSCCC login information. You'll be taken to this screen:

At this point you're asked to select the link to your home campus. It's important to note that if you were formerly an adjunct who began teaching on another campus, or even a full-time member transferring from another campus, your files are probably located under your original campus. (ex. I transferred to Eastern from the Ammerman campus last year, and my files are still located under the Ammerman link.)

Click the link and be patient: you'll find a redundant screen that asks yet again for your MYSCCC login:

I find that depending on the amount of traffic on the college server or the strength of the wifi signal at my own home, it can take a minute or two for something like this to appear: 

Use the arrows on the top right of the screen to scroll through the list until you find your MYSCCC Login. When you do, click the link, and you'll be directed to another link for your files ("My Documents").

Hopefully this isn't a totally unnecessary post for you all -- I just realized that I found out about the VPN service when it first came about at the college, and I'm not aware if it's part of the formal orientation for new members. I DO know that I find it incredibly helpful being able to access my files in the smart classroom, and also at home . . . where I do more school-related work than I'd like to admit.

(Look out for one more post/email from me tomorrow, when I archive Nick Giordano's talking points from The New Member Discussion Series event, "Hindsight: What You Can Learn From My First Year.")