Email

NUI Galway will send updates to you through your NUI Galway student email account. NUI Galway does not communicate with students via private email accounts, such as Gmail or hotmail. Don’t wait to set up your email account – do this as early as you can.

Campus Account

Once you have registered as a student at NUI Galway, you will need to activate your Campus Account. Your campus account gives you access to a wide range of information technology (IT) services, including your NUI Galway email account. Instructions for activating your student email account are available here.

Wifi on campus

If you want to use Wifi on campus (wireless connection to the internet), you are strongly advised to connect via Eduroam (otherwise you will need to log in with your username and password every few minutes). With Eduroam, you will be automatically logged in as long as you are on campus and in an area with a good signal. It also has the advantage that if you travel to other Eduroam-enabled institutions, you can automatically connect to their Wifi system.

Don’t miss out on vital information!

It’s important to check your email regularly in order to stay up to date with what’s happening on your course and on campus. Lecturers often post important information about their modules to students via NUI Galway’s Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) , and students receive these messages as emails to their NUI Galway student email account. The Students’ Union sends an email to all students every Thursday during term-time with details about campus updates, volunteering opportunities, events and so on. Many other student services email important information to students on a regular basis, including the Weekly Student Ezine

Help with email

See the Communication Skills section of the Academic Skills Hub for advice on using email to communicate with staff. Check out the IT and Digital Skills section of the Academic Skills Hub for more on getting the most from your student email.

If you run into any difficulties with student email contact the Information Solutions and Services (ISS) service desk 

Canvas

Canvas is the Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) used at University of Galway. A VLE is an online teaching and learning management system that students can access anywhere with an internet connection at any time. To learn more about VLEs, take a look at this All Aboard tutorial on VLEs (you can find about more about the All Aboard initiative in the IT and Digital Skills section of the Academic Skills Hub).

Pages for all of the modules that you register for will appear on Canvas. Not all academic staff use Canvas to support their teaching, and those who do may use Canvas in different ways. It will take a bit of time to figure out how each of your lecturers uses Canvas. Like email, it is worth checking in on Canvas every couple of days, so that you don’t get overwhelmed by the volume of new material there when you log in.

Students can use Canvas to access course outlines, reading lists and information about assignments; download lecture notes and other learning materials; upload assignments; find out about course updates; and access results. Sometimes, lecturers will use Canvas to encourage student interaction via discussion boards, blogs, wikis, and live video discussions, for example.

You need to register as a student at NUI Galway to use Canvas. You log in to Canvas using your Campus Account.

Turnitin

Turnitin is a web-based application that is used to detect text similarities, and to create opportunities for students to learn to properly attribute sources. Turnitin also offers mechanisms for peer-to-peer review and instructor feedback.