The past year saw extensive upgrades to our wireless network, boosting its speed, security, and extending its reach across most of the campus. This enables students to collaborate with their instructors and peers more effectively using a variety of tools, including learning management systems, tailored learning applications, specialized software packages, and training programs for students. Some examples of specialized learning tools being created with faculty at the University of Chicago include adapting an existing Clinical Pathophysiology textbook to a new web platform, building a new user interface to the Virtual Human Embryo for a Human Growth & Development course, and language textbooks optimized for use on mobile devices.
We are extending the reach of the campus network to support the university’s global presence, starting with the University of Chicago Center in Beijing that opened last fall. We are using digital video technology to allow graduate divisions, professional schools, and the undergraduate college to have real-time interactions with the faculty and students working at the Center in Beijing. The use of technology in classrooms also will allow us to expand offerings in the Graham School of General Studies. By tailoring the technology available to those students, who are primarily working adults, we are able to offer more convenient options for their educational needs.
How has your campus financed its technology initiatives?
Each year, the IT Services team meets with student government, our faculty advisory board, and other governance bodies to determine what strategic investments IT Services should pursue. The CITO then discusses those initiatives with the provost, the CFO, and other university executives to determine which initiatives best advance the university’s objectives. Funding decisions and plans arise from these discussions in a strategic planning process.
What initiative or project are you most proud of, and why?
I am truly proud of all the initiatives that the IT Services team has delivered over the years. However, I think the one initiative that I am particularly excited about is our technology support that extends beyond the campus into our city and around the globe. Locally, IT Services is engaged in several programs to support the neighborhood schools on Chicago’s South Side by recycling computers no longer in use at the university and engaging youth in various research programs both on and off campus. Neighborhood youth are able to connect and participate with other students their age through the use of computers and technology supplied by the university’s technology department.
- Extron AV Switching, Streaming, and Control Systems Aid Higher Learning at Idaho’s First Medical School - June 1, 2021
- Extron XTP, Streaming, and Control Systems Empower Point Park University’s Varsity Esports Program - June 1, 2021
- Extron NAV Series Delivers AVoIP Throughout Allied Health Veterans Hall at UNC Wilmington - June 1, 2021