Visitors to Wolverine Access experienced a new gateway to university systems and resources beginning September 27. The new Wolverine Access makes it easier to find and “bookmark” frequently-used tools and resources within the U-M digital universe, has a mobile-friendly design that is easy to use on all devices, and is built on a more modern and secure platform… Read More »
After supporting the move of students, faculty, and staff to remote learning and working, Ross IT developed plans for a “public health-informed” return to campus for the fall semester. Ross IT engaged with the Ross community to prepare how to transform the classrooms to meet the hybrid academic requirements. The approach involved three principles for design: consistent, standardized,… Read More »
Supporting student motivation and self-regulation through online tools has become more important than ever with the shift to remote learning for fall, and My Learning Analytics (MyLA) is ready to help. Designed by U-M faculty Stephanie Teasley and Matt Kay from the School of Information and Stuart Karabenick from the School of Education, in collaboration with Information and… Read More »
As summer wound down, campus got ready for the fall semester at UM-Dearborn. An Emergency Operations Center directive necessitated restricting campus access to only those students with an on campus class—around 15% of our schedule. To do this efficiently and minimize health risks by reducing time standing in line, we turned to technology. Our reporting tool, WebFocus, produces… Read More »
In spring 2020, ITS deployed Zoom videoconferencing to campus and later added large event support, captioning, and PHI-compliant Zoom for Health. Since then, adoption of Zoom has grown exponentially, while the use of BlueJeans has fallen significantly. Additionally, Google Meet and Microsoft Teams are available as part of the U-M academic collaboration suite at no additional cost and… Read More »
Over the summer, I saw countless examples of how the Michigan IT community banded together with a single purpose across units and campuses to act with urgency. I encourage you to keep that inspiring momentum into the academic year.
The pandemic has created new and unique challenges for students. To support a culture of caring and to create safe computing options, ITS developed a new laptop loaner program called “Sites @ Home.” The program provides the best that ITS has to offer: Campus Computing Sites with access to specialized software, a Windows PC, and computers with higher… Read More »
Since late June, when the university announced its decision to have students on campus and enable a combination of in-person, hybrid, and remote classes, LSA Technology Services quickly took action to enable an unprecedented delivery of the LSA liberal arts mission. In two short months, we’ve invested, improved, and implemented technology and services to not only meet the… Read More »
Previously targeted to retire at the end of the year, the campus contract for ServiceNow, an IT service management tool, will end early on September 30 to avoid significant licensing costs.
The Michigan Aeronautical Science Association (MASA) is a student-run engineering team at U-M that has been designing, building, and launching rockets since its inception in 2003. Since late 2017, MASA has focused on developing liquid-bipropellant rockets—which are rockets that react to a liquid fuel with a liquid oxidizer to produce thrust—in an effort to remain at the forefront… Read More »
A more secure and user-friendly version of Procurement Services’ Quote-to-Order (QTO) System is now available for the university community. The QTO System allows university employees to, among other things, easily and conveniently obtain estimates—and place orders—from multiple strategic suppliers for a variety of products and services, including printing/mailing, web design, and IT temp staffing. The security enhancements to… Read More »
Brandon Werner is a screen reader specialist at the University of Michigan, where he ensures blind students have what they need in order to be successful in life and throughout college. Alongside his work as a screen reader specialist, Brandon reviews university websites like Canvas and Google to make sure they work with the screen readers and other… Read More »
With COVID-19 changing the landscape of how higher-education and other areas of our society operate, gaining important insights from data is more important than ever. As U-M begins a historical public health-informed in-residence semester, the Michigan Insights on Demand (MIND) team at Information and Technology Services (ITS) continues to make strides in building and enhancing the ecosystem needed… Read More »
The innovative and creative spirit of the Michigan IT community flourished over the summer. As our plans for the hybrid semester come together, we continue to find innovative ways to support a world-class Michigan educational experience.
Mark your calendars for the Michigan IT Virtual Symposium, November 10-12, 2020. That’s right. “Virtual.” The pandemic has changed our approach in planning for the 2020 Michigan IT Symposium. Due to constraints regarding a face-to-face event, the planning committee has worked with the Michigan IT Steering committee to develop the framework for a rich and rewarding virtual experience. … Read More »
Most people by now are familiar with the steps necessary to make their own videoconferences secure. But what should you do if you happen to be participating in a videoconference that experiences some type of interruption, such as a Zoombomb. Disruptions can include anything from the mundane – barking dog or crying children, unintentional screen sharing, or dissonant noises… Read More »
It goes without saying that COVID-19 changed many things at Michigan Medicine. One major change has been the restricted hospital visitor policy, significantly limiting the number of people and time visitors can spend with a patient. For clinicians, this has upended patient-family communications, typically conducted face-to-face. “Not being able to share information with families in-person has been a… Read More »
Information and Technology Services recently informed Winter 2020 and Summer 2020 graduates that they are eligible for four more months of Adobe Creative Cloud at no cost. “It’s not lost on anyone that the journey for our recent graduates from college to what’s next in their career is different from those who have gone before,” said Ravi Pendse,… Read More »
A Zoom beta feature is now available, providing automatic live transcription for meetings and webinars. “Now more than ever, creating opportunities for the entire academic community to participate in discussions, presentations and lectures about today’s issues is vitally important,” said Ravi Pendse, vice president for information technology and chief information officer. “We want to improve the ability for… Read More »
The Strategic Technology Advisory Committee (STAC) is expanding from 16 to roughly 50 members to represent voices from all units across campus to create a place for IT community members to come together, share information, and collaborate. STAC, previously known as the Unit IT Steering Committee, was formed nine years ago. Since then, its objectives have remained the… Read More »