Strategic Investments, Collegial Spirit Help IT Staff Rise to Unprecedented Challenge
Image by Lee Asher
With students finishing the spring semester from home because of the coronavirus, the Information Technology office worked quickly to move 2,700 on-campus courses online.
04/08/2020
By Ed Brennen
But a global pandemic that would force UML to suddenly close the campus and move all courses and business operations online in a matter of days?
鈥淚 wish I could say we鈥檇 thought that through, but that was never a scenario we鈥檇 considered,鈥� says Assoc. Vice Chancellor for Information Technology听Michael Cipriano, the university鈥檚 chief information officer.
Fortunately, when the coronavirus forced UML to transition to online learning and remote work in mid-March, the IT infrastructure was prepared 鈥� thanks largely, Cipriano says, to strategic planning and investments by the university in technology such as the听Blackboard听learning management system, the听vLabs听virtual desktop environment and the听Skype for Business听unified communications solution.
鈥淲e鈥檝e been very fortunate with how this technology has come into play in this emergency,鈥� Cipriano says. 鈥淚f there was a more prepared university than 51视频, I鈥檇 like to know who it was.鈥澨�
But technology alone couldn鈥檛 ensure a smooth transition to online learning when UML flipped the switch on the morning of March 18. It also took a universitywide spirit of collaboration, camaraderie and support, as faculty, staff and students helped one another quickly adapt during a time of incredible upheaval.
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鈥淕iven how much has been asked of all of us in so short a period of time, I am amazed, but not surprised, by how our UML community has successfully tackled this unprecedented situation,鈥� says Chancellor听Jacquie Moloney, who visited the IT technical support center at O鈥橪eary Library on the morning of the online move to thank the dozen staff members answering help calls.
鈥楬erculean Effort鈥�
By the time Provost听Joseph Hartman听announced on March 11 that classes would be moving online, preparations were already well underway in the IT department, which manages everything from academic technology and information security to UML email and phone services.
鈥淲e were paying attention to the coronavirus like everyone else, but when Harvard announced that it was going online, we all started thinking this could happen in Lowell,鈥� says Cipriano, whose team had 10 days to move 2,700 courses from on-campus to online.
Image by Lee Asher
Three days into the move to all-online courses, 98 percent of students had logged in to the Blackboard learning management system. Those who didn't were quickly contacted by academic advisors.
51视频 70 percent of those on-campus courses were already leveraging Blackboard, the online tool that allows faculty to share readings and recorded lectures, host discussions and post assignments and exams. First used to deliver online courses offered by the Division of Graduate, Online and Professional Studies (), Blackboard has been available to complement on-campus instruction since 2016.
The challenge for IT was to get that remaining 30 percent of courses up and running quickly on the learning management system. First, they created 802 Blackboard 鈥渟hells,鈥� where faculty could begin adding their course content. Then, the听Academic and Instructional Technology听team got to work on faculty outreach.
They created a听Continuity of Learning听webpage that outlines a four-step process to move courses online. They promoted a听听where faculty could ask questions and share strategies for remote learning. They began hosting five webinars a day on how to use not only Blackboard, but also Zoom video conferencing,听Lecture Capture听and听Gradescope.
And to help answer the deluge of faculty questions, IT extended its remote support hours 鈥� with backup help from members of the GPS team. In the week leading up to the March 18 online launch, about 30 IT and academic technology staff members answered more than 1,200 virtual learning tool questions.
鈥淲e know that many faculty are working outside of their comfort zones, but the outpouring of support has been overwhelming,鈥� says Assoc. Director of Academic Technology听Donna Mellen, whose team at one point was fielding close to 50 help tickets an hour.
鈥淏eing able to handle that tsunami of new users over a two-week period, that was a Herculean effort that I鈥檓 incredibly proud of,鈥� Cipriano adds.
Within each college, meanwhile, faculty stepped up to support one another. In the听Manning School of Business, for instance, 21 faculty members offered to mentor colleagues and host webinars when Dean听Sandra Richtermeyer听put out the call.
The hard work and preparation paid off. Three days into all-online learning, 98 percent of students had logged in to Blackboard.听
To make sure the remaining 2 percent didn鈥檛 fall through the cracks, Dean of Academic Services听Kerry Donohoe听asked IT to use its customer relationship management software,听Salesforce, to help academic advisors connect with those students who hadn鈥檛 logged in to Blackboard.听
鈥淚 was pleased our team could quickly deploy the functionality to help with student outreach during this unprecedented time,鈥� says Assoc. CIO听Lori Dembowitz, whose team configured new Salesforce dashboards to share Blackboard login data with advisors in a matter of days.
For at-risk students who needed a computer for remote learning, the IT department worked with the Provost鈥檚 Office to reconfigure and make available more than 100 Chromebooks. In a single day, they also reclaimed more than 100 laptops from across campus and got them ready as loaners for faculty 鈥� 鈥渁n incredible feat,鈥� says Assoc. CIO for System Architecture听Steve Athanas.
Virtual Environment
Another critical component of online learning is听vLabs, technology the university introduced in 2013 that allows students to run university-owned software via a virtual desktop on any internet-connected device from anywhere in the world.
With vLabs usage already on the rise, Cipriano says IT was planning a server upgrade this summer that would boost virtual capacity by 50 percent. But with a surge in use expected as every class moved online, IT needed to accelerate the upgrade timeline 鈥� at a time when supply chains were stretched thin and back orders were extending for months.
鈥淚 couldn鈥檛 be more proud of everybody at the university for how they鈥檝e responded.鈥� -CIO Michael Cipriano
Fortunately, UML has some connections. Athanas, who serves as president of the global VMware User Group and as an advisor to the Dell Technologies User Communities, was able to use some of his connections to expedite the university鈥檚 order of servers, which are now up and running at the UMass system鈥檚 data center in Shrewsbury (which also serves as UML鈥檚 backup should a meteorite ever strike its data center on campus).
鈥淭he performance of these new servers is more than twice as good as the existing systems, according to our tests, so some engineering students in particular should see a big bump in performance,鈥� says Athanas, who credits the work of Systems Engineering Manager听Nick Siakotos听and his team for the rapid upgrade.
With Zoom quickly becoming the video conferencing platform of choice for both online classes and business meetings, Senior Director of Instructional Technology Support听Michael Lucas听was able to increase the number of UML licenses to 2,400.
For faculty and staff who need remote access to university-based resources not available via the internet, Assoc. CIO and Information Security Officer听James Packard听increased the virtual private network (VPN) capacity from 250 users to 2,500 users.
Packard鈥檚 team, which has seen an increase in phishing and malware campaigns that exploit coronavirus fears, has also maintained systems and data security protocols as faculty and staff seek to access campus networks and resources from home.
鈥淲e are not lowering our defenses in order to facilitate people working from home,鈥� says Cipriano, who adds that this has required patience and cooperation from users. 鈥淚 think they understand it.鈥�
And Skype for Business, the web-based communication tool that the听university rolled out听three years ago to replace its telephone system, has enabled more than 2,000 faculty and staff members to seamlessly use their office number to make and take calls at home.
鈥淲e weren鈥檛 looking for a phone system that could work during a pandemic, but lo and behold that鈥檚 one of the benefits of Skype,鈥� Cipriano says. 鈥淲ho would have thought that?鈥�
While there鈥檚 still much work to be done 鈥� including final exams and the start of summer courses 鈥� Cipriano says the university has already shown that it can rise to the challenge.
鈥淚t鈥檚 a terrible thing that鈥檚 happened, we all know that. You can go through an entire career and not be faced with something like this,鈥� Cipriano says. 鈥淏ut I couldn鈥檛 be more proud of everybody at the university for how they鈥檝e responded.鈥�
