The ITS department has begun updating touch panels in classrooms for the first time since 2004, according to classroom IT Analyst Ken Schmidt.
Schmidt said all of the general use classrooms in Moscow will be outfitted with the upgraded touch panels. Panels in the Teaching and Learning Center will be updated first, he said, so ITS will be able to provide near-immediate assistance if necessary.
There are two major changes that users will notice when they use the upgraded touch panels, Schmidt said. Vandal Numbers will not be required to log in and use the touch panels. Schmidt said this is useful when community groups and students use classrooms outside of class time.
While the layout and interface are the same, the color scheme and images have been updated to match UI new gold theme.
“It shouldn’t be a big surprise. That’s what we strive for,” Schmidt said. “If we would have made a push to upgrade during summer break, then we might have wound up doing interface changes and having things work a little differently, but the timing doesn’t work out. We want to keep it similar so we’re interrupting classes with something totally new.”
According to Schmidt, the old panels had code written by a UI employee who will be retiring soon. All of the employees needed to be trained on the system by in-house IT experts.
In contrast, Schmidt says the new panels use code from a major company. This means UI can hire IT employees who have experience with the code.
Schmidt said this new code gives ITS more feedback on the health of computer systems at UI. Frequent feedback allows ITS to keep panels and classes running smoothly, he said. In addition, the new panels are equipped with a basic messaging system that allows ITS employees to remotely assist professors with technological problems, Schmidt said.
He also said ITS will be able to make more well-informed decisions in the future because of this system.
“It will be a great improvement down the road,” Schmidt said. “We’re currently trying to get it deployed as quickly as possible. We’re still looking at the rest of this school year to get it all done.”
With the exception of the color scheme and lack of a login screen, the new panels will not look different from the old ones.
If needed, help with using the new touch panels can be found at the ITS website or by contacting ITS through email, phone or the messaging system on the new touch panels.