ITS Teaching & Learning played a key role in helping UNC-Chapel Hill faculty get prepared for Fall 2020 classes, whether instructors are teaching on campus, remotely or a combination of the two.
Addressed physical distancing needs
Staffers within Teaching & Learning’s Classroom Hotline unit reconfigured the technology in general-purpose classrooms for mask-to-mask and HyFlex teaching, which is a combination of in-person instruction with some students joining remotely and synchronously.
In the general-purpose classrooms alone, the Classroom Hotline team installed 203 laser projectors and 203 document cameras. And that’s after starting the installation in June.
Some sites started with no tech
What’s more, Classroom Hotline set up 21 new campus locations that originally had zero technology — including the Kenan football stadium.
The Classroom Hotline team confronted such challenges as delays in equipment deliveries. Other universities and colleges, of course, were purchasing the same technology and also needed it in a hurry.
1,380+ help requests
As for other ways Teaching & Learning staffers prepared for the Fall semester, they gave the Sakai page header a remote makeover and Sakai now shows a constant reminder about the University’s Community Standards. Even Sakaiger, the Sakai mascot, now responsibly dons a face mask.
To assist faculty with educational technologies, Teaching & Learning staff have addressed more than 1,380 ServiceNow requests, met with 400 instructors and support staff in personal consultations and workshops, and created 150 new Poll Everywhere accounts since the end of July.
Teaching & Learning had a record-breaking 16,000+ Sakai sessions active during each class day for the 3,900 courses in Sakai. During the first week alone, more than 46,000 Zoom meetings were held, and 690.5 gigabytes of media were added to the Warpwire video-streaming service in Sakai.
The week before classes began, Teaching & Learning drew more than 50 faculty members for a crash online course on teaching with Sakai.
It’s clear that faculty members could not continue their teaching without the support and technologies that ITS provides.