EDTECH: What has life been like in the days since higher education made this massive shift to remote learning?
MALCOLM BROWN: I would say life has been a mix of hellishness, exhaustion and a sense of accomplishment. It’s hard to see anyone struggle, especially students and faculty who are facing new situations and things they’re unfamiliar with. For all the people attempting instruction, as well as those who are supporting them, I would say it’s frustrating to feel so limited in terms of the help you can provide. But I also imagine there are a lot of success stories going on out there and a lot of hard work is paying off.
MONIQUE SENDZE: Our infrastructure and security teams have been busy provisioning servers to build new infrastructure. We’ve been in an emergency purchasing mode, furiously buying new licenses and upgrading existing licenses to support the number of users that will now be simultaneously using the tools. We stood up a system to securely provide students remote access to computer labs with the specialized software they need. We even set up a completely new support infrastructure for responding to remote learning needs. And, rather than doing this in weeks or months, we’ve had to stand up all of this in a matter of days. My team has really pulled off some heroics. They’ve demonstrated that IT can respond to a crisis and do so quite quickly.
GREG FLANIK: I would almost say it’s like when you see that row of ducks going across the lake: Everything looks very calm and smooth on top, but there’s a lot of scurrying under the water. If you look at our institution, there’s a sense of calm that we have a handle on it, but at the same time I’m not going to dismiss that people are running crazy to help people get online.
When the announcement was made, I told our team, “Never let the opportunity from a crisis go to waste. We have always said it would be the greatest thing in the world if we can get everyone to use our tools and be online. Be careful what you wish for because that time has arrived.”