Technology - USA (2021-03)

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UNIVERSITY AT BUFFALO

“We have what we call the Tech

Squad, a student service out of

our organisation. A student can go on the

website and pick a time and we will show

up at their room wherever they live and

help them with the technology. We don't

go into physical rooms currently, we

made that virtual so students still could

go and say, ‘Look, I need some help, and

I'm free between three and four. I want

that slot.’ And so we virtualised the tech

squad so that students could still get that

one-on-one help.

“In the one-on-one process used

back before COVID, we would ‘storm

through the dorms’ at the beginning of

the semester - all 4,000 dorm rooms

• and see students as they moved in
  and offer assistance. We could do that
  physically before, but now we can’t.
  So we flipped it so that we now do it
  virtually and offer that same assistance.
  I think it was very helpful. This
  is just another way that
  we've tried to retain
  the look and feel of
  campus using the
  technologies we have
  at our disposal, so
  the students still felt
  like they were a part of
  something bigger.”

EXECUTIVE BIO

BRICE BIBLE

TITLE: VPCIO

COMPANY: UNIVERSITY AT BUFFALO

INDUSTRY: HIGHER EDUCATION

AND RESEARCH

LOCATION: BUFFALO, NY, USA

but to project what those needs are going
to be in three to five years,” says Bible. A
pandemic was, of course, never a core
focus of that planning, but UB’s strength
as a “multidimensional” learning institute
by design gave it a strong foundation from
which to react.
Bible considers the simple matter
of maintaining lines of communication
between students and faculty: “They needed
simple, robust, synchronous video capability
for their classes.” But a one-size fits all
approach did not work. Zoom was not ideal