FIU IT Department Shares Their Side of Online Learning

Elise Gregg / Contributing Writer

As the fall semester progresses, most FIU students and faculty members are responding to the challenges of online learning. 

FIU’s Department of Information Technology has found itself accommodating to the needs of university students and staff.

While FIU’s switch to virtual learning has presented various difficulties, for IT it has been “more [of] an adjustment period rather than [a period of] problems,” according to Robert Grillo, FIU IT’s vice president and chief information officer.

Initially, IT focused on bolstering FIU’s existing online resources, by expanding their technological offerings, such as remote call centers according to Grillo.

“Our immediate focus was to make sure students and faculty were adequately supported in using [FIU’s] learning management system [Canvas],” Grillo said.

For IT, one of the biggest changes over the course of the pandemic was an increase in IT systems and applications, with an over 500% increase average in daily chats for Microsoft Teams and daily Zoom sessions.

“The number of virtual meetings and file shares has gone up significantly as well,” Grillo said, indicating that a combination of students, faculty, and staff are driving the increase. 

IT has also had to grapple with a higher number of web users during the pandemic.

FIU has over 41,000 undergraduate students in both the 2019-20 and 2020-21 school years and roughly 9,000 graduate students each school year. FIU also has almost 1,600 professors, assistant professors, associate professors, and lecturers, along with a number of other faculty and staff, according to FIU’s Analysis and Information Management website.

The IT department has received over 22,000 phone calls and 15,000 requests since mid-March. 

“During the beginning of the transition we saw an increase in the number of support requests of approximately 26%,” Grillo said, “but that since has stabilized.”

Grillo said even when the IT department faces spikes in support requests, their system, DoIT, was “designed to scale dynamically as needed.”

Beyond the number of users, the abilities of web users are also an important factor for the IT department.

“We have seen a noticeable increase in the skill-levels of people using the technology tools for teaching and learning,” Grillo said.

Users’ ability to adapt to remote work has also “included quick familiarization with collaboration tools and more advanced technologies such as Virtual Desktop Infrastructure,” said Grillo.

IT plans to help web users become more independent in navigating virtual work and learning by increasing options for self-service “such as virtual agents which are also improving availability and efficiency in the delivery of support services,” said Grillo.

While users are becoming more self-reliant, Grillo still warns online students, staff, and faculty of cybersecurity threats.

“We have seen [a general] increase in cybersecurity threats,” said Grillo, noting that FIU’s IT department alone has blocked roughly 37,500 threats in the past 5 months.

“It is crucial that students and employees stay vigilant and be aware of these cyber threats and ways to be more secure,” he said, encouraging faculty and staff to complete their cybersecurity awareness training and enroll in two-factor authentication to “add an additional layer of protection to their accounts.”

Aside from major security threats, the IT department had a few suggestions to make online learning easier for everyone at FIU.

“We would say to take advantage of the resources available to them such as AskIT. AskIT is our service platform that is available to them 24/7,” Grillo said. 

AskIT not only allows students and faculty to get technical support but also includes an “extensive knowledge base” and a list of services available through the IT department. 

Grillo suggested keeping devices and applications updated, staying familiar with and understanding how to use technology (such as cameras and microphones) before class, and securing their accounts by using Two-Factor Authentication and the DUO app.

“Familiarize yourself with any security enhancements that can help make your environment more secure,” said Grillo. “The Division of IT has the necessary tools to keep students, faculty, and staff safe while navigating a remote learning and working environment.”

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