1. Advancing digital transformation
We’re innovating the technological processes, models and relationships that connect the ASU+ community.
UTO improves the experiences and services for ASU and beyond in Spring 2022
The UTO story is one of constant innovation, support of existing systems, and anticipation of shifts and trends taking place in higher education, technology and society.
In 2022, the story arcs that represent UTO’s work will primarily focus on: advancing the learning experience, developing community solutions, modernizing the workforce, accelerating digital transformation and digital trust, and creating the future of innovation to improve the ways in which we work, learn and live.
Today, we dive into the work and transformation that took place over the Spring 2022 semester – from January 10 through May 7, 2022 – with UTO’s By the Numbers and Semester in Review.
‘By the Numbers’ quantifies UTO’s impact at ASU and beyond
Through the lens of the Spring 2022 semester, UTO advanced growth and transformation for several priorities, especially those of cybersecurity and technological scaling.
Meeting our community’s expectations of digital safety and data privacy, UTO has escalated, remediated and mitigated an increased number of security incidents, affirming our commitment to a fortified digital landscape.
Complementing these efforts, UTO accelerated its use of digital tools. Notably, ASU’s Digital Backpack makes tools like Slack, Zoom, and software available to all Sun Devils. With over 190,000 contacts recorded this semester, the Experience Center ensures 24/7 support for these tools and many more that are available to Sun Devils.
The numbers associated with these events, and many more, attest to UTO’s impact across ASU.
‘Semester in Review’ qualifies the impact of UTO's work
And if we look to 'By the Numbers' as a way to quantify how work gets done at UTO, the stories shared in the UTO Newsroom help us to qualify the impact of this work across ASU and beyond.
As the Spring 2022 semester has come to a close, a few prominent story arcs emerged from the UTO Newsroom. Most notably, the ASU exhibition of digital transformation, learning experience and community solutions were prominent from January to May through these arcs.
Here’s a look at UTO’s Semester in Review for Spring 2022 across these three story arcs:
ASU explores new ways to scale smart campus initiatives
ASU partnered with Amazon to test and deploy Amazon Sidewalk Bridge Pro, which extends the use of long-range, low-power (LoRa) wireless networks used to keep low-bandwidth smart devices connected even when beyond the reach of campus wifi.
ASU and Verizon partner to bring 5G to the university
ASU President Michael Crow and CEO of Verizon Business Tami Erwin announced the next phase in the ASU and Verizon partnership to bring Verizon’s 5G Ultra Wideband to the university. The Verizon 5G Innovation Hub powers the Creativity Commons, located on Tempe campus.
ASU’s Experience Center chatbot supports the Sun Devil community
As part of UTO, the Experience Center set out to explore new ways to more quickly and efficiently share information and knowledge with students for financial aid services. Enter: the chatbot.
Bringing strategy to the cloud
Higher education institutions have embraced cloud technology. In an interview with EdTech Magazine, UTO Executive Director Nathan Wilken spoke about bringing a cohesive strategy for cloud acceleration to higher education institutions. Read more on EdTech Magazine.
2. Innovating the learning experience
With an extensive and diverse digital toolset available, ASU faculty are fostering greater engagement while students are learning by creating.
ASU students “jam” on the future of 5G
Students from across the university came together for a jam-style event at ASU’s Learning Futures. At the end of day three, seven student-led teams pitched new ideas on how to apply 5G and wireless technology to enhance solutions that address education, healthcare and the environment.
3 tools enhancing the teaching and learning experience
To keep up with new developments and innovate the next ones, the university’s Learning Experience (LX) team helps faculty integrate a growing suite of tools into their classrooms for increased communication, deepened collaboration and more.
High school students nationwide get their heads in the cloud
In partnership with National Education Equity Lab and Amazon Web Services, ASU’s W.P. Carey School of Business and University Technology Office are working together to deliver a course on cloud computing to high school students.
Stepping into the Metaverse: ASU at the forefront of expanding VR
Welcome to the ASU-niverse! Learn more about how a team of about 70 students at the ASU Learning Futures are helping expand the Metaverse at ASU and testing out practical applications of it. Originally published on ABC 15.
3. Partnering to create community solutions
We’re partnering with industry leaders and ASU colleges to design technologies that benefit society.
Trust and partnerships are key to closing the digital divide
Over 550 smart city experts, technology leaders, faculty, researchers and students convened at ASU's fourth annual Smart Region Summit to strengthen a partner network around increasing digital equity in smart regions in Arizona and beyond.
New app is helping teens navigate entry into the workforce
As part of ASU's Cloud Innovation Center, powered by AWS, mission to help local organizations better navigate the digital transformation, the CIC partnered with St. Joseph the Worker to design an app for their Teen Workforce Initiative.
Web accessibility efforts bring screen reader compatibility to the visually impaired
Web accessibility at ASU is a crucial practice of the university’s commitment to inclusivity. UTO works to improve the means by which our community is able to interact with university sites, tools and software.
ASU IT professionals empower communities
Empower 2022, ASU's IT community event, brought together 500+ ASU IT professionals this May around the theme "empowering the communities we serve." ASU IT teams volunteered in the local community and then came together to explore 8 IT areas to transform society.
A closer look at how we are empowering the modern workforce
As technology continues to transform our interactions across the ways in which we work, learn and live, we must prioritize the human impact for the individual and the community. At this year's Empower, ASU's annual IT community event, over 500+ IT professionals came together to empower communities - those we serve and those we belong to: