Add as a preferred source on Google

Putting Students First with Technology

  • 11/01/13

The world has grown increasingly reliant upon mobile technologies in recent years, and academia is no exception. Faculty want to be able to check email from their smartphones, administrators want the ability to access university systems when working remotely, and students expect to bring their laptops or tablet devices of preference into the classroom. To address all of these areas and continue Boise State University’s “students first” commitment, it was necessary that we re-engineer our help desk to better support today’s academic environment.

Boise State implemented a remote support solution in 2002 to provide hands on support at the point of contact with support to managed PCs on our network. The technology had several limitations, including complexity for the support personnel and that it was solely for the Windows platform. Since approximately 30 percent of our students are now relying upon Mac devices, this was a significant drawback.

Additionally, this legacy support tool didn’t enable us to assist individuals working off-campus, preventing us from fully serving our distance learning students and faculty when they travelled to conferences or were conducting research in the field.

We began looking for a remote support solution that could provide multiplatform support and ultimately selected Bomgar. We’ve seen a number of improvements. Instead of being limited to supporting only certain university-sanctioned applications and devices, we’re now confident in our ability to assist any end-user, regardless of what device or operating system he or she is using. In addition to meeting our BYOD support needs, the solution allows us to assist faculty, students and staff even when they’re not connected to the university’s network.

In addition to furthering our “students first” mission, our enhanced support environment has significantly improved our experience as help desk representatives. Not only has it eliminated the frustration of not being able to help a user due to device limitations, it also makes us much more efficient.

BOMGAR
WWW.BOMGAR.COM

This article originally appeared in the College Planning & Management November 2013 issue of Spaces4Learning.

Featured

  • ed tech conference calendar

    Upcoming Awards, Events & Webinars

  • University of Utah Launches Utah 360 App

    The University of Utah in Salt Lake City, Utah, recently announced that it has partnered with digital engagement hub Pathify to launch a new app for the university community, according to a news release.

  • How One School Reimagined Learning Spaces—and What Others Can Learn

    When Collegedale Academy, a PreK–8 school outside Chattanooga, Tenn., needed a new elementary building, we faced the choice that many school leaders eventually confront: repair an aging facility or reimagine what learning spaces could be. Our historic elementary school held decades of memories for families, including some who had once walked its halls as children themselves. But years of wear and the need for costly repairs made it clear that investing in the old building would only patch the problems rather than solve them.

  • Delta State University Completes Renovations to School of Nursing Facilities

    Delta State University recently completed a major expansion and renovation project for the Robert E. Smith School of Nursing facilities on its campus in Cleveland, Miss., according to a news release. The project includes about 14,000 square feet of new construction and more than 21,000 square feet of renovation work to the existing space.

Digital Edition