UTech, Jamaica 2015-16 Annual Report

Page 91 University of Technology, Jamaica ANNUAL REPORT 2015-2016 • the graduate perception survey of the 2015 cohort; • focus group sessions with stakeholder groups; • assessing the academic performance of students; • re-designing the dashboard systems; • training other departments on how to use the advance data analytical software; • preparing special reports for external stakeholders such as the Planning Institute of Jamaica’s (PIOJ) publication of the annual Economic and Social Survey (ESSJ) and statistical reports on students and Academic staff for the MOE. Technology, Information and Management The year’s primary challenge came from the exponential increase of the number of students now using mobile devices. Many students now bring at least a laptop computer and a mobile phone each day to the campus. More and more courses offered require use of these devices for interaction with the Internet and to the Learning Management System (LMS). To meet these challenges the following augmentations were effected. • Acquired and installed new Servers and migrated the essential enterprise applications on to these more reliable machines • Acquired additional storage and migrated the data of the Core Systems & e-mails to the new Storage Area Network • Acquired and installed two new Internet Gateway Routers that will facilitate more simultaneous connections and faster communication with the Internet and our remote campuses • Replaced ageing wireless equipment with new ones having greater capacity resulting in more students being able to connect to the UTech Jamaica network from mobile devices simultaneously • Obtained new Computers and updated 4 Student Laboratories • Upgraded the bandwidth connecting the main campus to the Internet to 300 MB/S with a backup link from Digicel of 100 MB/S • Reconfigured the Data Center’s Firewall to facilitate better security. • The Learning Management platform and its software were upgraded to provide a new, friendlier user interface and better usability features. • The first version of the web-based Student Relations System was developed and launched. The system is designed to track and share all student interaction with the university with all departments in the university.