Technology projects increasing in popularity; virtual lab, printing kiosks seeing more use

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Two of the Office of Information Technology’s largest projects this academic year are beginning to grow in popularity, according to the January OIT update.

One project, the virtual lab, can be downloaded to the computer of any Central Michigan University student, allowing them to access the software in on-campus labs from any location in the world.

Software available via the virtual lab includes Microsoft Office and Adobe Design Premium CS5, which would normally cost more than $2,000 combined.

“I think it’s awesome, and it’s going to help me a lot for what I want to get done with school and on the side,” said Westland freshman Amy Hein.

Hein is a graphic design major who said she looks forward to using Photoshop and Illustrator for different projects.

Adding this virtual lab for the ease of students cost CMU about $100,000 last summer, according to a previously published story by Central Michigan Life.

Along with the software, students can also use the virtual lab to print to one of the kiosks on campus.

“The intention is to get rid of the restrictions of only being able to use PrintQ from specific physical locations, like our physical public labs,” said IT Vice President Roger Rehm.

Two print stations were introduced in the Charles V. Park Library in October 2011, and more recently, stations were installed in the Bovee University Center, Grawn Hall student Lounge and the Woldt/Emmons/Fabiano lobby.

After sending a print job to one of the kiosks, students can visit the print station within 24 hours and select their document from the screen to be printed.

“We’re giving people a free dollar of print quota for logging in to the virtual lab, and then another dollar for printing through one of the stations,” said OIT Help Desk Manager Jeffrey McDowell. “Our hope by giving people a couple dollars of free credit is that they’ll tell others about it.”

Since its release to students, 1,025 students have used the virtual lab and 581 have printed from the two stations in the library.

As the number of users begins to increase, CMU will need to increase hardware and licensing, which will cost the university about $25 per user, McDowell said.

He doesn’t believe the virtual lab will reduce the traffic in CMU’s physical labs because of the other perks of using those areas.

“This is all about enabling mobility, though there are certain appeals to labs, too,” he said. “People like to go there to get away from other obligations to focus on work, and that’s not going to go away.”

The OIT department has also improved equipment throughout classrooms on campus.

“CMU spends approximately $300,000 per year from an annual allocation on keeping classroom equipment up-to-date and working,” Rehm said.

In addition to the technological advancements, CMU has made online forms of 2011 W-2 forms available to university employees, which Rehm said has been successful in providing convenience to employees and saving time in the mailing process.

The switch to online W-2 forms speeds up the availability for employees and would save CMU more than $6,000 a year, according to the OIT report.

The OIT released its annual report in August, comparing CMU to 11 other universities, including Eastern Michigan University and Western Michigan University.

CMU’s total IT budget of almost $14.7 million makes up 4.26 percent of the campus budget, which is almost $5.5 million less than the benchmark, according to the report.

Director of Public Relations Steve Smith was unavailable to comment on the report.