Overview

June 10

As the current public health crisis forces colleges and universities into lockdown, requiring students and staff to teach and learn from home, IT departments are rapidly addressing this new normal. Implementing new technologies, pivoting as challenges arise and solving immediate needs means that some things may be placed on the back burner or overlooked. While traditional learning is disrupted for the short term, what education will look like moving forward remains to be seen.

What higher education leaders can do now as they focus on enabling business continuity and online learning is look for opportunities to embrace technologies that can reduce risks, take advantage of new and emerging technologies, and break from conventional thinking.

Join the Center for Digital Education on June 10 at 11 a.m. Pacific/2 p.m. Eastern as our panel of experts discusses the challenges higher education institutions are facing today and the changes they need to consider in the long term as they work to provide an effective teaching and learning experience for students, faculty and staff.

Recognize and embrace tools that can provide insight into your current environment and help expose the risk that hastily implemented changes may have created
Evaluate virtual desktop infrastructure and desktop solutions that can be quickly deployed to satisfy students and staff as they return to a new university environment
Take advantage of this opportunity to achieve faster application performance and implement a hybrid cloud disaster recovery model with Kubernetes and containers

Speakers

Bob Burwell

Chief Technology Officer, State and Local Government & Education, NetApp

Bob Burwell is the Chief Technology Officer for U.S. Public Sector State, Local Government and Education (SLED) at NetApp. His responsibilities include setting future technology and product directions for the U.S. Public Sector group and managing key customer relationships. Bob has been in the storage industry for over 25 years with a focus on State and Local Government, Education and US Federal markets including; Army, Navy, Air Force and Intelligence Agencies. Bob speaks regularly at key Industry and customer events, has written multiple industry papers and sits on key working groups.

Jim Jorstad

Director of Client Services at the University of Wisconsin–La Crosse and Center for Digital Education Senior Fellow

Jim Jorstad, is the Director of ITS-Client Services at the University of Wisconsin–La Crosse, and Center for Digital Education Senior Fellow. Jim Jorstad is a leading force in the innovative and effective use of technology in teaching, learning, and research for over twenty years. He has a B.S. with honors in Mass Communications and holds M.A. with honors in Instructional Design and Technology from the University of Iowa. Jim is responsible for integrating technology into teaching and learning, strategic social and rich media, learning space design, distance education, and is involved in diverse IT projects with a user base of 12,000. He is a frequent lecturer and consultant for universities, organizations, and companies worldwide. Jim was a member of the editorial board for EDUCAUSE Quarterly and an EDUCAUSE Frye Fellow of 2005, one of 50 leading IT professionals chosen worldwide. He has held numerous technology leadership positions within the University of Wisconsin System. In 2008, he was the recipient of the Mediasite UNLEASH Return on Investment Award. His blog is viewed by nearly 140 countries. Jim is a global journalist and film maker with his work appearing in major news outlets including CNN, MSNBC, Forbes, and NPR. In 2013 he was awarded the CNN Spirit Award for this reporting. He is a film contributor for the the award-winning documentary motion picture, "Slay the Dragon" produced by Ark Media and distributed by Magnolia Pictures.

Steven Zink — Moderator

Senior Fellow, Center for Digital Education

Steven Zink is an emeritus faculty member at the University of Nevada, Reno, where he served as the University’s first Vice President of Information Technology, while simultaneously serving as Dean, University Libraries. During his lengthy tenure at the University, Zink assembled a vibrant hybrid organization of information professionals, ranging from specialists in instructional technology to librarians to information technology professionals. In 2008, the physical manifestation of the organization was realized with the opening of the widely acclaimed 300,000 square foot Mathewson-IGT Knowledge Center. From 2011-2016, he served as Vice Chancellor for the Nevada System of Higher Education, the coordinating body over all public institutions of higher education in Nevada.

Webinar

Reacting Well to Crisis: How Universities Can Pivot Toward Innovation