Page 5 - OIT Progress Report 2014
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New Mobile App
Plans are underway for us to begin working on a mobile app (iOS, Android, and mobile browser) that will include news, a campus map, and other features. It will allow students to add and drop classes and view grades from their mobile device.
Apps.SMU
Apps.SMU, powered by Citrix XenApp, provides a secure, web-based way to use SMU software resources. Over the past year, Apps.SMU has been used by students and fac- ulty in a learning environment. Some examples include the SAS, MATLAB, and SPSS statistics packages. Other uses are for highly secure environments such as the Health Center (with HIPAA requirements) or certain administrative functions.
Apps.SMU is portable and consistent across platforms. This year the service was modified to be scalable for any type of campus group. Many new applications are in Apps.SMU, like FileMaker Pro for faculty and staff. We saw a noticeable spike in usage once stu- dents returned in August. In response to demand, we doubled the number of MATLAB concurrent sessions from 20 to 40 with no performance side effects.
“This innovation saves off-campus students an extraordinary amount of time in doing their degree work as they are no longer
tethered to working on campus.”
- Dr. Tom Fomby (Economics)
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Objective 1: Enhancement of teaching and learn- ing through curricula, pedagogies, programs, and methodologies informed by research, along with utilization of advanced technologies.
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