Over the summer, Gannon University’s ITS department worked hard to bring several improvements to the technology around campus in time for the fall semester.
Some of the most obvious improvements can be found in the Power Room at the Waldron Campus Center.
Already a popular spot to study, the 42-inch displays in each collaboration room are now wirelessly compatible with students’ laptops and tablets.
The wireless feature allows for up to four different devices to be connected at once and the accessibility has been improved with on-screen instructions.
Marissa Foriero, a junior occupational therapy student, said, “I never knew how to use them before, but now it’s so easy.”
Now, more students can easily study online content and work on projects as a group without having to be crowded around a single computer.
Also new to the Power Room is the high-capacity printer and copier. In previous years, it was common for several students’ material to be printed and lying in the tray waiting to be picked up. This often caused frustration and the need to sort out each student’s papers at the printer.
“We wanted to provide more advanced functionality for students when printing on campus and provide it in a convenient location,” Carol Kruger, Help Desk supervisor at ITS, said.
With the new printer, students are now required to either log in with their network ID and password or swipe their student ID through the card reader after sending any documents to the printer. Then, all students need to do is use the machine’s touch screen to select which documents they would like to print.
“By adding this feature to printing, we are hoping for more efficiency by reducing the amount of wasted pages when students left their printouts behind on the printer,” Kruger said.
Gannon’s ITS department plans to implement this new system across all printers on campus in the future.
The new printer also includes a built-in scanner, a feature that has not been available in the Power Room before. Students can either send their scans to their email or use them to make copies.
According to ITS, the “Scan to Email” function will not count against students’ 600-page semester print quota. This will likely be a good alternative for those who do not have time to go to Knight Tower, the current temporary library, to use the only scanner that had previously been available for student use on campus.
Additionally, there are new 24-inch iMacs available for student-use at Knight Tower. They can be found on the fifth floor in the new Cyber Café.
This will allow students who use Apple’s operating system regularly to use computers at the library more comfortably or possibly allow them to use files and programs they would not be able to use on a Windows computer.
Internet speed and wireless connectivity have also been improved. Gannon now runs 1 GB per second bandwidth internet, which will allow for faster downloading and web-surfing campus-wide.
North Hall and the Morosky Academic Center have also been equipped with 802.11 AC Wave 2 Wireless Access Points. One can be found in every residential room and common area in North Hall, allowing for maximum speed and coverage.
For the latest news and alerts on the technology around campus, students can find the Gannon University ITS Help Desk on Facebook or follow it on Twitter at @GannonHD
KYLE JOSEPH
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