When the UW became one of the first major universities to transition to remote work and instruction to prevent the spread of the coronavirus, it set in motion a massive operation to support tens of thousands of students, faculty and staff.
Remote classes curb spread of pandemic
The UW became the first major University to take most of its classes online to prevent the spread of the coronavirus, an unprecedented move quickly followed by other universities across the U.S. Supporting the University’s transition to remote learning was no easy task, and it took the combined efforts of multiple partners to make it happen.
On the frontlines of COVID-19
When the pandemic threatened to overwhelm medical facilities, UW Medicine and UW-IT developed network connections and telecommunication systems on the fly to accommodate the mobile needs of frontline health care staff who worked around the clock in MASH-like facilities to treat patients.
Pandemic underscores accessibility challenges
The ability of students with disabilities to access course materials, class lectures and other critical instructional resources online during this pandemic served an illuminating lesson.
And the work must go on
The pandemic completely changed the way UW operates on a daily basis. But ongoing investment in information technology, growing IT expertise, the acquisition of reliable tools, and a quick shift to working remotely have kept staff safe and healthy — and the UW operating smoothly.
Help a phone call away
When tens of thousands of UW staff moved to home-based operations, so did the people who work in customer service call centers across the UW. How their operations kept going is directly tied to the University’s investment in a modern telecommunications infrastructure and support from UW-IT.