Day 1: November 12 – Main Conference

• 9:00am-9:45am: Keynote Address
  • Keynote: Beyond Compliance- A Pathway Towards Greater Accessibility and Inclusion at Illinois
    Allison Kushner, Office of the Vice Chancellor for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion
    With a common vision of inclusiveness and accessibility for the campus community at large, what does it look like to shift our focus from compliance to what lies beyond?
    
    Location: Online
    Track: Sharing: Everyone’s Welcome
• 10:00am-10:45am: Sessions 1
  • Securing Windows with PowerShell DSC
    Michael Kletz, Privacy and Security; Tamara Buch, Privacy and Security
    Q&A + Demo for the CISDSC module authored by Security for applying CIS security benchmarks to Windows endpoints and servers.
    
    
    Location: Online
    Track: In Focus: Here and Now
  • Photo Roster as the LMS Dashboard
    Szymon Machajewski, Learning Technology Solutions
    The UIC Photo Roster in Blackboard Learn helps faculty learn student names. Faculty can listen to name pronunciation, save notes about the student, and review preferred name, personal pronoun. Along with key visual analytic indicators, such as flags when student has not yet logged into the course, the tool is becoming the dashboard of the course to build student-faculty relationships.
    
    Location: Online
    Track: In Focus: Here and Now
  • ACT – All COVID Test Pipeline
    Ken Taylor, Technology Services
    A review of the AWS pipeline architecture used to process all of the COVID-19 tests on the UIUC campus.
    
    Location: Online
    Track: In Focus: Here and Now
  • University of Illinois System Shared GitHub Service
    Robyn Velazquez, AITS; Pete Herrig, AITS; Chris Hawk, AITS; Dave Mussulman, Engineering IT Shared Services
    The University of Illinois is establishing a shared, cloud-based GitHub services which will be available to all students, faculty, and staff. Members of the implementation team will share details of the service, the current status of the project, and welcome question from participants about the service and how to get started.
    
    
    Location: Online
    Track: In Focus: Here and Now
  • Interacting with Customers with Disabilities
    JJ Pionke, University Library
    This presentation will explore how libraries can and should interact with patrons with disabilities at the reference desk. There will be a discussion of some basic concepts to think about and then a deeper look into why accessibility interactions with library patrons is problematic and an area of growth for libraries. The concepts and data explored in this presentation is broadly generalizable to other customer service contexts.
    
    Location: Online
    Track: Sharing: Everyone’s Welcome
• 11:00am-11:45am: Sessions 2
  • Accessible Chat and Communications Platforms
    Keith Wessel, Technology Services; Dena Strong, Tech Services
    In today’s world, communications platforms are more vital than ever. But not all platforms are created equal, especially when it comes to accessibility. Join Keith Wessel and Dena Strong for a comparison of the accessibility and ease of use of platforms including Teams, Zoom, Slack, Skype for Business, and others.
    
    
    Location: Online
    Track: Sharing: Everyone’s Welcome
  • Meeting Teaching Needs in a Pandemic
    Craig Jackson, Technology Solutions (ISU); Jeff Grabb, College of Business (ISU); Carla Birckelbaw, Technology Solutions (ISU); Chandra Smith, College of Applied Science & Technology
    March, 2020, pushed digital transformation at ISU. We had to quickly develop a plan for moving from fully in-class to fully on-line in less than two weeks. This presentation will review the pedagogical and technical discussions, constraints, and opportunities to provide IT services to the campus community.
    
    
    Location: Online
    Track: Vision: Looking Forward
  • Research Data and Networking BoF
    Chris Skaar, Technology Services; Eric Boyer, NCSA; J. D. Maloney, NCSA; Phil Winans, Technology Services
    Open discussion of supporting data and network needs for researchers with with NCSA and Tech Services.
    
    Location: Online
    Track: In Focus: Here and Now
  • From Vision to System: Prototyping with Ease
    Isaac Galvan, Technology Services; Bradly Alicea
    Building apps is a costly endeavor, with many potential pitfalls and points of failure. Getting user and stakeholder feedback early can save your team time and effort, particularly as the product vision develops. We will demonstrate that it is never too soon in the development cycle to start building prototypes. Building your first prototype is simple, often requiring nothing more than paper and pencil! More generally, we will highlight how prototyping might be used in open-source communities, particularly as a distributed collaborative exercise. The iterative and interactive aspects of the open-source case are widely relevant to successful prototyping among diverse product teams.
    
    Location: Online
    Track: Sharing: Everyone’s Welcome
  • Enterprise Integration Updates
    Jared Crowe, AITS; Kavin Chan, AITS
    A review of the AITS enterprise integration road map.
    
    
    Location: Online
    Track: In Focus: Here and Now
• 12:00pm-1:30pm: Lunch, Poster Sessions, Vendor Showcase, and Networking
• 1:30pm-2:15pm: Sessions 3
  • WCAG 2.0 Vs. WCAG 2.1
    Jeremy Perkins
    WCAG 2.0 AA is the legal standard for accessibility on the web, but it is now being displaced by WCAG 2.1 AA. In this session we will review the differences between WCAG 2.0 and WCAG 2.1 and how to ensure the high-level of accessibility is achieved. Relevant for content creators and editors, designers and developers.
    Location: Online
    Track: Sharing: Everyone’s Welcome
  • Chatbot in the LMS – AI for Academics
    Szymon Machajewski, Technology Solutions; Elizabeth Romero, Technology Solutions
    LMS is a digital center of the campus. A guide is sometimes welcome for new faculty, new students, or experienced users who simply are looking for optimization. UIC Socrates provides a new interface for how-to knowledge and LMS academic data.
    
    
    Location: Online
    Track: In Focus: Here and Now
  • macOS/iOS at Illinois
    Paul Roberts, Technology Services; Keith Mountin, Apple
    Fall update on macOS and iOS at Illinois. Keith Mountin our campus Apple System Engineer will be on hand to answer question plus give updates on the following: What’s new in macOS and iOS How to deploy macOS with DEP Enterprise update.
    Location: Online
    Track: Sharing: Everyone’s Welcome
  • Using AWS Savings Plans to Reduce Cloud Expenses at the University Library
    Joseph Troy, Library
    The Library has been using Amazon Web Services for the Illinois Library Digital Collections and Illinois Data Bank applications since early 2019. This presentation will share how the Library saves money by using AWS Savings Plans. AWS Savings Plans is just one of the ways Library IT reduces its AWS costs and saves the Library up to 50% on some compute services.
    
    
    Location: Online
    Track: Cloudy with a Chance of Terraforming
  • Upcycled Apps: Adapting Existing IT Resources for Nontraditional Use Cases
    Kathy Walsh, Materials Research Lab
    Nontraditional software needs can often be addressed by creative, DIY adaptation of IT resources already available on campus. These solutions can be customized and maintained by the end user as needed. Since these are already widely used resources, support and tutorials are readily available. This presentation will walk through practical examples of adapting existing, free-to-campus-users software for use cases other than those for which the software is targeted, including for administrative tasks.
    
    
    Location: Online
    Track: Sharing: Everyone’s Welcome
• 2:30pm-3:15pm: Sessions 4
  • PowerShell User Group Q&A
    Michael Kletz, Privacy and Security; Dominic Pickert, IT Partners at Gies
    Come learn about the campus PowerShell user group and PowerShell in general. Technical & group related questions both welcome.
    
    Location: Online
    Track: Sharing: Everyone’s Welcome
  • Introducing Adobe Sign
    Julie Wagner, RIMS
    Learn the basics of Adobe Sign, an electronic signature platform that the University now supports. Adobe Sign can significantly improve workflows by moving your signatures and approvals to the cloud. In this session, learn how to create and build templates, self-service webforms, and more features. We will also cover use cases from departments across the system to give you an idea of what others are using Adobe Sign for and how it can be implemented in your office.
    
    
    Location: Online
    Track: Sharing: Everyone’s Welcome
  • Software Integration with AuthMan Access Policies
    Erik Coleman, Technology Services
    We will take a deeper dive into Authorization Manager and how you can integrate your application with defined access management policies. We will take a look at managing role-based access control (RBAC) for cloud-based roles in Amazon Web Services and Azure, creating and managing Office 365 groups, and how to interact with AuthMan through the Grouper REST API.
    
    Location: Online
    Track: In Focus: Here and Now
  • Discovering & Accessing Your Data – ATLAS DSC
    Michelle Rome, College of LAS – ATLAS; Todd Reese, College of LAS – ATLAS
    Come see the latest updates to the ATLAS Data Services Center! The DSC was written to replace the long successful Report Delivery application and includes a number extensions. Special features include a Discovery component for finding data, the ability to favorite frequently used reports, as well as suggesting reports based on preferences set by each individual. The DSC is NOT limited to data and reports created by and for LAS but allows for data professionals across the institution to register data so that it can be found in the Discovery portion of the application no matter what the format or delivery method.
    
    Location: Online
    Track: In Focus: Here and Now
  • Digital Publishing and Pedagogy in the Humanities
    Mary Ton, Scholarly Communication and Publishing
    This discussion will center around strategies for supporting the digital publication of humanities-based research with a particular focus on multimedia writing assignments in undergraduate and graduate courses. We’ll share strategies on how to effectively assess needs, select web hosting services best suited for the scope of the project, and develop effective workflows for faculty and students. We’ll conclude by offering a survey of services provided by the university.
    
    
    Location: Online
    Track: In Focus: Here and Now
• 3:30pm-4:15pm: Sessions 5
  • Upcoming Email Relays Migration – What to Expect
    Eric Frahm, Technology Services
    A long delayed project to migrate the Campus Email Relays to a vendor hosted cloud platform is coming in to fruition. What changes should you expect, what opportunities might this provide?
    
    
    Location: Online
    Track: In Focus: Here and Now
  • Illinois Drupal Framework: Coming Together to Create Powerful Websites
    Nate Baxley, ATLAS – College of LAS; Melissa Waller, College of ACES; Tyler Rubach, ATLAS – College of LAS; Bill Gutierrez, College of ACES
    The colleges of ACES and LAS have been using Drupal to power our websites for many years. We’ve pooled our experience to create a system that can be deployed to any hosting solution (including campus cPanel), supports the new campus brand standards out of the box, and is built with customization and expansion in mind. Find out what it can do, how you can begin taking advantage of it, and how to become a part of the community that will expand its functionality in the into the future.
    
    Location: Online
    Track: Sharing: Everyone’s Welcome
  • An Overview of Illinois REDCap
    Michelle Lore, Interdisciplinary Health Sciences Institute
    REDCap (Research Electronic Data Capture) is a secure web application for collecting data via surveys and data entry forms. It is a HIPAA-capable platform, making it ideal for collecting Protected Health Information. This presentation will include: an overview of REDCap, features of the system, how it protects data, and how to gain access to REDCap.
    
    Location: Online
    Track: In Focus: Here and Now
  • UIUC AnyWare – Overview and Next Steps
    Christopher Hendricksen, Technology Services; John Cox, GIES College of Business; James Han, Engineering IT; Eric Mosher, Library; Geoffrey Muckenhirn
    UIUC AnyWare is a new service that was stood up by a collaboration between Technology Services, ACES, ATLAS, Engineering, GIES and the Library. It provides students with remote access to the apps and desktops they need. In this presentation we will give an overview and demo of the service then talk about next steps, with input from the audience.
    
    Location: Online
    Track: In Focus: Here and Now
  • Adaptive Narration Technique in Online Teaching
    Sebastian Kelle, CS
    Adaptive Narration Technique (ANT) is a technologically enhanced pedagogical teaching model that aims at fostering self-directed learning processes in online education. We follow the principle of flipped classroom by empowering students to create content themselves, using a collaborative storytelling approach. The method is making use of a decentralized authoring environment for digital storytelling. It enables students to iteratively and collaboratively gain knowledge by discovery and reflection. In the presentation, we’ll provide a demo and example and discuss its potential in a higher education environment and its engineering disciplines, such as our college. There are certain challenges involved, such as how to collaboratively create content in a bigger group of students, and in what ways the generated content can be reused, assessed and shared. In sum, the proposed model provides novel means of administering personalized self-directed learning interventions. These are expected to result in improved student satisfaction and confidence.
    
    Location: Online
    Track: Free-Floating
• 4:30 PM – 5:00 PM: Closing and Social