ITS offers ways to link 500-mile campus

Kristi Brummels will be attending a Learn@Lunch in Omaha from her desk in Norfolk.

When the annual Faculty Awards Ceremony was held on April 23 on the Omaha campus of UNMC, video was livestreamed to other sites throughout UNMC’s 500-mile campus.

The ceremony is a big event — but the statewide streaming is relatively uncomplicated, said Max Thacker, associate director, ITS.

“We can do a variety of different things to connect locations,” Thacker said. “If someone is trying to put together an event of wide interest, the audience can be expanded to other UNMC campuses relatively easily.”

A May Learn@Lunch, “Cooking Well: Adventures in Healthy Cooking Using Current and Upcoming Food Trends,” is an example. College of Nursing Northern Division employee Kristi Brummels is pleased that she’ll be able to “attend” it remotely, as well.

“In the past, sessions have not always been available to employees from campuses outside of Omaha,” she said.

But as May’s cooking event shows, that is changing. Brummels will actually be able to participate remotely — entering the discussion and asking questions of the speaker.

“There are so many awesome programs offered in Omaha,” Brummels said. “I’m hopeful that in the future, employees at other campuses will be able to take part in any professional development series they want.”

ITS has created an online request form to make it easier to request video services to other campus locations.

“People can get bogged down in the technology,” Thacker said. “But we have people in video services who can help with scheduling of rooms and the necessary technology.”

For the ITS online request form, click here.

Like Brummels, many people across UNMC’s 500-mile campus would like to attend events held in Omaha, said Liane Connelly, Ph.D., assistant dean in the College of Nursing Northern Division.

An important facet is not only the ability to watch the event, but to participate, Dr. Connelly said.

“The opportunity to engage with others and enter into the discussion, that’s what people want,” she said. “The new technology on campus does provide that opportunity, and UNMC continues to reach out. The trick is remembering that there is someone in Scottsbluff who is interested in your presentation, as well.”

There’s not very much work involved in making an event accessible across the 500-mile campus, especially if it’s already being livestreamed, said Jerry Schledewitz, Learning Resource Center technologist at the College of Nursing’s Scottsbluff campus.

“When you feel connected with these events, it makes UNMC as a whole more unified,” he said.