UMD’s current Cisco AnyConnect virtual private networking (VPN) service will be retired on October 15, 2021. Its replacement is GlobalProtect VPN, which is now available to UMD community members. If you use UMD's VPN service, we encourage you to switch as soon as possible!

The University of Maryland’s centrally provided Webex Web Conferencing service will be discontinued June 15, 2022. The service has provided video and audio conferencing for university community members for several years, but given the fiscal constraints of continued state budget cuts, it is not prudent to continue paying for multiple overlapping services.

The Spring 2021 Dell bulk buy period for UMD institutional purchases is available through July 30, 2021. The bulk buy discount is 5 to 7% off on select configurations.  Shopping through UMD’s e-procurement system, Shell Shop, is the recommended method for purchasing devices from this promotion. Alternatively, Dell has created a special Premier website for this bulk purchase timeframe like they have for previous bulk buy promotions; however, the Premier website now requires registration. 

In November 2019, members of the ATEX lab and DIT's Senior IT Accessibility and UX Specialist, Ana Palla-Kane, presented at the Women Advance IT conference at the University of Lincoln-Nebraska. The conference highlights the contributions of women in the field of IT.

In this article in the Chronicle of Higher Education, check out how DIT survey design and implementation strategies, led by Dr. Megan Masters, improved the implementations of classroom technology, by asking for input from the users themselves. For more information on this and other surveys related to using technology for teaching and learning at UMD, visit our Academic Technology page. 

In March 2020, when the university transitioned to remote instruction, Marcio A. Oliveira, Assistant Vice President for Academic Technology and Innovation, stressed the importance of faculty being flexible, patient and creative in designing and implementing their courses.

New in Fall 2020, the University of Maryland app is the official mobile app for the university, offering up-to-date information and content specific to the user's select experience. The UMD app delivers access to popular institutional services and resources, including:

Eight One Button Studios are now available across campus! These are simplified recording studios that allow you to create high-quality video projects without having to know anything about lights and cameras. You only need to bring a flash drive with you and push a single button to start the recording.

The Division of IT is upgrading Wi-Fi equipment in South Campus Commons, Graduate Hills, and Graduate Gardens apartments begininning in January 2021. We recognize that high-quality W-iFi is essential for remote learning during COVID-19, and we have worked over Winter Break to acquire equipment and make plans for these improvements. When complete, residents will experience the following enhancements:

UMD Zoom offers the ability to provide live Automatic Speech Recognition (ASR) transcripts in real time for meetings and webinars. Once enabled, the feature provides the ability to show in-session ASR transcriptions of all spoken content, based on the session audio. The transcriptions appear during the meeting in a side panel visible to all participants.