Six months into the MSU Ideas challenge, a platform for faculty and staff to propose solutions to improve the university, MSU IT is ready to announce the five winning ideas selected for further review.
The question posed by MSU IT to the university community was, “What can Information Technology do to improve the faculty, researcher, staff, and student experience?”
Twenty suggestions were submitted to the committee for review. To celebrate the outpouring of ideas and to thank the community for their involvement in the challenge, MSU IT is announcing the five winners chosen for their feasibility and as voted by other employees. The winners will receive gift cards or tech prizes such as headphones.
Grand Prize Idea: iPhone and Apple Watch as Campus ID Card – Denyson Andrade Figueiredo
This innovation would allow students to use their iPhones and Apple Watches to access dorms, dining halls, and more using contactless NFC readers. The initiative is currently being considered for addition to the MSU Mobile App and will rely on approval from Apple.
Peoples’ Choice Idea (received the highest number of votes): Zoom-In Talk Show – Nick Noel
One of the biggest challenges of communicating in the Information Technology field is distilling extremely technical language into a format that is easily understood by people that may not be experts. A talk-show style presentation could serve as a great medium for informing large audiences about MSU IT projects in a comprehensible way.
People-Oriented Idea: Advanced Service Search on tech.msu.edu – Ben O’Brien
Large organizations like MSU IT benefit from accessible and consistent navigational tools. Ben proposed a way to quickly identify who is responsible for different resources throughout MSU in order to make workflow more efficient and intuitive.
Process-Oriented Idea: Campus-Wide Anti-Phishing / Online Security Training – Jeremy Lounds
Many device users struggle to keep up with the latest digital threads that they might encounter on a day-to-day basis. A comprehensive training program can benefit the University in the form of better data security, as well as improve the digital security of the trainees outside the workplace. MSU IT is currently working with the HUB and the Provost office to arrange training for upcoming initiatives and existing programs for staff and faculty.
Tool-Oriented Idea: Podcast Resource – Nick Noel
Podcast has continued to increase in popularity and cultural impact over the course of the last decade, and the relatively low cost and barrier to entry makes it simply for anyone to begin podcasting. They also provide free content to anyone with a device and an internet connection. This means that the educational applications of podcasts are two-fold, both as an assessment activity and as a content resource. Nick’s idea is to:
- Provide podcasting hardware for students and faculty to check out in order to create their own audio recordings.
- Create a guide on how podcasting can be adapted for use in coursework, both as an activity for students to engage in and as an additional source of free content.
MSU IT is currently examining the feasibility of these projects and will provide feedback directly in the MSU Ideas site.
Congratulations to all our winners, and thanks to everyone who submitted an idea for this challenge. We look forward to continuing to receive feedback and new suggestions from the MSU community on the MSUIT Challenge, still available here http://www.ideas.msu.edu/.
