The summer semester, featuring entirely online courses, has begun. The technical infrastructure had to be expanded in a very short space of time to make this possible. A look behind the scenes.
For students in Oldenburg, the 2020 summer semester marks a change to their usual daily routine. To ensure that the transition to online teaching runs as smoothly as possible, the library’s media technology team, the IT services and the university’s e-learning team are working closely together.
Herbert Greis, acting head of IT services, and his team have been working for weeks to adapt the IT infrastructure to the new circumstances. Using BigBlueButton, they have implemented a conferencing platform that runs on the university’s own servers. As well as telephone and video conferencing, it also enables group chats, collaborative note-taking and screen sharing. For the Computing Science specialists, integrating the new system involved a significant departure from the usual procedure. “Normally, we would have tested the software over a long period with an increasing number of participants. This phased approach was no longer possible, as the start of the semester was drawing ever closer. That was a major change for us,” says Greis.
More storage space, higher internet performance
The conferencing system complements communication channels such as email, the Stud.IP campus management system and the university’s own cloud. To keep data traffic to a minimum, lectures are to be delivered asynchronously wherever possible. For example, a lecturer might record a video at home and make it available for download on Stud.IP. Smaller seminars, meetings and group work can be conducted in real time via BigBlueButton; however, to ensure the best possible sound and video quality, only lecturers should have their cameras and microphones switched on where possible. To cope with the enormous data flow, the IT services increased internet bandwidth, expanded server capacity and activated additional storage capacity for drives and the cloud in the days leading up to the start of the semester.
The media technology team are also currently fully focused on online teaching. Among other things, they look after the supporting hardware, such as microphones and webcams. “We are the point of contact if sound or image quality is inadequate, and we equip university computers with additional technology,” says Axel Masemann, Head of media technology. Their tasks also include familiarising themselves with the new software provided by IT services so that they can deal with enquiries. In some cases, the media technology team even assists with recording lectures – when this requires specialised equipment and expertise.
“Not every problem has an immediate solution”
Masemann and his team have been on high alert since the lockdown began. “We only find out about technical difficulties once the relevant virtual meetings have already taken place. We therefore have to respond to enquiries at very short notice,” reports Masemann. “On top of that, webcams and headsets ordered weeks ago are currently not being delivered in the agreed quantities due to high demand,” he says. Consequently, it will take a little while longer before the media technology team can provide new equipment.
Greis also asks for a little patience: “We, too, are facing new challenges in the current situation. Some processes will need time to bed in. We are working hard to ensure everything runs as smoothly as possible, but unfortunately there won’t be an immediate solution to every problem.” Nevertheless: “So far, all processes are running reliably. The feedback from the Schools is also positive. We are, of course, very pleased about that.”
