Strategy 3: Integrating Institutional Resources
Goal: Increase institutional effectiveness as a provider of high-quality STEM and Health programs by establishing college-wide structures and a “Smart Campus” initiative to foster communication and collaboration to make effective use of finite resources (physical, technological, and human) and to set goals and monitor indicators.
Strategy 3 Activities and Accomplishments:
Informational PowerPoint (June 2023)↗
Enhanced Website & Digital User Experience:
• Engaged skilled experts to help do assessments of the website: Card-sorting, tree testing; external parties
• Conduct in-house analysis and assessments of traffic
• Looking to syndicate information/notifications across sub-sites
• Revamp specific sub-sites and incorporate into main College site for improved look-and-feel & better SEO > College Council site,BIWTC,Counseling website, Student Success Center
• Explore implementation of CMS and improve in-house developed
CMS capabilities
• Improve digital signage – relocate units, optimize new strategic locations, make content more relevant and appealing, and set up a content publishing policy.
Internal Internships:
• Met with Federal Work Study Office & other grant employers to define project parameters
• Collaboration project for expanded. grant employers to define project parameters communication on FWS and grant work
• Established a small team of information designers
• Researched impactful communications for communication on internal work opportunities
Enhanced Wayfinding & Facilities UX:
• Emerging scholars conducted research and created a campus map and building map template
• Information design group has looked at precedents for event planning and events calendars at other campuses
Centralized Technology Loan:
• Identified and partner with campus-wide stakeholders: departments that currently loan equipment : library, CIS, SOTD, Accessibility
• Engaged vendors to determine needs of different departments & populations
• Demoed current in-house application to areas to determine if this fits requirements
•Identify locations for pickup & drop-off: Voorhees, Student Helpdesk, iTec, and Library
• Determined that overall process must be in phases – Phase 1, 2 separate systems (1 for students, 1 for faculty/staff)
Facilities Reservation System:
• Met with stakeholders that own/have oversight over campus reservable spaces: Registrar, Catalin
• Engaged CUNY Central to configure Coursedog
• Conduct campus space inventory to update spaces and features
Collaborative Physical Spaces:
• Met with Facilities staff and campus Architect to identify spaces
• Established an outdoor seating area with existing furniture to determine interest & desire
• Continued meetings with deans and stakeholders to discuss potential programming mechanisms & locations
• Collaboration to reenvision Academic courtyard plantings
• Student projects to envision Academic Building courtyard seating/shade structures (Exhibition in Academic Building Foyer 5/19-25/23)
Research Technologies Hub:
• Met with individuals in the library and Research Council to discuss potential setups for areas of the hub, Spring 2023
Expand City Tech’s OpenLab:
• Communications: Designed, developed, and tested enhancements to the OpenLab’s communications functionality, and implemented in January 2023 release.
• New Feature: Announcements – helps members communicate important information
• New Feature: Activity – helps OpenLab members keep track of activity that relates to them and their groups
• Feature Enhancement: Notifications – improvements to email notifications sent by the OpenLab
• New Feature in Development: Designed Phase 1 “Connections” functionality and other items for implementation in August 2023
• New Feature in Development: Redesigned OpenLab homepage feed to include City Tech website Announcements & Alerts for implementation in August 2023
• Support: Provided support to grand participants using the OpenLab for their activities.
