Technology at Concordia gets a boost

When students arrived on the campus of Concordia this fall, they took advantage of several technology upgrades, some obvious and some that, well, it would help to have a computer science degree to sniff out. All of them, however, were aimed at helping students. 

"Our technology goals were to provide better services for our students," explains Kevin Potratz, computing services system analyst and infrastructure support coordinator. "We are student-centered."

Two-hundred and seven new computers were installed in 12 student computer labs on the Seward campus. Macintosh computers in the art and music labs provide students the ability to use new and emerging software in their courses. Labs in Thom Educational Leadership Center feature virtual computers and new furniture.  The labs were reconfigured so they could be used as teaching labs for entire classes and also as individual student work areas. The Janzow Campus Center now has new computers, free printing and, because so many students tote around their laptop computers these days, counter areas specifically designed to make it easier for them to use their own computer gear.

The new virtual computers on campus appear to be normal computer stations, but you may be looking for awhile if you want to load a CD. Each station of a virtual computer just has a keyboard and a screen. The processor is part of Concordia's internal computing cloud. This type of a system saves money through lower equipment costs and personnel time to manage the system. Updates can be completed from one server rather than having personnel have to go to each individual unit.

"This is the trend of computing today, and we are on the front-edge of this technology," said Potratz.