UW graduate programs will save money and time by using a new online application review process developed by the Graduate School. Applications have been submitted online for 10 years, but reviews by faculty and staff still required printing—about 3.75 million pieces of paper and $225,000 in printing costs per year. Faster online review means programs can make offers to the best candidates more quickly, and new features simplify the scoring and monitor the progress of files in review.

UW students will have a new online tool this fall—called MyPlan—that will enable them to develop multi-quarter academic plans, search for and track courses, assess their progress toward a degree, and have more productive discussions with their advisors. New funding from the Student Technology Fee Committee will allow this new tool to expand over the next year, adding advisor-created ‘sample’ plans, pre-registration planning, and other new features. This effort is part of the UW’s 2y2d Teaching & Learning in the 21st Century Initiative.

The Filmakers Library is an online resource for contemporary and award-winning documentaries widely used in humanities and social sciences classrooms and now available through UW Libraries (UW-restricted). Topics span race and gender studies, human rights, criminal justice, the environment, health, political science, arts and literature, and more. The site includes tools for making video clips to annotate, and some have online transcripts available as well.

The UW is now positioned to use the next generation of Internet networking technology—Internet Protocol Version 6 (IPv6)—after completion by UW-IT of a core network upgrade. IPv6 brings almost unlimited addresses, as well as other configuration and security improvements, and most modern operating systems and applications support IPv6 transparently. IPv4, the current protocol, will not be going away, and the two will run concurrently into the foreseeable future. IPv6 adoption is not mandatory; a request to UW-IT for subnet activation can be submitted by a unit’s IT support person.

DO-IT is celebrating its 20th year of increasing the success of individuals with disabilities in college and careers, using technology as an empowering tool. The DO-IT (Disabilities, Opportunities, Internetworking, and Technology) Center, a national program centered at the UW, has involved over 300 high school students with disabilities in its Summer Study sessions, and offers outreach and support to postsecondary faculty and technology staff, including help with Web page accessibility. DO-IT is funded by the National Science Foundation, U.S. Department of Education, the State of Washington, Microsoft, Boeing, and other sources. Read more in UW Today.

Based on the results of a successful pilot, the Canvas learning management system has been endorsed for adoption at the UW by the Board of Deans and Chancellors and the Teaching & Learning Technology Oversight Committee. Pilot results showed that 79 percent of pilot users would recommend Canvas to other instructors and colleagues, and both students and faculty preferred it to Blackboard and Moodle. Canvas simplifies course management activities like calendaring and grading, and provides ways to collaborate and deliver materials to students. UW-IT will work closely with departments to support them as they transition to Canvas. Units interested in using Canvas for Autumn Quarter 2012 may contact UW-IT. Learn more.

The UW received the 2012 Campus Technology Administrative Systems Innovators Award, given to IT leaders for “extraordinary technology solutionsto meet campus challenges.” The award is for the UW’s Enterprise Data Warehouse data access control solution, which provides secure access to UW administrative data to more than 5,000 UW staff. This groundbreaking work is led by Bill Yock, UW-IT’s Director of Enterprise Information Services.