The University of Ottawa is making thoughtful updates to how classroom support is delivered, with the goal of improving the overall user experience. These changes are designed to ensure faster response times, clearer processes, and a more collaborative approach to resolving classroom issues. While the classroom technology itself remains familiar, the way it’s supported is evolving—and that evolution is centered on enhancing the user experience.
Expanding support through collaboration
The 240+ classrooms managed by the registrar have long been supported centrally. Starting this fall, more will be supported and include an additional 100 faculty classrooms through a new collaborative model. At the center of this change is a tiered support system—Level 1 and Level 2—that brings faculty IT technicians into the support process.
Instead of relying solely on a central team, the new model empowers local IT staff to resolve minor issues directly, with guidance and backup from Level 2 teams.
What’s changing and why it counts
The most significant change is in how support is delivered: it is now structured into two defined levels:
- Level 1 covers the most frequent and easily resolved issues remotely. Level 1 technicians are equipped with checklists and training to handle these quickly and confidently.
- Level 2 provides direct instructions to faculty IT staff when minor issues can be resolved on-site; and handles all complex issues.
To support this new model, Information Technology is putting into place the right resources to ensure everyone involved knows what to do, when to do it, and how to escalate issues when needed.
By implementing this tiered support system, the University is simplifying and speeding up support with a centralized contact method. It is making efficient use of support resources by helping Level 2 staff focus on critical issues, and giving Level 1 staff increased responsibility and opportunity for skill development. This, in turn, enables the University to deliver a more scalable, coordinated, and efficient support system overall.