University students soon may have access to personalized Web pages, no matter where they are around Grounds.
Customized Web portals and a wireless network spanning the University are two technological innovations already in progress, according to ITC officials.
The University is developing its Web portal through the Sakai Project, a national effort to build an open-source learning management system at universities across the country. The University of Michigan, Indiana University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Stanford University are the core institutions developing the project.
"We'll put a U.Va. look on it, and it will have specific channels for different areas," said Tim Sigmon, director of advanced technology at the University. "Not only [will it have] all the stuff in Toolkit but access to things like e-mail, calendar, news, libraries and discussion forums."
The portal would serve all the same functions as the current University Web site, with additional customized features accessible by logging in with a user ID from any Internet location.
Sigmon said this is the future direction of Toolkit and he hopes to make Home Directory accessible on the portal as well.
The portal -- called myUVA -- is not expected to be complete until the fall of 2005 or 2006.
"The functionality is there, but we haven't advertised it because we want to add more and more functions to it," Sigmon said.
ITC officials also said expanding wireless Internet access was at the forefront of University plans.
Wireless technology is currently available in all of the reading areas in University libraries, according to Charlotte Morford, director of communications for the University's libraries.
"Eventually the wireless network will cover the majority of the University," Jokl said.
Jokl added that new security measures are being developed for wireless technology.
"In the past, you had to have a Cisco card, and now we'll be able to support encryption without any card," Jokl said.
ITC support officer T.J. Ensele said the wireless technology will be useful to students.
"This would make everything on the Internet a lot more accessible, and it would make work a lot more portable," he said.
The University also plans to expand instructional technology across the University, according to Terry Lockard, director of computing support services.
"We are going to be continuing to electronically equip classrooms," Lockard said. "We will have more classrooms with computers, hands-on work stations and so on."
The University library also plans to use technology in new ways. "We're working on a way to integrate all the digital collections we have so that you can search them from one interface," Morford said.
Other long-term projects for the University include replacing ISIS and adding storage to Toolkit, Sigmon said.
Media Studies Prof. David Golumbia said an increase in the use of technology is beneficial as long as it is used to supplement instruction.
"The future of technology at the University looks bright, as long as people remember to maintain student and teacher interactions and keep technology as an adjunct," he said.
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