Rachel Mulry, SMU’s Associate CIO for Planning and Customer Service, recently shared her insights as to how leaders can encourage their teams to embrace continuous learning. With 25 years at SMU and a longstanding membership with the Help Desk Institute (HDI), Rachel highlights the importance of upskilling in a rapidly evolving tech landscape. Continue reading Challenge Your Team to Develop New Skills
Author: Laurene Klassen
Laurene is the Director of SMU’s IT Training & Communications Team. She enjoys reading, writing, and outdoor activities with her family in her spare time.
Integrating AI with Academia: Insights from the AI Teaching Workshop
I recently met with Tyeson Seale, Director of Academic Technology for the Meadows School of the Arts, to learn more about the AI Teaching Workshop held at the Dedman School of Law on February 21, 2025.
The event, organized by the Manager of Canvas & Instructional Systems, Jennifer Mayes, featured several OIT speakers, including Eric Godat, Director of OIT Research, who presented on AI Foundations. Dedman School of Law’s ATSD James Pan presented AI teaching tools beyond chatbots, and introduced Notebook AI, a tool for content summarization and podcast generation. Tyeson Seale covered Continue reading Integrating AI with Academia: Insights from the AI Teaching Workshop
Webframe is Empowering SMU Departments to Innovate
Last year, the Integration Services team transitioned SMU from its previous open-source platform for building applications. The challenge? Cost restraints. The solution? Webframe—a new tool built on Lowcoder that allows teams across campus to automate processes, manage data more effectively, and collaborate more efficiently.
After extensive testing of several platforms over the course of a year, Lowcoder was selected for its affordability, robust features, customer service, and ease of installation. Webframe, powered by Lowcoder, is already making an impact. Continue reading Webframe is Empowering SMU Departments to Innovate
Preferred Names Now Available in my.SMU
On January 14, 2025, SMU added the Preferred Name display in my.SMU to aid users in selecting the proper individual when searching for a record. Search results will show both preferred and primary names in the result list for all my.SMU pages. In cases where multiple names might make identification more difficult—such as a primary name listed as Travis Jefferson Marshall and a preferred name as Jeff Marshall—this update helps users select the correct record more easily. You can click on either the primary or preferred name row to update the record.
OIT Spotlight: Meet the Canvas Team
From time to time, we showcase various teams from OIT. This month, we’re excited to introduce you to our Canvas administrators, Jennifer Mayes and Lisa Gines!
