Once the lockdown was announced, faculty, staff and students had to sharply transition to online mode. Fortunately, we were equipped with up-to-date IT tools to facilitate this move; and with the support of all stakeholders, extensive workshops were put in place to ensure the rapid adoption of Webex, Blackboard, VPN, etc.

We didn’t yet stop there, we assessed and immediately applied additional solutions to respond to new demands brought about by this unfortunate outbreak. These included online proctoring, remote access for students to labs, mail delivery of students’ statements, updated grading and financial procedures and many other automations to ensure online access to information. We were able to complete our work from home through virtual meetings and remote access to the systems. Some team members intermittently went to the office to support colleagues on campus.

In this transition to virtual mode, the biggest challenges were to ensure a good internet connection and adequate devices, and most importantly to manage users’ anxiety. Driven by a human-centric LAU spirit and supported by a robust leading-edge IT infrastructure, we are proud to have overcome this disruptive challenge through the collaboration of an experienced and committed team.