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Installing the Future: Coco Ni Reflects on her A/V Experience
A Graduating DoIT Student Employee Story
Coco Ni, a UMBC student majoring in Information Systems with a certificate in Chinese Studies, shares her hands-on job experience with the Division of Information Technology’s (DoIT) A/V Services Installs Team. In May, Coco will be joining the other members of the Class of 2026 as they graduate from UMBC!
Coco’s Digital Story
In celebration of this milestone, Coco recaps her experiences in the DoIT Student Digital Stories series. This video highlights her time and some of the hands-on work she has done performing installs and teardowns of A/V devices around different buildings and classrooms on campus. All of these helped her gain valuable skills to build up her resume and have motivated her to explore a career where she gets to help people with technology.
Congratulations, Coco, on your soon-to-be graduation! We appreciate your contribution to the A/V Services Team.
Posted: May 7, 2026, 8:00 AM
Upgrade Alert: RT 6 Has Arrived!
Modern, Faster, and Built for Your Best Work
You may have heard the news: RT is better, shinier, and faster than ever before! The move to RT 6 brings a more intuitive experience to our daily workflows. While there are plenty of technical improvements under the hood, here are the standout features that will make your day-to-day tasks smoother and more efficient.
What’s New in RT 6?
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Avatars: A More Visual Experience
RT has gotten much more colorful. RT 6 introduces native support for user avatars. Instead of just seeing names, users are now visually identified throughout the interface—such as in ticket history and menus—using either uploaded images or auto-generated initials.
Pro Tip: Update your look on the About Me! Go to your Initials > Settings > About Me > Picture. -
Modern Compose Window
The editor is newly upgraded and offers a cleaner toolbar and superior native support for dark mode. Most importantly: you can now build links using text! No more messy URLs cluttering your responses. You can now also paste images directly into your reply without having to save them and attach them as an image.
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Calendar View
Need to visualize your deadlines? In any saved search, look for the grid of four boxes on the top right. You can now toggle between a standard table and a color-coded calendar view. Try adding "Date" fields to your searches to see a helpful layout of upcoming due dates. -
Smarter Inline Editing
When you make an inline edit to a ticket, RT 6 automatically reloads the ticket history and smoothly scrolls you to the newly added transaction. Inline Editing is practically everywhere. On the ticket display page, look for the subtle edit icons next to fields like Owner, Status, or Custom Fields. You can change these values right on the display page, and they will save instantly in the background without refreshing your screen. -
Seamless Mobile Support
Working on the go? The interface now scales beautifully on mobile and zoomed-in screens. Navigational menus now auto-close on click and dynamically highlight your active sections for better clarity. -
Log your time in My Day and My Week
If you’re a heavy user of the “Time Worked” part of RT, updating tickets individually is a chore. Instead, go to Tools > My Week and see an overview of all tickets worked this week and an easy way to add time to all of the tickets at once. My Day provides an easy way to enter updates all at once with multiple assigned tickets.
There are many tips and tricks for the beginner to the expert - did you know…
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There’s a dark mode for RT? Set your Theme Mode to dark on the Preferences page (Initials > Settings > Preferences) and hit Save Changes.
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That if you highlight text on the ticket display screen and reply, it quotes the text in your reply?
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There are handy keyboard shortcuts to quickly navigate and triage tickets - press the ? (Shift + /) on your keyboard to see them!
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If you type a ticket number into search and hit Enter, RT will take you straight to that ticket?
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At the top of the Ticket History section, look for the little link that says "Hide ticket history" or the option to filter out system messages. You can toggle this so you only see the actual comments and email replies from humans, collapsing all the automated system noise.
There are many more improvements under the hood, and more to come. Let us know what you’ve been enjoying in the new RT upgrade! If you have any questions or concerns, you can Request Help here.
Posted: May 5, 2026, 1:55 PM
Tech Boost: Major AV Upgrades Enhance Teaching & Learning
We are improving accessibility and the learning experience
This past summer and early fall, the DoIT Infrastructure teams rolled out significant technology upgrades across campus, directly impacting the quality and consistency of your classroom experience. These projects ensure our most-used spaces are equipped with modern, reliable, and accessible tools for everyone.
Classroom Technology Refreshed
DoIT's Audiovisual Services and Desktop Support teams have successfully completed a comprehensive technology refresh in several high-traffic, Registrar-controlled classrooms. These include:
Information Technology and Engineering (ITE) 241
Engineering (ENGR) 022, 104/104A, GAIM Lab 005
Physics (PHYS) 201
Math and Psychology (MP) 008, 012, 102, and 105
Engineering 027 Lecture Hall
In the DoIT Computer Lab 104/104A, the Desktop Support team installed 49 new Dell All-in-One computers with the latest instructional software. In the CoEIT GAIM Lab, ENGR 005, the Desktop Support team worked with Computer Science faculty to redesign the lab to provide both BYOD (bring your own device) and new Dell workstations to enhance the student instructional experience.
Explore Engineering 027 Lecture Hall in the video below!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4c_I73-4JaM
These upgrades do more than just replace aging equipment. The new systems immediately support lecture capture technology and significantly improve accessibility, ensuring that classroom content is easier for every student to access.
Best of all, every room now features the familiar campus standard AV control interface. This means whether you're a professor teaching in PHYS 201 or a student presenting in MP 105, the technology will be reliable, intuitive, and consistent.
Beyond these central spaces, AV Services also worked with departments across CAHSS, CNMS, COEIT, and several administrative units to refresh their departmental classroom and conference room systems.
Several departments and offices relocated to the renovated Sherman Hall in the early Fall with the support of DoIT's AV Services, Desktop Support, and Network Engineering Teams. They assisted Academic Engagement and Transition Programs, Individualized Study Program, Undergraduate Academic Affairs, Department of Emergency and Disaster Health Systems, Language Literacy and Culture Doctoral Program, Naval Science Lab, Sherman Scholars, and the Education Department with their office moves. In addition, the Desktop Support and Network Engineering teams moved eight other departments in late summer in order to support the second phase of the Sherman Hall renewal.
Collaborative efforts were made to ensure new technology was documented in our inventory process, and old equipment was properly disposed of and documented.
Sherman Hall Renovation: Building a Modern Hub
DoIT is a critical partner in Phase I of the multi-year Sherman Hall renovation, a project led by Facilities Management that will transform one of UMBC's core academic buildings. This renovation is creating a modern, technology-enabled learning hub at the center of campus.
Our teams defined the necessary technology standards, coordinated infrastructure, and oversaw the installation of new network, audiovisual, and other essential systems. Throughout departmental moves to temporary spaces, teams from Audiovisual Services, Client Services, Network Engineering, and Telecommunications ensured that technology remained fully operational.
Working closely with the Classroom Committee, CAHSS, and other colleges, the AV team designed classrooms, conference rooms, and specialized spaces to meet the current and future instructional needs of our faculty and students.
Phase I will conclude in fall 2025, with Phase II following. Once complete, Sherman Hall will feature new, cutting-edge classrooms, offices, and student gathering areas that will significantly enhance the academic experience at UMBC.
Learn more about the Sherman Hall Phase 1 completion on the "Sherman Hall's Phase 1 renovation is complete, creating space for creative collaboration" post.
Full Evaluation for All Classrooms
A complete campus classroom and lecture hall evaluation has been completed to maintain and care for existing campus instructional systems. This evaluation included:
Full system operation check
Firmware and software updates
Projector maintenance and lamp changes
Replacement of failed components
Full inventory check
Verify remote system status monitoring
This process allows our team to detect issues early and maximize the system process. By catching issues early and often, the campus can ensure the classroom and lecture halls are ready for use when faculty and students arrive, avoiding delays and frustrations. A thorough review of the systems also reduces the response times of technicians because the systems are up-to-date, making the diagnostic process quicker.
Great job to our DoIT Infrastructure teams!
Posted: November 6, 2025, 9:19 AM
