Abstract
Prior to the 2021-2022 academic year, MD and PhD students at UMMS used their own personal devices for school related activities in both the classroom and clinical/research settings. Like many others during Covid, UMMS pivoted to a mostly online teaching. During this time, it became clear that in the context of ‘remote learning’ a personal device model introduced many more variables around access, support, applications, and equity. The issues that students experienced with their personal devices became a barrier to successful learning. The institution recognized that the change of context put old issues into a new light and made action imperative. The solution to the problem — provide students with laptops — aligned with the strategic IT switch to managed devices as a way to increase security, support, and access to resources, as students in our academic setting leverage many of the same tools and applications used within the Michigan Medicine work environment. In a wonderful illustration of adapting to rapidly changing circumstances, HITS and the Medical School collaborated to fund the purchase, configuration and distribution of laptops to students starting Fall 2021. Within less than 6 months, the organization went from concept to delivery. By implementing a managed device strategy in the academic setting, the device support a student experiences was aligned to the HITS philosophy of correct and direct support delivered with empathy, efficiency, and pride. What used to be a spider web of different device makes, models, and various operating systems, has now been streamlined to one laptop model with a standard Michigan Medicine configuration. The result is an improved student experience.