Keio University's 2020 COVID-19 Response ② IT Environment

2021/06/17

Since February 2020, when we recognized that the novel coronavirus infection (hereafter COVID-19) was likely to have an extraordinary impact, we have proceeded with initiatives aimed at ensuring that student learning is not interrupted under any circumstances.

In March, when it was decided that all classes and new semester guidance for the beginning of the Spring 2020 semester would be moved entirely online, providing the communication infrastructure to support this became an urgent task. The environments available for online education prepared prior to COVID-19 included (1) a traditional Learning Management System (LMS), (2) Webex accounts for the web conferencing system already distributed to all 36,000 students and faculty, (3) the common authentication platform keio.jp and department-specific notification sites utilizing it, (4) email and file sharing functions via G-suite, and (5) file sharing functions via Box. In addition to these, we conducted an emergency distribution of (6) Zoom accounts to faculty and staff (approximately 10,000 accounts) in response to strong requests, and prepared for the spring semester with a combination of these tools.

While some undergraduate and graduate schools launched real-time online education early in mid-March and began preparations, a Juku-wide policy was decided at the end of March to guarantee the provision of on-demand classes, anticipating that systems would become overloaded and unstable both socially and within the university. Consequently, the creation of manuals for faculty and students, the construction of online help sites, and the holding of training sessions were carried out at each campus across the entire Juku.

At the beginning of April, a state of emergency was declared and campuses were closed, leading to the rapid implementation of telework environments for administrative departments. In addition to strengthening existing VPN facilities, we implemented the operation of a workflow system that was under development and the introduction of 400 remote desktop system accounts. We also established guidelines for working from home for staff and implemented laptop lending programs.

It was also necessary to pay attention to the environment on the student side. To reduce their economic burden, we implemented the "Online Class Attendance Support Subsidy System," providing subsidies of up to 15,000 yen per person to 1,885 students (subsidies were later provided to part-time lecturers as well). Furthermore, after the first state of emergency was lifted at the end of May, we prepared computer rooms on campus where students could receive online education to support those who found it inconvenient to attend classes from home or dormitories.

Subsequently, once it was decided that online classes would be the primary mode for the entire spring semester for most undergraduate and graduate schools, demands for the system increased further. A particularly large request was for functional improvements to the LMS. Issues such as insufficient file storage capacity and the difficulty of using online testing functions were pointed out, and we responded accordingly. It felt like walking on thin ice to perform renovations on a critical system while it was in operation.

In July, when the prospect of getting through the spring semester became clear, considerations for the fall began in earnest. While surveys and other data deepened our confidence in the effectiveness of online education, it was clear that the psychological burden on students was increasing, and we wanted to somehow restore campus life, including in-person classes. However, consideration was also needed for social distancing and for students, such as international students, who could not come to Japan. Therefore, we envisioned so-called "HyFlex" hybrid education, which conducts in-person classes while simultaneously making them available online. To achieve this, it was necessary to equip not only ICT equipment but also classroom AV equipment. Specifically, we installed permanent equipment and enabled online class support in 87 classrooms at Mita, 70 at Hiyoshi, 27 classrooms/conference rooms at Yagami, 17 at SFC, and 2 at Shiba-Kyoritsu. We also enhanced rental equipment at each campus, including Shinanomachi, making it possible to flexibly conduct online education anywhere on campus. Additionally, anticipating an increase in Wi-Fi load due to remote class participation on campus, we added 33 access points at Mita, 48 at Hiyoshi, 6 at Yagami, and 3 at Shiba-Kyoritsu. It was fortunate that we had fully upgraded the backbone network within Keio to 10 gigabit compatibility the previous year.

The renewal of the LMS (introduction of the Canvas system) was also a major undertaking. An LMS is essential for online education, and many requests were received for enhanced functionality. Although the previous system was well-made, it was old, had limits to functional upgrades, and there were concerns regarding stable operation. Therefore, we took the bold step of installing a new system through a rush project, starting trial operations in the fall semester and full-scale operations from 2021.

As the degree of system dependency increased, the importance of cybersecurity grew, and the activities of attackers became more frequent. It was deeply regrettable that we allowed an attacker to penetrate some systems, resulting in the leak of personal information from within the LMS used by the undergraduate and graduate schools in Fujisawa. We shut down the system to prevent the damage from spreading to other faculties, but because it was just before the start of the fall semester, we were forced to postpone the start of classes by one week. For this reason, we accelerated the preparation of cybersecurity organization and authority regulations, and in November, we launched a specialized department, the "Computer Security Incident Response Team (CSIRT)," to handle tasks including the operation of various defense systems that had been introduced previously.

While I have focused on the major initiatives above, there were many other efforts, such as the convenience store certificate issuance service for students seeking employment and for alumni.

Finally, I would like to emphasize that even while rushing to respond to COVID-19, I made an effort to maintain a medium- to long-term perspective. In the world of education and research, (1) international collaboration programs, (2) lifelong education customized for individual pupils, students, and alumni, and (3) work-style reforms to secure diverse and talented human resources are rapidly progressing with digital technology at the core. Within this, the LMS will become a core mechanism for digitizing the learning history of individual students and pupils to provide optimal education. We also proceeded with considerations for data research infrastructure development in response to the shift toward data science, which is advancing not only in medical sciences and other sciences but also in the humanities. Furthermore, workflow systems are making it possible to analyze organizational management status through data, in addition to improving efficiency through electronic approval. I hope to overcome the misfortune of COVID-19 by using it as a springboard for the future.