All sessions are presented fully online via Zoom. All times listed as CST.
Day 1 – November 5th (online)
Please note: The keynote session will not be recorded. Officers wishing to witness it must attend live at 0800 hours!
8:00 am
Keynote – Fireside Chat with John O’Brien, President & CEO of EDUCAUSE
Join Mairéad Martin (U of I Vice Provost for IT and CIO) as she leads a conversation with John O’Brien, President and CEO of EDUCAUSE. John O’Brien serves as the president and CEO of EDUCAUSE, a …
9 am
Turning the Job You Have into the Job You Want with Job Crafting
It’s 2025, and we’re far from the days of the Great Resignation, when IT jobs were as plentiful as tribbles on Iota Geminorum. Times have changed, but the core of a great job experience hasn’t vaporized. Job crafting is a process that can open up opportunities for (re)engagement, growth, and …
Coaching AI Fluency: Tools and Strategies to Empower Educators and Learners
This session explores AI fluency as a foundational skill for faculty and students, emphasizing coaching strategies that translate AI concepts into ethical, practical applications. Through a future-focused lens, we share how our team supports personalized learning using an AI Fluency Persona self-assessment and interactive toolkit to meet faculty where they …
Captain’s Log: Preparing for a Website Overhaul
Captain’s Log: Preparing for a Website OverhaulEmbarking on a website redesign can feel like you’re the person in the Red Shirt in the landing party. With the right preparation, we can transform it from a challenge into a clear, strategic success. We’ll provide a brief overview of these best practices …
“Red Alert! Passwords are Not Enough – Engage MFA”
Overview: This session will provide a status update on our current use of MFA providers—Duo and Microsoft—highlighting adoption progress, integration challenges, and user experience feedback. We’ll explore the roadmap for the next 6 to 12 months, including planned enhancements, policy shifts, and anticipated changes in authentication workflows.Key Topics:Current State of …
10 am
Turning the Job You Have into the Job You Want with Job Crafting
It’s 2025, and we’re far from the days of the Great Resignation, when IT jobs were as plentiful as tribbles on Iota Geminorum. Times have changed, but the core of a great job experience hasn’t vaporized. Job crafting is a process that can open up opportunities for (re)engagement, growth, and flexibility without having to …
Giving it All She’s Got with LTI Advantage: Ed Tech’s Starboard Power Coupling
LTI 1.3 and LTI Advantage are the long-term standards for adding functionality to campus’ Canvas Learning Management System. This presentation will cover the basics of LTI 1.3 and the two core Advantage services: the Names & Roles Provisioning Service and the Assignments & Grades Service. We will also cover advanced topics including: handling LTI …
AInspector for WCAG Evaluation and Headings, Landmarks and Links Browser Extensions
AInspector for WCAG Evaluation 4.0 is an open-source tool that has been redesigned to work on Chrome, Edge and Firefox browsers . The browser extension helps people learn and understand web standards for accessibility, including the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG), Accessible Rich Internet Applications (ARIA) and the ARIA in HTML specifications to ensure …
Reroute Auxiliary Power: Switching from Duo to Microsoft MFA via NPS
Yellow Alert! Our fleet is facing a critical systems change. Power is being redirected away from Duo, and we’ll need climb into the Jeffries tubes to reroute to Microsoft MFA. This mission briefing will show you how your service can use our new Microsoft NPS subspace network instead of a Duo integration to secure …
11 am
“Can You Help Me?” to “Request Fulfilled!”: Building Service Request Management
Every day, campus users ask IT for help: new software, account access, equipment, and more. How can we make those requests simple, consistent, and efficient in a decentralized IT environment? That is the goal of Service Request Management. Join ESMO as we share how we are building a campus-wide practice …
Personal Log, Supplemental: Women in Technology Report Back on the Professional Development Fund Program
The WIT Leadership team will facilitate an informal, open discussion about the WIT (Women in Technology) Group, which provides a forum for discussion of IT issues in general and on campus, networking and coaching, youth outreach, and professional development. The WIT Group’s Professional Development Fund program offers funding each semester …
Digital Accessibility and Excellence Update
Are you concerned about the ADA Title II compliance deadline that is rapidly approaching next spring? Would you like to know more about what the university is doing in response to the Title II updates? Join Keith Hays, Digital Accessibility Architect, for an update on the Digital Accessibility and Excellence …
It’s Life, Jim, But Not As We Know It… Detecting Anomalies with Splunk Enterprise Security
Explaining and demonstrating how the CyberSecurity Operations Center (CSOC) uses Splunk Enterprise Security to monitor University logs and watch for anomalous and suspicious behavior that could indicate an attacker. About this event: Presenters: Bob Heren, Lead IT Security Analyst, Technology Services Track: Reroute to Efficiency — Streamline processes at warp …
12 pm
1 pm
The Prime Directory
What does https://ahs.illinois.edu/directory/, https://education.illinois.edu/directory, and https://socialwork.illinois.edu/directory/ have in common? They are running off the same directory platform, run by Technology Services, promoted by the Web Center of Expertise, developed by IT Partners @ Education, and modified for WordPress by Technology Services. How did this come to be? Learn how this was built to support …
Warp Speed Ahead: Accelerating Canvas Course Building with New DesignPLUS Features
Join us on a mission to explore the latest enhancements in the DesignPLUS integration within Canvas. This session will provide a guided tour of recent updates, including new features and improved workflows that make course design more efficient and engaging. Whether you’re a seasoned instructional designer or just beginning your Canvas journey, this session …
Leveling-up your Digital Accessibility in MS Office
After consulting with a number of faculty, there are a few tips and tricks that keep surfacing as potential game-changers for our users. This workshop is intended to be a sampling of intermediate-level tricks like: how to lock MS Word documents so they are not editable, changing the visual styles of the default headers …
Business Process Improvement Community of Practice
Join us for an open discussion about the Business Process Improvement Community of Practice at the University of Illinois. This session will begin with a brief overview of the Who, What, When, Where, Why, and How behind this grassroots initiative to foster a culture of continuous improvement across campus. You’ll then break out into …
2 pm
Data transparency and automation with Airflow and OpenMetadata
Find out how we’re transforming our data systems at the Graduate College with open-source tools. These tools help enable data governance, more automation, and add visibility and discoverability. About this event: Presenters: Mikael Arvola, Software Engineer, Graduate College Track: Engage New Ways of Working — Boldly go beyond old workflows and …
A Comparison of AI Chatbots
A comparison of Chatbots that are available to campus users, including Copilot, Zoom AI Companion Panel, Google Gemini, and ChatGPT. We’ll indicate which ones can connect to cloud data services like One Drive/Sharepoint, Box, and Google Drive. We’ll also talk about the latest features available to each. About this event: Presenters: …
Web Accessibility Basics
If you are a web developer, designer, or content creator, you need to know how to ensure that the site you work on is accessible. Join Keith Hays, Digital Accessibility Architect, to learn best practices and basic checks that you can use to design and maintain an accessible website. About this …
Let your Projects Prosper: Essential Project Management Templates
In the pursuit of mission excellence across the quadrant, the deployment of standardized Project Management (PM) templates has been approved to streamline operations, reduce inefficiencies, and ensure strategic alignment across your assignments. These templates serve as vital instruments in our command toolkit, helping to make planning and execution more efficient and …
2:45 pm
Break
Take a short shore leave between sessions. Step away from your console, stretch your legs, grab some refreshments, or simply enjoy a few quiet minutes before the next mission begins. Use this time to recharge, no warp drive required …
3:30 pm
Boldly Accessible: Charting our Course in Digital Accessibility
Captain’s Log, Stardate 2025: The Education and Training Implementation Team of our campus Digital Accessibility and Excellence ADA Title II initiative invites you on a voyage through uncharted territory in accessibility. We’ll begin by scanning “where we’ve been,” mapping the development of quick reference resources on the Make Your Course …
FormBuilder and Power Automate: can the dilithium crystals take the strain?
Take your processes and workflows to warp speed with the power of AITS FormBuilder, and learn how to beam people onto a starship moving at warp speed with Microsoft Power Automate. That analogy might not make sense, but in this presentation, we’ll give an overview of what FormBuilder is and …
Apple’s 2025 Fall Update
Fall update on macOS, iOS and AppleTV at Illinois. Mike Kimmel, our campus Apple System Engineer, will be on hand to answer questions. About this event: Presenters: Paul Roberts, Senior Endpoint Specialist, Technology Services Mike Kimmel, Systems Engineer, Apple Track: I Thought This Was a Star Wars Convention – Don’t …
Warp Speed with Copilot AI for PowerBI: Navigating Insights in Business Intelligence
In this session, we’ll boldly go where few dashboard consumers have gone before: using Microsoft Copilot directly within PowerBI reports. Much like Spock at Captain Kirk’s side, Copilot brings logic and clarity to the bridge—empowering users to ask natural language questions about dashboards and receive instant insights, no advanced technical …
4:30 pm
Day 2 – November 6th (Online)
9 am
Boldly IT: Delivering a Strategic Vision for Campuswide Transformation
The University of Illinois has launched Boldly IT—a strategic initiative designed to unify and elevate campuswide IT efforts in alignment with the Boldly Illinois 2030 vision. This session will introduce the six strategic priorities that form the foundation of Boldly IT and demonstrate how they drive transformation across teaching, research, administration, and …
10 am
Practical Accessibility Knowledge Workshop
Come join members of the AITS QA Team as we go over common accessibility tools and practices. Attending this workshop will give you practical, hands-on experience you can use immediately after leaving the workshop. Agenda is as follows: 10:00am – 10:45am: Document Accessibility (Word, PDF, Excel if time) 11:00am – 11:45am: Website …
Turn Conversations into Action with Cross-Functional Collaboration and Copilot
Join us for a dynamic two-part training series on leveraging Copilot with Data Protection as a powerful tool for process improvement. In the first session, participants will be introduced to the fundamentals of Lean methodology, including the concept of a Kaizen event—a collaborative, cross-functional approach to solving problems and mapping processes. We’ll …
The 7 Must Haves for Project Management
This session focuses on seven essential elements that support successful project outcomes. From establishing clear goals and defining scope, to preparing the organization for change and ensuring effective post-project knowledge transfer, each element plays a critical role in execution. Participants will explore key success factors—including goal clarity, organizational readiness, stakeholder engagement, and …
Axe-core My Components with The Next Generation Tooling
Join us in exploring automated browser testing with Playwright, a browser testing automation tool, and Vite, proclaimed as “The Next Generation Frontend Tooling.” We’ll investigate how the Web Component Developers of the Web Implementation Guidelines Group are handling the automated part of accessibility testing of web components for the Illinois Toolkit. About …
11 am
Practical Accessibility Knowledge Workshop
Come join members of the AITS QA Team as we go over common accessibility tools and practices. Attending this workshop will give you practical, hands-on experience you can use immediately after leaving the workshop. Agenda is as follows: 10:00am – 10:45am: Document Accessibility (Word, PDF, Excel if time) 11:00am – 11:45am: …
Turn Conversations into Action with Cross-Functional Collaboration and Copilot
Join us for a dynamic two-part training series on leveraging Copilot with Data Protection as a powerful tool for process improvement. In the first session, participants will be introduced to the fundamentals of Lean methodology, including the concept of a Kaizen event—a collaborative, cross-functional approach to solving problems and mapping processes …
Framing Cybersecurity Concepts Through a Star Wars Lens
A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away… the Empire was the victim of a data breach. Wait, what? Join members of the Identity, Privacy and Cybersecurity team to explore cybersecurity as seen through the lens of Star Wars. Insider threats, vulnerabilities, data exfiltration and more – these sometimes-nebulous …
12 pm
Lunch & Social – Day 2
Description: Day 2 calls for another pit stop in the galaxy’s friendliest mess hall. Grab your lunch, beam into Zoom, and join the crew for casual conversation and lighthearted networking. Share highlights from your missions so far, trade a few starship tales, and recharge your dilithium crystals before we warp back …
1 pm
Uncommon Common Sense: Privacy Edition
Privacy may seem like a maze of legal jargon and technical rules, but at its core, it’s about good old-fashioned common sense. In this session, we’ll boldly go where many professionals hesitate, the gray areas where “common sense” doesn’t always align with data practices. Through real-world scenarios and a touch of …
Unlocking Campus Knowledge: Building a Smarter IT Community
Ever feel like the answer you need is out there… but buried in someone’s inbox or locked in a colleague’s head? That’s where Knowledge Management comes in! Join ESMO as we share our journey in building the Knowledge Management practice for campus IT. We’ll talk about how capturing, organizing, and sharing …
USS (Research) Enterprise: The Research Lifecycle for IT Pros
The conduct of groundbreaking research is a core mission of the University of Illinois. As IT Professionals, we have a limited view into the world of research at Illinois. This talk aims to provide IT Pros a big picture overview of how research at the University of Illinois is born, the …
2 pm
IAM Modernization Initiative: Charting the Course for the Future of Identity & Access Management
In the ever-evolving digital frontier, Identity and Access Management (IAM) serves as the command protocol for securing systems, planetary databases, and interstellar communications. IAM ensures that the right crew members have the right access to the right systems for the right mission—while maintaining a precise log of who has access to …
Agile Beyond Standups: Rethinking the Way Teams Work
Agile isn’t just for IT development and it isn’t about sitting through yet another standup that feels like a status report. This session is about taking a step back and looking at Agile as a way of working that helps teams collaborate better, adapt faster, and keep projects moving forward. We’ll …
Configuration vetting and reporting with Martinet
Martinet (martinet.illinois.edu) is a configuration monitoring & reporting program for IT professionals. Martinet can help quickly identify configuration problems which may require immediate action. The target audience for Martinet are novice to mid-level IT professionals but expert/advanced IT pros in Windows environments might find Martinet to be convenient. Martinet is written …
2:45 pm
Break
Take a short shore leave between sessions. Step away from your console, stretch your legs, grab some refreshments, or simply enjoy a few quiet minutes before the next mission begins. Use this time to recharge, no warp drive required …
3:30 pm
IAM Mission Briefing: SailPoint IGA Tool
Starfleet Command is initiating a new systems enhancement: the deployment of SailPoint, a SaaS-based Identity Governance and Administration (IGA) tool, across all Federation outposts and academic starbases. This operation is critical to fortifying our Identity & Access Management (IAM) infrastructure. By integrating SailPoint into our systems, we aim to boldly go …
The United Federation of Professional Education: Accredible, Canvas Catalog, and You
We have a constellation of tools for online professional education endeavors that needs further exploration: come see what’s new with Canvas Catalog, as well as initiate first contact with Accredible, the free, campus-wide digital credentialing tool. Learn how these platforms can enhance your online education offerings, or those of your unit …
Keep It LLocal: Using LLMs on a Machine You Can Touch
Would you have gotten away with your prompt if not for that meddling cloud giant and their over-restrictive ToS? Interested in AI’s large language models, but not so stoked about running all of your potentially-sensitive prompts through the cloud? Well, it’s 2025… sheesh, who can really blame you? This introductory session …
4:30 pm
Closing & Social – Day 2
Join us as we wrap up the conference with the Closing …
Accessibility
All content will have automatic captioning enabled; professionally corrected captions will be provided approximately two weeks after the Forum.
To request other accommodations or to inquire about accessibility, please contact the IT Pro Forum Committee.