Selection and use of the online whiteboard Collaboard at the University of Kassel

The University of Kassel is a dynamic university with approximately 3,400 employees and around 25,000 students. It has an exceptionally broad profile with the competence fields of nature, technology, culture and society. The IT Service Center is a central institution of the university. About 80 employees provide sophisticated IT services for students, teachers, researchers and for the administration.

Greatest benefit from Collaboard

Ms. Gerland emphasizes: "The biggest benefit for everyone is the worry-free use. Users can log in with their university account and know that everything has been checked for data protection and officially approved. The teachers are happy that they no longer have any limitations and can now fully use the tool in their teaching."

Before the introduction of Collaboard

Jacqueline Gerland from the Application Management department reports on how the situation was before Collaboard was introduced: "There were many isolated solutions in the departments, but no online whiteboard for the entire university. Employees in the central administration could not use an online whiteboard at all because tools are not allowed to be used without prior review on the part of data protection. If a tool is to be introduced for the entire university, then a number of regulations must be met."

Work remotely and still effectively

Many working groups in the administration and in the departments have been confronted with the challenge of working remotely yet effectively, and not just since the pandemic; in teaching, too, more and more events are taking place digitally.

The IT Service Center has received requests from several departments within the university to introduce an online whiteboard. As a result, a project was requested to introduce a suitable tool for digital collaboration on a whiteboard. Ms. Gerland describes the procedure: "So-called resonance groups are formed. These consist of several people, from different areas of the university, who conduct a market research. They discuss which tools already exist on the market, what are the university's requirements, what are the advantages and disadvantages of the solutions, and how should work be done with them at the university."

Unique Characteristics of Collaboard

Collaboard offers an on-premises version as a unique selling point and is compliant with the GDPR by hosting the data on the Open Telekom Cloud in Germany. Providers that did not meet these exclusion criteria were already not considered when reviewing the applications received in the tender process.

"We are planning an extensive deployment of the solution. The first licenses were snatched out of the hands of the IT service center by the administration and the specialist departments only a short time after the tool was introduced. The joy is great to now have a tool ready for use that enables location- and time-independent work," reports Ms. Gerland.

Application scenarios of Collaboard

The strategic personnel development department, for example, has mapped its meetings, project and annual plans in Collaboard. The research service department is planning to use Collaboard to visualize the results of its work in a larger joint project with external actors. The Service Center Teaching trains teachers and tests the use of Collaboard in teaching in their continuing education program Llukas. A few teachers have also received the first licenses to design their teaching online and yet interactively.