Technology plays a critical role in university education, and students benefit greatly from the educational technology currently available on the Irvine campus.  This includes the Canvas learning management system, EEE+ suite of learning management tools, remote and hybrid learning platforms, library resources, and 3rd party educational tools, among other capabilities.  UCI’s current environment was created through past incremental campus investments.  Technology and student needs are constantly evolving, and require update and refresh on an annual basis.

Funding for technology refresh and for staff support of technology services has historically been inconsistent.  This was acutely felt in the 2011/12 state funding cuts. While wise past investments and heroic staff efforts had allowed the campus to continue to provide educational services of reasonable quality and responsiveness, the lack of funding caught up at that time and threatened the sustainability of UCI’s educational technology landscape. At the same time, the campus had not been able to invest in new technology to the extent necessary to maximize student educational experience.

The eTech@UCI Initiative and associated Course Materials and Services Fee (CMSF) were created to help address the problem, providing a stable foundation upon which to provide and ever improve the learning technology environment for our students.  This approach was developed in consultation with representatives of student government and supported by the Student Fee Advisory Committee.