UF RecSports employees would not categorize themselves with doctors or lawyers, but they do have something in common. They all work in jobs that use advanced technology on a daily basis.
Technology updates allow more than 600 RecSports employees to do their jobs with increasing ease and efficiency.
The hand-key system that was installed in Southwest Recreation Center in 2010 helps employees check students into the facility.
RecSports installed the hand-key system to speed up the entrance process, which is particularly busy on weeknights, said Khaled Abdelghany, a third-year food science and nutrition major.
The hand-key system allows employees to keep track of who has entered, cutting down on nonstudents sneaking in, Abdelghany said. Employees watch two computer monitors that display pictures and information of students as they arrive.
“If we catch a student sneaking someone in, they get two weeks suspension from any RecSports event,” Abdelghany said.
The hand-key system is not the only advanced technology operated by RecSports employees at Southwest Rec Center.
RecSports recently invested in iPads for supervisors to use for organizing intramural sports.
A fourth-year sociology major, Stephanie Hiers, explained that the use of an iPad makes her job as a supervisor more efficient.
Hiers said that she and other supervisors can access scores, schedules and the official rules via the iPads.
iPads also drastically reduce paper waste because employees no longer need to write each game’s information separately, she said.
RecSports employees like Hiers have learned how to operate the iPads relatively quickly.
“We were trained for a day, but it was more like trial and error,” Hiers said. “I just watched someone else do it.”
However, Hiers has some reservations about using the iPads, which are locked up in an office when they are not in use.
“They say if we break it we have to buy a new one,” Hiers said.
Overall, Hiers and Abdelghany claim to enjoy their jobs at Southwest Rec Center, which they attribute to the technology that makes their work easier.
“Other universities at our caliber are starting to get more technical, so we’re trying to stay at the forefront right now,” Hiers said.
This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at UFL chapter.