Classroom Upgrade Project
Overview
Information Technology at the College of Charleston has embarked on a major project to upgrade the technology in the classrooms.The project objectives are:
- to collaborate with the academic community to identify classrooms in need of a technology upgrade;
- to provide an easy-to-use and reliable audio/visual experience for faculty and students;
- design sustainable and scalable technology standards for classrooms that meet the needs of the faculty;
- gather ongoing feedback from users to evaluate the overall audio/visual experience.
Our focus, based on feedback from the department chairs and faculty, is to add technology to non-technology classrooms, and also to target classrooms with technology that are unreliable and troublesome for faculty and students.
User Benefits
The classroom technology upgrade will provide benefits to the users through:
- user-friendly interface and control systems;
- standardized and consistent technology design among classrooms;
- flexible, scalable and future-ready technology systems;
- improved audio/visual experience for students and faculty.
Sustainable Technology Design
Input from the campus community and best practices from other institutions are shaping CofC’s technology designs. For a list of the classroom technology designs, please visit: College of Charleston Technology Classroom Designs.
Progress and Tentative Timeline
Fiscal Year 2013
In July 2012, Teaching, Learning and Technology within IT reached out to
each of the departmental Chairs to solicit information about classrooms.
Based on their input, and also input from Academic Affairs, the
Registrar's Office, Facilities Planning, and Helpdesk, IT has compiled an
initial list of classrooms to be upgraded with technology. As classrooms are identified for technology upgrades, the physical aspects of the spaces are also being reviewed. As necessary, “refreshes” will occur that might include repainting walls, adding IdeaPaint, and making other cosmetic changes. This will complement the technology upgrades to provide improved learning spaces for students and faculty.
20 classrooms will be upgraded for the Fiscal Year 2013. The classrooms below (in no particular order) have been slated for an upgrade before June 30, 2013.
All faculty teaching in the classroom below will be notified at least two weeks in advance of the start date. They will also be informed of the swing space and the exact dates. Please note: the schedule is subject to change due to any unforeseen issues.
| LOCATION | STATUS |
|---|---|
| SCFA 221 | Complete; Bronze |
| SCFA 401 | Complete; Bronze |
| Silcox 409 | Complete; Gold |
| MYBK 319 |
Complete; Silver |
| JC Long 423 | Complete; Silver |
| ECTR 102 | Complete; Silver |
| ECTR 120 | Complete; Silver |
| ECTR 201 | Complete; Silver |
| MYBK 101 | Complete; Silver |
| MYBK 108 | Complete; Silver |
| MYBK 112 | Complete; Silver |
| MYBK 113 | Complete; Silver |
| MYBK 115 | Complete; Silver |
| MYBK 116 | Complete; Silver |
| MYBK 117 | Complete; Silver |
| MYBK 206 | Complete; Silver |
| MYBK 211 | Complete; Silver |
| MYBK 303 | Complete; Silver |
| MYBK 304 | Complete; Silver |
| Lightsey 346 | Complete; Gold |
IT worked closely with the Registrar’s office to identify swing space for the above classrooms. Respective department chairs and faculty teaching in the classrooms will be notified of the following:
- the exact dates the classroom will be upgraded (10 business days)
- the appropriate swing space for the users
- a description of the technology upgrade
- available training opportunities for users in the classroom
- completion date
Criteria
As IT prioritizes and selects the classrooms, the following criteria is taken into consideration.
- Campus input (Academia, Registrar’s Office, Facilities Planning, IT, Physical Plant )
- Level of technology to be provided, and resulting cost
- Space planning/strategic planning
- Infrastructure (i.e. additional cabling, network and support)
- ADA Compliance (i.e. building access)
- Availability of rooms to allow the necessary testing and installation
- Historical data from Helpdesk regarding classroom support requests
Training Opportunities
For a video tutorial on how to operate the technology equipment in the upgraded classrooms, please visit: http://blogs.cofc.edu/tlt/technology/quick-guide-to-upgraded-classrooms. If you are interested in SMART Board training, please visit: http://www.tlt.eventbrite.com to sign up for a small group training session.
Room Tours
You can view a brief video (M4V) of ECTR 102 and 120 to get a glimpse of the new and improved classrooms.
If you have any questions about this project, please contact Monica Lavin, lavinmh@cofc.edu.
