High-tech classrooms: IHE's continue to invest in AV/IT and networking technology for a myriad of reasons.Randal Lemke, executive director of the Fairfax, Virginia-based International Communications Industries communications industry, broadly defined, the business of conveying information. Although communication by means of symbols and gestures dates to the beginning of human history, the term generally refers to mass communications. Association (ICIA ICIA International Communications Industries Association, Inc. (formerly the Educational Communications Foundation) ICIA International Communications Industries Association, Inc. ) defines smart classrooms as simply bringing audio-visual, telecommunications and information technology tools together. The former University of Virginia faculty member doesn't dismiss the power that lies in these combinations. Ten years ago, when Lemke was in the classroom, IHEs took the lead in connecting their rural and urban campuses via video conferencing See videoconferencing. (communications) video conferencing - A discussion between two or more groups of people who are in different places but can see and hear each other using electronic communications. , Today, that's become a mainstay of the business world. And in 2005 campuses are rolling out 3-D visualization and immersive environments, once again leading in the use of technology-enhanced classrooms. But what surprises Lemke is the pace of acquisition. "It's not the boom years of the '90s," he says. "I thought when campuses started seeing their budgets lessen in the past two years, we'd see a drop-off in the amount of technology they purchased. But it's just as strong today as five years ago, and that tells me they're driven by a competitive edge. "One of the challenges for everyone in a university setting is centered around efficiencies--how many students you can teach with the number of dollars you have. Technology can provide people an opportunity to expand that efficiency," Lemke notes. Manufacturers, for their part, understand the winds are shifting toward a pedagogy approach to learning at post-secondary institutions. Seventy-five percent of North American North American named after North America. North American blastomycosis see North American blastomycosis. North American cattle tick see boophilusannulatus. dealers told the ICIA in February 2005 they are active in this space--reaping roughly 16 percent of their revenue from the higher ed market. Considering audio-visual equipment is an $18.9 billion market, IHEs represent a large customer base. According to according to prep. 1. As stated or indicated by; on the authority of: according to historians. 2. In keeping with: according to instructions. 3. ICIA's 2005 Market Forecast Survey, the average higher education higher education Study beyond the level of secondary education. Institutions of higher education include not only colleges and universities but also professional schools in such fields as law, theology, medicine, business, music, and art. budget for technology hovers at $330,000 a year compared to the $345,000 for hospitality businesses, $295,000 for corporate entities and $260,000 for health care markets. Only the government, at $400,000, spends more annually. Within the university segment, administrators are designating 65 percent of that budget on products (projectors, whiteboards, etc.), and 35 percent on systems to connect the pieces. Still, budgets are tight and the money isn't allowed to just fly out the door. Here's a peek at how four universities maximized their funds to offer students and faculty top-notch learning environments--once they figured out just how to describe a high-tech classroom. CENTRAL MICHIGAN UNIVERSITY Central Michigan University, at Mount Pleasant, Mich.; coeducational; est. 1892 as a normal school, became Central State Teachers College in 1927, achieved university status in 1959. The university maintains a forest that is used for botanical and biological research. Tim Pletcher, director of applied research at Central Michigan University, has his own definition of a high-tech classroom. "My definition is faculty don't need to think much before they show up (in the classroom). So to the degree we can keep them simple, they're 'smart'" he says. As an example, a Pletcher classroom consists of a presentation recorder box in the room that allows faculty to start their presentation, using up to five different sources simultaneously, white an in-room camera follows them streaming the video. Transitions from screens, or from slide-to-slide, are automatically integrated and time sequenced with the lectures. Pletcher also gives high marks to the classroom's ability to poll students and tally results during class time. "Faculty are so pressed for time that if we emphasize things that save them time and energy, they pay huge dividends. Those are our precious resources, not just things that get students fired up or appear cool," he adds. STETSON UNIVERSITY Stetson University is a private, co-educational, liberal arts university that consistently earns high rankings in national college guides. In the 2007 U.S. News and World Report guide, Stetson ranks 2nd (tied with Elon) in the category of Southern Masters-granting institutions.. Gerry Ewing, director of instructional technology There are two types of instructional technology: those with a systems approach, and those focusing on sensory technologies. The definition of instructional technology prepared by the Association for Educational Communications and Technology (AECT) Definitions and Terminology at Stetson University (Fla.), coins his own name for this new interactive world: multimedia technology. His set-up makes that case. Classrooms contain large screens, video players, combination DVD/VHS players, data video projectors A video projector takes a video signal and projects the corresponding image on a projection screen using a lens system. All video projectors use a very bright light to project the image, and most modern ones can correct any curves, blurriness, and other inconsistencies through , ceiling mounted document cameras, and most room are equipped with touch panel control systems. For the record, the ceiling-mounted document camera ranks as his favorite tool, and professors agree. In the past few years, Stetson has increased its high-tech classrooms to 75 while the number of staff remained static. So products that address the support process are winners with Ewing. By giving each classroom its own IP network address, his staff actually enjoys a two-way conversation with the equipment, which sends out an alert if a lamp burns out, a cord falls out, or somebody decides to borrow the device for Super Bowl Sunday. Although he's not exploited this feature yet, he can even have the equipment call a cell phone number when it's in distress. In addition, Ewing uses the scheduling feature to turn off projectors at 10 p.m. each evening and on the weekends. He tracked a number of rooms that utilized this feature and discovered 20 percent of the projectors would have burned brightly into the night had they not been remotely shut down. Because the cost to replace a new lamp is some $500, the payback Payback The length of time it takes to recover the initial cost of a project, without regard to the time value of money. is significant. "I use to send student assistants around the campus to turn off the switches, now I do it from my console," he said. Moreover, Ewing finds the technology is simpler to use. "When we started, we ran workshops on how to use a multimedia classroom and found that faculty needed about a half day to grasp the operation instructions. That eventually shrunk shrunk v. A past tense and a past participle of shrink. shrunk Verb a past tense and past participle of shrink shrunk, shrunken shrink to a 30-minute session and today, those workshops are nothing but a memory," Ewing says. "We actually had a help desk, but nobody called, so we disbanded it. The interfaces have become that intuitive." MONTGOMERY COLLEGE For the community college near Conroe, Texas, see . Montgomery College is the oldest and largest community college in Maryland, U.S. It is located in Montgomery County, MD and divided into three campuses, the largest of which is in Rockville; the other campuses are in Takoma Over the years, Montgomery College (Md.) piecemealed its equipment--a computer from one company, a document camera from another and a projector from yet another vendor. When something didn't work, Pat Ray, the college's asset management supervisor, had to deal with multiple vendors to figure out the problem. So when the administration agreed to build 22 classrooms with smart stations in its newest building, Ray had a reasonable request. "I wanted one person to either kiss or throw things at," she says. Ray produced a list of minimum audio-visual standards, and wound up with a set-up similar to Stetson and Central Michigan
Central Michigan, often called Mid-Michigan, is a region in the Lower Peninsula of the U.S. state of Michigan. : a ceiling-mounted digital projector See data projector. ; a document camera, and a computer with a built-in DVD DVD: see digital versatile disc. DVD in full digital video disc or digital versatile disc Type of optical disc. The DVD represents the second generation of compact-disc (CD) technology. to project the PowerPoint presentations. "Because the projectors are networkable, the faculty doesn't have to carry their own files--just access them from their home page on the network," she says. Ray also automated the screens, speakers and lights via remote control At $39,000 per standard classroom--not to mention a five-year refresh (1) To continuously charge a device that cannot hold its content. CRTs must be refreshed, because the phosphors hold their glow for only a few milliseconds. Dynamic RAM chips require refreshing to maintain their charged bit patterns. See vertical scan frequency and redraw. program--Ray is impressed with the results. "Students can freely participate, listen, use critical thinking skills rather than just take notes during class," she says. ADELPHI UNIVERSITY Adelphi University (ədĕl`fī), at Garden City, N.Y.; coeducational; chartered 1896 as Adelphi College. Originally in Brooklyn, the school moved to its present location in 1929 and in 1963 achieved university status. Joe Battaglia, director of office of information technology and resources at Adelphi University (N.Y.) took the opposite route. He internally combined three vendors' products to create a hybrid room. Again, it fit his translation of a high-tech classroom. "It's really an integration of a number of the latest solutions in the market today," he explains. Battaglia is particularly proud of the fact that faculty and students can plug in their own laptop computers. "They don't have to log onto the network to retrieve their data, although they can," he says. For adjunct faculty who lack laptops, he installed a lightweight version of Windows so the IT department can forward PowerPoint presentations to the projector. Of course, this route doesn't keep an update, so these instructors can't do a full-fledged animated presentation. The fix lies in the next wave of technology, he hopes. "Basically we're looking to provide a thin client right to the room, using a PC that's mounted in one of my network racks. It could provide the full functionality of a PC just by handing the faculty a wireless keyboard," Battaglia says of his vision. He's also excited over the possibility of game-based learning technology to appeal to this generation of college students. THE NEXT WAVE He may not have a long wait. According to ICIA's Lemke, colleges stand on the crest of immersive technology--a.k.a. virtual reality--that enables faculty to deposit their students in a visual world on all sides. Already Georgetown University Law Center Also attended
"Villanova undergraduate and graduate finance students will be able to develop skills and learn the research tools that will truly differentiate them in today's competitive job market," says David Nawrocki, director of the Institute for Research in Advanced Financial Technology at the university. This is also the same institution that has employed clear acrylic rear projection screens in its College of Engineering to create floating images similar to holograms in the classrooms. How to Buy PURCHASING CLASSROOM technology these days requires a more in-depth purchasing strategy. But the real art comes in negotiating the purchase contract. For starters, says Tim Pletcher, director of applied research at Central Michigan University, the warranty should run at least a year, preferably 18 months, on the physical equipment, even if it means shelling out more money. Second, make sure the official support dock--including that maintenance warranty--doesn't start ticking until after the entire system is delivered, installed and a designated university spokesperson signs off. Finally, Pletcher snags SNAGS, n.pl See sustained natural apophyseal glides. a mini upgrade in his equipment whenever possible by buying the newest generation of a manufacturer's equipment. "Even though the vendor can't give it to me for, say, nine months, if I buy that generation, they'll install the current version and then upgrade whenever it comes out," he explains. Of course, you have to deal with the fact faculty will be moved to an upgrade in the near future, but Pletcher uses that time gap to teach the process and build back-end support procedures. "By that time, they're almost ready to understand the benefits," he says. Snapshots of Success DEAN COLLEGE IN FRANKLIN, MASS., DEDICATED ITS FIRST high-tech classroom in September 2004--and already the vice president of faculty has noted a class test average five points higher than their counterparts. Marist College Marist College is a private liberal arts college of 180 acres (72 ha), located on the east bank of the Hudson River near Poughkeepsie, New York, on US 9. The site was established in 1905, and chartered in 1946. in Poughkeepsie, N.Y., is sticking to a plan that says nowhere on campus will a classroom have equipment older than five years--make that three years for computers. When Villanova University's College of Engineering gave its graduate classrooms and auditorium a technology overhaul (right), it opened the doors to synchronous and asynchronous Refers to events that are not synchronized, or coordinated, in time. The following are considered asynchronous operations. The interval between transmitting A and B is not the same as between B and C. The ability to initiate a transmission at either end. online learning. Build it and they will come--this year, the graduate program generated more than $500,000 in tuition revenues from distance education students alone. AUDIO-VISUAL RESOURCES The world of audio-visual resources is far larger than we can contain in this space. Here we offer just a sampling of the manufacturers who supply technology solutions to enhance learning in higher education. For a complete, updated listing of vendors for the categories below, please visit our online resource page at www.universitybusiness.com/av. MONITORS/SCREENS BenQ www.benq.com Christie www.christiedigital.com Dell www.dell.com Hewlett-Packard www.hp.com Hitachi America www.hitachi.com Sharp Electronics www.sharpusa.com Sony Electronics Sony Electronics Inc., headquartered in San Diego, Calif., is the largest component of Sony Corporation of America, the U.S. holding company for Sony's U.S.-based electronics and entertainment businesses. www.sony.com/professional ViewSonic www.viewsonic.com DIGITAL VIDEO TECHNOLOGY Sonic Foundry Sonic Foundry is the former developer of various media software suites, which were purchased by Sony in late 2003. Sonic Foundry's current product line consists of the webcasting, presentation software Mediasite. www.sonicfoundry.com Tegrity www.tegrity.com VBrick Systems www.vbrick.com ELECTRONIC WHITEBOARDS Califone www.califone.com PolyVision www.polyvision.com Promethean www.activboard.com Smart Technologies www.smarttech.com Tegrity www.tegrity.com PROJECTORS BenQ www.benq.com Canon www.canonprojectors.com Deft www.dell.com Epson www.epson.com HP www.hp.com InFocus www.infocus.com NEC (NEC Corporation, Tokyo, www.nec.com, www.necus.com) An electronics conglomerate known in the U.S. for its monitors. In Japan, it had the lion's share of the PC market until the late 1990s (see PC 98). NEC was founded in Tokyo in 1899 as Nippon Electric Company, Ltd. www.necvisualsystems.com PLUS Vision www.buuplusdirect.com Sharp Electronics www.sharpusa.com Sony www.sony.com Toshiba www.toshiba.com DIGITAL DOCUMENT CAMERAS & VISUALIZERS Canon www.usa.canon.com Dukane www.dukane.com Elmo www.elmousa.com Samsung www.samsungpresenter.com AV CONTROL SYSTEMS AMX AMX American Motors Experimental AMX Aeromexico Aerovias de Mexico (ICAO code) AMX Air Mobility Express AMX Amberjacks (FAO fish species code) AMX Alabama Motor eXpress www.amx.com Crestron www.crestron.com DSX DSX Digital Cross Connect DSX Digital Signal Cross-Connect DSX Data Service Cross-connect DSX Digital Signal Level X www.dsxinc.com Extreme Networks www.extremenetworks.com Extron Electronics www.extron.com SP Controls www.spcontrols.com |
|
||||||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion