Column: New technology coming to a classroom near you
By Cory Stokes, Executive Director, Teaching and Learning Technologies
Teaching & Learning Technologies is happy to announce that we are starting to install new foundation classroom technologies as we refurbish rooms across campus.
Starting with classrooms in Milton Bennion Hall, students and faculty will enjoy wireless connections from laptops and mobile devices to upgraded room display systems. We hope this greatly enhances interaction in classrooms and simplifies displaying learning content from many kinds of devices.
We are actively working with campus leadership and faculty groups to discuss how to transform campus learning spaces and online systems, like Canvas, to enable more group problem-solving activities and connect students to other learning communities and resources. Below are some of the technologies we will employ in these rooms.
If you have feedback about the physical or virtual teaching and learning technologies for the University, send your comments to classhelp@utah.edu.
Many rooms across campus will be upgraded to the foundation room specifications, a consistent set of technology that adapts to a variety of teaching styles and subjects. The typical foundation room accommodates 20 to 30 students or a medium-sized conference room. For larger applications, the display is doubled for adequate viewability throughout the room.
Here are the components of a foundation room:
- A display monitor of about 70 or 80 diagonal inches
- Crestron AirMedia wireless presentation device
- Projector
- Video-input switching device
- Blu-Ray player
- Audio amplifier and digital switch
- Speakers
- Mounts for all equipment
- Installation labor