Renovations and replacements are underway to make Penn’s classrooms more technology friendly.
Throughout the summer months, Information Systems and Computing will implement numerous technological renovations across campus, depending “upon the classroom and upon the needs,” according to Manager of ISC Classroom Technology Services Jeff Douthett.
These projects are among other technological renovations and installations that go through a series of committees before being approved, funded and carried out.
An implementation sub-committee first identifies classroom needs, creating a plan and proposal to then be reviewed by the Provost Classroom Facilities Review Committee.
Along with the committees, the Office of the Provost, Vice Provost for University Life Facilities, Facilities and Real Estate Services, the Office of the University Registrar, Perelman Quadrangle Office, ISC Classroom Technology Services and local school support providers play a role in the funding, oversight, scheduling, installation or operation involved in the renovations.
A newer project set to be implemented before the fall semester includes classroom recording systems in three lecture halls. The devices, which will tentatively be installed in Claudia Cohen Hall G17, Leidy Laboratories 10 and Claire M. Fagin Hall 218, can be programmed to record sound and visual elements on the room’s projector during lectures. Recordings would then be accessible to students via streaming media.
The project, which will be piloted in the three classrooms before possibly being expanded, has received “mixed reactions from the faculty,” Douthett said, which is “to be expected.”
He said some faculty members are concerned having audio and projector recording will “impact attendance.”
- Recording systems will be installed in Cohen G17, Leidy 10 and Fagin 218 this summer. - The systems will record sound, as well as visual elements on the room’s projector, during lectures. - System could be expanded to other rooms in the future.
Some students disagree.
“It would not keep me from going to class because there’s really no way to substitute the live lecture,” College freshman Julia Gromis said. Gromis takes an economics class in Cohen G17, and added that she would “take advantage of any visual aids.”
Faculty within departments that utilize Cohen Hall and Leidy Labs classrooms, including Biology and Economics professors, have demonstrated interest in the new system. The Fagin Hall classroom was not specifically requested by professors, but rather by the School of Nursing.
According to School of Arts and Sciences Computing Director for Instructional of Technology John MacDermott, the school will also be carrying out projects to make technology and class discussion more compatible. These include installing more electrical outlets in seminar rooms and increasing the wireless network capacity within classrooms.
- Recording systems will be installed in Cohen G17, Leidy 10 and Fagin 218 this summer. - The systems will record sound, as well as visual elements on the room’s projector, during lectures. - System could be expanded to other rooms in the future.
