Click here to receive your FREE subscription to Campus Technology
Article
Wireless Integration: A New Kind of Computer Lab
8/25/2004
The second renovation that affected the planning and implementation of the Hybrid Lab was the construction in the same building of the "UCR Collaboratory," a graduate statistics lab that is a cooperative effort among several of the schools at UCR. It was apparent that plans for this high-end graduate-computing lab would profoundly impact the basic infrastructure of the Sproul Hall (power, air conditioning, and wired network). We participated in the Collaboratory Advisory Committee to develop concurrent and complementary plans, and to collectively engage the administration in budget discussions about infrastructure in Sproul Hall.
Since the GS'E built their first formal instructional computer lab in 1995, many lessons have been learned about delivering content in a computer lab. At several points during the planning process for the new Hybrid Lab, faculty was consulted about effective teaching strategies in such spaces, and we developed a "faculty wish list" of desirable features.
The Need and Purpose
In the past several years, the GS'E has acquired several "mobile labs,"
collections of laptops used for instruction and data collection at various locations.
These mobile labs include: (1) the iBook Cart, a set of 14 iBook laptops and
Airport located on a cart, (2) Title VII Dell Laptops, a set of ten maintained
for use in Bilingual Teaching seminars and for bilingual education research,
and (3) Classroom Technology Kits, mobile kits used by student teachers in their
K-12 classrooms and for collecting and creating artifacts used for their electronic
portfolios. There are also several student teachers and GS'E graduate students
using their own personal "guest" laptops on campus on a regular
basis. It is a significant challenge to set up mobile labs when power and network
are required, as in multimedia work—particularly in older buildings where
these are sparse commodities at best. There was a clear need for a location
for collaborative work on laptops where power, network, printing, and a projector
could be made easily available.
Various programs have technology requirements that draw on the Hybrid Lab. GS'E has entered into agreements to deliver graduate course content to other university campuses using video conferencing as part of a joint doctoral program. The integration of elements to support video conferencing (i.e., light and sound control, flexible seating, and good sight lines for displays and camera) was an important outcome of the planning of the Hybrid Lab and also important in long-range inter-campus collaborations.
The GS'E is also in its third year of using electronic portfolios in its Teaching Credential program, and creating ePortfolios is now the culmination of the 3-quarter credential technology course. ePortfolios, as practiced at UCR, are media-rich collections of teaching artifacts for evaluation and career development. The intensive activity involved in their development, which includes digital video, has outpaced the capacity of the original computer lab, which was designed primarily for instruction in statistics. A space accommodating greater computing capacity, various pieces of equipment, and higher levels of noise was required.
Recommended Reading
- Tiffin U's New Online College to Use Pearson's eCollege for Course Management
Beginning this fall, students in Tiffin University's newest online program, Ivy Bridge College, will use eCollege, a course management system from Pearson, for all of their online courses. The 2,350-student Tiffin U is located in Tiffin, OH and offers both on-campus and online classes. Since 2005, those online courses have been managed through Jenzabar Internet Campus Solution.
- California Community Colleges Adopt SunGard Banner Software
California's Rio Hondo College and Sierra College have selected software from the Banner Unified Digital Campus and other solutions from SunGard Higher Education to help address their growing enrollments and to help improve student retention and services.
- Luidia Releases eBeam Interact 2.1 for Interactive Whiteboards
Luidia has released a new version its eBeam software for use with classroom-based interactive projection environments. eBeam Interact 2.1 offers both new and upgraded features, including enhanced screen recording and a comprehensive online image gallery, as well as the company's Scrapbook Image Writer feature.
- McGill U Library Scanning Rare Books with Kirtas
McGill University Library in Montreal will be using a Kirtas Technologies APT BookScan 2400RA to digitize its collections. The company says that the 2400RA is capable of acquiring page images at the rate of 2,400 pages per hour. The library will be working with Ristech, a Canadian reseller, to implement the digitization solution.
- Ball State U Web Sites Now Managed with Sitecore
Ball State University in Muncie, IN has gone public regarding its deployment of a Web site content management system from Sitecore. Ball State chose Sitecore's software to revamp its 220-plus sites, integrating common new media applications and garnering a next-generation user experience that has won several awards from education and new media marketing organizations. Now, Ball State maintains uniformity across all university Web sites and said it has enhanced its recruiting efforts through the site's new look and interface.
- Bio-Key Launches Emergency Alert Platforms for Schools
Bio-Key International has announced the release of two new emergency alert and management solutions for the education market. MobileSRO is designed specifically for the K-12 environment, while MobileCampus caters to higher education and other campus-based organizations.
