Proposal

This technology fee proposal seeks to upgrade classroom AH 104 (room 104 in the Arts and Humanities building) for instructional purposes.  AH 104 is one of three dedicated graduate seminar classrooms used by the English department, and it currently lacks instructional technology of any kind.  If this grant is funded, we will install an instructor computer and media lectern along with an accompanying projector and screen to meet current OIT standards for e-classrooms.

The Department of English has more than 50 graduate students in its M.A., M.F.A. and M.A.T. programs. In addition to serving our own students, our graduate courses frequently include students from across our college, including Women’s Studies, Languages and Linguistics, and the Comparative Studies Ph.D. program, as well as students in the College of Education.  AH 104 is one of three classrooms that the English department uses to offer more than 20 graduate classes each academic year.  Courses scheduled in this classroom are severely limited in the content they can address and the activities they incorporate because there is no technology available in the room.  We seek a technology grant to bring AH 104 up to OIT standards so that we can better serve graduate students. 

Our graduate courses range from creative writing workshops to seminars in literature, rhetoric, film and new media.  Our graduate courses in literature and film also contribute to the Graduate Certificate in Film and Culture.  Our faculty needs access to a full range of technologies in order to engage with the range of written, aural and visual content important to scholarship in English studies.  Our courses in Teaching Creative Writing and Composition Methodology and Theory prepare our graduate students to be teachers as well as writers and scholars.  It is important for our faculty to model how to incorporate current technology in the classroom so that our students are better prepared to use it in their own teaching.  This is particularly important given the fact that our graduate students also serve as the primary instructors for ENC 1101 and 1102: College Writing I and II, which make up Category One of the Intellectual Foundations Program.  It is crucial for our graduate students to be familiar with the latest teaching technologies so that they can best support undergraduate education at FAU.

There are many ways this upgrade fulfills the goals of FAU’s 2012-17 Strategic Plan, including:

1. A.5. Enriching the educational experience of all students, particularly through the use of social learning technologies – Having a working computer, projector, DVD/Blu-Ray player, etc. in the classroom will enable our faculty to incorporate a variety of social technologies into their teaching.

This proposal contributes to FAU’s overall goal to build and sustain a state-of-the–art Information Technology Infrastructure.  In particular:

4.D.4. Increasing the number of “next generation” classrooms – Faculty will be able to incorporate video conferencing and other means for facilitating connections between their classrooms and the outside world, including connecting with experts and scholars in distant locations.

4.D.5. Enhance faculty and staff opportunities to utilize new technologies to their fullest potential – Faculty will be able to incorporate a wide range of new technology into their teaching.

The room will require new outlets in the wall and ceiling in order to support the new technology.  A proposal by Work Electrical Service, LLC for these renovations is included.

We are also estimating costs for additional network ports, based on the model provided by the History department in their upgrade of AH 105 in 2013.  We have not yet received an estimate for this cost for AH 104 but have submitted a minor project request. We recognize that there may be minor differences in the costs for renovating these rooms.

Outlet estimate (from Work Electrical Service, LLC): $708.36

Network port installation (based on AH 105 costs): $1,152.87

                                                Total: $1,861.23

Overhead projector and teacher podium: $15,777.47  (quotation from OIT)

Dell computer without monitor: $1,095.30 (quotation from Dell) (No monitor is needed because sympodium will be used)

Total: $16,872.77

Standard FAU desktop configuration

There are no personnel costs

The room will be updated over Summer 2015 in order to be ready for classes in Fall 2015.

There are one- to three-year warranties on all equipment. The department will pay for replacements of parts that wear out.

There are no matching resources for this project.