Proposal

This technology fee proposal is requesting to upgrade classroom AH 105 (room 105 in the Arts and Humanities building, #52) for instructional purposes by installing a Digital Media Presentation System 300 that will include a multimedia projector, receiver and room controller with scaler, DVD player, document camera, 109” D wall mount screen with black window shade, 18”-wide screen sympodium, a Dell computer with monitor, and all hardware and electrical upgrades needed to operate it properly.  This is the university standard developed by OIT for e-classrooms.

The Department of History serves nearly 300 undergraduate majors and a sizeable Master of Arts program.  This classroom space is used to deliver several of our seminar courses, including the capstone course HIS 4935: Senior Seminar, as well as all graduate history classes.  Each semester the faculty member(s) assigned classes in AH 105 must request a projector cart from Audio-Visual Services because the room is not equipped for media presentations.  The AV cart is limited in what can be presented as it does not allow for the use of online instructional materials.

It is proposed that the instructional media be presented through a mounted ceiling projector that will project onto a screen that can be pulled down in front of the window.  The black shade will keep light from interfering with the quality of the projection.  This projector and the hardware connected to it would be operated from a module on a small podium connected to a computer, thereby allowing instructors to connect to the internet and FAU hard drives.

The history department seeks to provide its students with the best possible learning environment available.  Access to smart classroom technology that meets university standards should be available in this classroom space.  E-classrooms are the tool for more effective and efficient teaching.  Technology enhances the ability to teach courses using digitally-generated lecture materials, access to internet resources, and digital media (CDs, DVDs, flash drives, etc.).  History is often grasped through audio and visual content, whether it is in historical photographs, maps, films, music, original documents, art works, archaeological diagrams, or paleography, either studied separately or in combination with each other.

Having an e-classroom in AH 105 will also further specific department assessment goals regarding student learning.  Instructors need to evaluate visual, oral, and critical thinking skills, and by presenting research through appropriate media (PowerPoint, CDs, DVDs, website projects, YouTube videos, etc.), these kinds of assessments can be done much more effectively, and students are better prepared for the technology requirements that come with whatever future endeavors they undertake, whether they continue their education or enter the job market upon graduation.

In addition, there are many ways turning AH 105 into an e-classroom fulfills the goals of the university’s 2012-17 Strategic Plan.  The strategies recommended for reaching Goal 1: Enrich the educational experience, include to “increase use of social learning technologies” (A.5.) and “increase support services and technologies that promote e-learning initiatives” (D.9.).  Even more directly and broadly, Goal 4: Leverage momentum toward achieving FAU's strategic goals by being good stewards of its human, technological, physical and financial resources, would be met by refitting the classroom, especially strategy D.4: “Increase the number of ‘next generation’ classrooms, video conferencing and open instructional labs and increase the use of commercially available software products for all to utilize new technologies to their fullest potential.”

It is therefore critical to the fulfillment of the history department’s academic goals to have even its small classrooms upgraded so that the last educational technology can be utilized to both facilitate and enhance instruction.

There are no personnel costs.

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 available for this project.