Proposal

Narrative

The Department of Civil, Environmental & Geomatics Engineering (CEGE) proposes to enhance its capability to provide engineering students with a suitable engineering design laboratory space using technology instead of repurposing shared conventional classroom spaces in the Wimberly Library. Prior to 2015, our students had three 24-hour access design laboratories in the IS building, but the space was reallocated to the Human Resources Department in spring 2015, so our senior design students were temporarily relocated to the Wimberly Library, which we shared with various entities. In the current situation, opportunities for our student design teams to collaborate are limited because the workspace is shared and is in high demand, so students can be asked to leave when another group has reserved the space for classes, events, seminars, etc. The graduating student exit interviews and chair’s forums identified the number one student request to be for more collaboration spaces where they can work together on projects, share desktops, create/edit virtual designs, record their presentations and play them back for feedback, work on computer model simulations in a small team environment, and provide a secure group study space. After hearing this, the Department leadership contacted the Instructional Technologies Group to assist with ideas for a solution. They recommended two types of collaboration spaces: 1) Multiple collaboration stations situated around a flexible table setup, so that teams of 4-5 students can work together; and 2) Newline Interactive TruTouch X7 SmartBoard with airmedia presentation gateway that will allow student teams to share their desktops remotely without wires simply through a WIFI connection. They will be able to interact without limitation by sharing voice, video, data, and even manipulating shared documents, simulations, drafting files, and presentations. The system, which also has a touch screen, can handle up to 4 different inputs, which is perfect for our capstone design teams that are comprised of 4-5 students each. The urgency for this type of equipment is high because in the Fall 2016 semester, the Department had its largest design class ever, which exceeded the number of seats in the Library Seflin Room, and in Spring 2017, a larger space has been identified in IS building to host the design studio for the CEGE Department. The capstone design sequence is comprised of CGN4803C-CEGE Design 1 and CGN4804C-CEGE Design 2. These courses are taught each semester and are required for Civil Engineering, Environmental Engineering, and Geomatics Engineering majors, which is about 35-40 students in each class per semester in 3 programs. This proposal addresses the major issues identified by the students in the Department Chair’s Forum as follows: • Group study space. Previous instruction lab, AutoCAD lab, and study rooms in IS building that were used to practice presentations and do team collaboration work were reassigned to Human Resources, thus students are deprived of sufficient group/interactive study space. This proposal would create a dedicated collaboration studio environment to address this need. • 24-hour dedicated access to collaboration space. Since the move from IS building to the Library Seflin Room, engineering students no longer have 24-hour unrestricted access to team collaboration space. The recording equipment in the Seflin Room is only available during library hours and when no other classes or entities are using the space. This proposal would permit independent recording and presentation practice using a technology that is more accessible and has built-in recording equipment that can be accessed without interruption, particularly since the Library Seflin Room and AutoCAD lab are both high demand spaces that are routinely overbooked. • Student-centered priority for space use. Students and faculty are permitted to schedule the Seflin Room and AutoCAD lab, but the unique capabilities of those spaces mean that they are in high demand from competing users. This often removes those spaces from being used as a small team conference room or work space. This proposal uses technology to create a dedicated student-centered collaboration studio that prioritizes students’ needs. • Upgrade of existing camera/recording system for students to record and playback their design presentations for improving presentation skills, sharing presentations with peers and professionals for receiving feedback, and for recording visiting or guest lectures. The Instructional Technologies Group has suggested to completely change the system that we were previously using to make it easier to support.

Facilities

Power and data will need to be upgraded to meet the necessary requirements for the technology improvements. Estimate for electrical and data upgrades are $3000

Hardware Requirements

Newline Interactive TruTouch collaboration system $10,811.25 Newline wall mount $192.50 AirMouse Elite with low profile keyboard $156.25 Installation $3000 5500 ANSI Lumen WXGA Multimedia Projector w/ HDBT $2365 Spare lamp for G6070 projector $440 Projector Mount - Ceiling Portion $60.49 Fully Threaded Pipe for Mount, 8" Length, Black $20 137"D 16:10 Manual Pull-Down Screen, Luma2 Model $317 Brackets for Manual Pull-Down Screen, 6" White $15 Crestron® Certified HDMI® Interface Cable, 6' $29.67 10" Touch Screen, Black Smooth $1500 TableTop Kit for TSW-1050, Black Smooth $125 2x210W Commercial Power Amplifier, 4/8Ohm or 70/100V $783 Ceiling-Mounted Speakers, White (8-Ohm stereo mode or 70V) $1904 SMP351 Streaming Media Processor/Recorder $2398.80 Din rail verse support module $231 Digital Graphics Engine 100 $1250 VPN Router $150 HD Venue Lapel Mics $325.73 Crestron® Certified HDMI® Interface Cable, 6' $59.34 Cable Cubby CCB $ 333.00 $ 333.00 Retractor Series/2 VGA-A $ 290.00 Retractor Series/2 HDMI $ 290.00 BNC-M to BNC-M Cable $ 16.24 BNC-F to RCA-M Adapters, Pack of 10 $ 16.00 RCA-2M Audio Cable $ 5.80 Captive Screw to Female 3.5 mm Mini Stereo Jack Adapter $ 15.08 AAP Bracket kit $ 20.00 Blanck Plate $ 13.00 AC USB AAP $ 126.00 Engraving per unit Charge $ 17.00 2 Power Filter C Surge protector $ 190 2 Chief MFCUB Mobile Cart $ 940.00 2 Chief PAC710 Mobile Cart mounting equipment $ 142.82 2 C2G 40304 6 ft HDMI Cable $ 12.50 2 Samsung DC55E 55" LED display $ 2,358.68 8 white boards, 12 ft $6865.68 1 6ft white board Balt 212NG $255.92 Installation $7000 EUE1-0000-1311W $757.56 FTU,1sd,4 Port,3 Recpt,No USB,1 Data port,No Cable Garage,Clr Anod Alum,Wht Tchp,12' Cord TARA-3060-LJSNYH4 SELL: $8,903.34 Planes,Table,Rt,Lam,30"x60",Eb3,Std,Co:None,Yleg,Cst - Flip,29"H TARA-3060-LJSFYH4 SELL: $2,026.08 Planes,Table,Rt,Lam,30"x60",Eb3,Std,Co:1Sd/4 Opn/Cntr,Yleg,Cst - Flip,29"H TARA-2364-LTSNCE SELL:$885.02 Planes,Table,Rt,Lam,23"x64",Tm3,Std,Co:None,Hat,Eadj1ss SCS-24-32 SELL: $6,541.92 Very Side,Fab Seat,Plstc Bk,Arm,Sft Csts, Installation: $2,393.00

Software Requirements

No additional software costs are anticipated at this time.

Personnel Costs

No additional personnel costs are anticipated at this time.

Other Costs

A $3000 allowance is included to account for any power/data facilities renovations needed. No additional other costs are anticipated at this time.

Timeline

As soon as funding becomes available, we anticipate completion of the installation during late spring/early summer 2017.

Sustainability

The request is for permanent equipment used for instructional purposes. This equipment will need minimal maintenance over the life of the equipment.

Resource Matching

No matching funds are provided; however, 2 collaboration stations were already purchased in anticipation of this proposal. The other 2 in this proposal will bring the final number to the required 4.

Implementing Organization

The Department of Civil, Environmental & Geomatics Engineering will implement the project with the assistance of the the Instructional Technologies Group who helped obtain the quotes and design the solutions we need (Leead Negri, Jody Bagdonas, Glen Campbell, Evan Beardsley-Dodd).