To: Members of ITPAC
From: Jack Jackson
Date: 4/2/99
Re: Status report on mediated classroom project

The following is a summary of the current state of the mediated classroom project at Fort Hays State University. As of the beginning of the spring semester, there are 22 mediated classrooms and 4 dual purpose ITV/mediated classrooms in service. These provide student seating as follows:

Building

Room #

Seating Capacity

Building

Room #

Seating Capacity

McCartney

213

30

Cunningham

143

54

301

72

144

54

312

60

146

75

Subtotal

162

Subtotal:

183

Davis

103

45

Malloy

210

30

208

42

212

35

Subtotal:

87

Subtotal:

65

Stroup

101

31

Rarick

114

48

105

31

201

90

114

26

204

34

Subtotal:

88

205

45

208E

30

Tomanek

106

80

301

90

108

45

306

34

112

36

312

34

124

30

324

34

Subtotal:

191

Subtotal:

439

Albertson

169

141

Total:

1396

235

40

Subtotal:

181


Two additional classrooms are scheduled to be built in Albertson and two in McCartney Hall during the next two years. This will bring the total number of ITV/mediated classrooms to 32. This will represent slightly over fifty percent of the available classrooms on the Fort Hays campus. Although additional classrooms are not formally planned at the present time, there has been discussion regarding two specific areas of perceived need; there are no small capacity seminar rooms configured for media-rich presentations and there are not yet any mobile carts that are easily moved from one location to another. I feel these should both be considered in the near future. It may well be that a properly designed mobile cart can be used in numerous properly designed small seminar rooms.

The first classrooms were built in 1994. As you are aware, technology is changing at a very rapid rate. Two factors require nearly constant upgrades and maintenance; the natural “wear and tear” on equipment and the constantly changing requirements of the instructors. Instructors expect to be able to use the latest versions of software that is compatible with the software they have installed on their office and/or home machines. This is understandable as they need to be able to present in class what they have developed. The increasing use of scanners, digital cameras, video clips, sound, and web sites and web browsers that require large amounts of RAM and faster processors all contribute to this increased demand for resources.

Much of the equipment used has an extended lifespan and is not likely to need replacement in the immediate future. Some of the items, however, are approaching the critical stage of replacement. The breakdown of critical equipment can be summarized as follows:

Replacement of projectors:

Five rooms still have the “three-gun” projectors installed. These are DH 103, RH 301, CH 146, TH 106, and TH 108. The “three-gun” projector in MC 312 has already been replaced because of “wearing out.” The three guns all require replacement at the same time at a cost of approximately $1000/gun. This is nearly as expensive as a new LCD projector that is brighter and sharper and has a bulb life of 2000 hours at a replacement cost of $325. It seems like poor economy to replace the guns in the original projectors.

Projected cost: 5 projectors @ $4300 ea. $21,500

In addition, two rooms, RH 324 and DH 208 have LCD projectors that are limited to 640 x 480 or VGA resolution. While these projectors still function adequately, this resolution is rapidly becoming outdated as most newer computers now shipping have at least SVGA, 800 x 600 displays and many, especially laptops, now have XGA, 1024 x 768 as standard. These projectors would be the next to be replaced.

Projected cost: 2 projectors @ $4300 ea. $8,600


Replacement of computers:

One classroom, CH 146, still has a 486 computer with only 8 MB of RAM and Windows 3.11 installed. Replacement of this computer is highest priority.

Projected cost: 1 computer @ $1400 $1400


Fours classrooms, MC 312, DH 103, RH 301, and CH 146 still have 040 Macs. These have limited memory and slow overall performance by todays standards. They also should be replaced immediately.

Projected cost: 4 computers @ $1500 $6000


The four ITV/mediated classrooms have only PC computers at the present time. In order to provide them with Macintosh computers which would make them compatible with the rest of the mediated classrooms, i.e. dual platform, 4 additional Macintosh computers would need to be purchased.

Projected cost: 3 computers @ $1400 $4200


Two of the classrooms, TH 106 and TH 108 have Mac computers with PC Pentium boards installed. These should be supplemented with PC computers to provide simpler and better ethernet/internet connections.

Projected cost: 4 computers @ $1400 $5600


Four additional classrooms, MC 312, RH 301, RH 324, and DH 208 have 1st generation PowerPC computers with 66 mHz processors. These are rapidly becoming outdated as well.

Projected cost: 4 computers @ $1400 $5600


Upgrade of MH 212:

Malloy 212 is used primarily by music faculty. It was built in the same fashion as all other mediated classrooms. After using the room, the music faculty have identified several items that they would like to see changed to meet their unique needs. These are the need for better quality sound reproduction and the need to separate the audio and video sources. The need for the better quality sound reproduction for teaching music speaks for itself. The other probably needs some explanation. In all the mediated classrooms, the audio is designed to “follow” the video so that the two are always synchronized. The music faculty want to be able to show video from one source, perhaps a score shown by the overhead camera, while the music is being played from a CD. This will require additional switching.

Projected cost: $2055


Addition of video recording capability to Stroup 114:

Several faculty, especially the nursing faculty, have requested that the mediated classrooms have the capability of producing a video recording of the class, as can be done in the ITV classrooms. With this in mind, we produced a “demo tape” in Stroup 114 by installing temporary equipment. All who have seen the demo agree that it is a viable and worthwhile project. It is proposed that Stroup 114 be retrofitted in this manner to test the viability and the use that would be made of such an installation. If adequate use is established, other rooms could also be retrofitted in the future.

Projected cost: $3600


Enhancing usability:

As additional classrooms are added, more faculty are exposed to the media, and as technology changes, it has been challenging to incorporate these changes while attempting to maintain uniformity between rooms. Many faculty are now finding that they are teaching in more than one mediated classroom in a given day.

One way to make the rooms more similar and more user friendly is to incorporate wireless touchpad screens to control the equipment rather than the present system where each item must be controlled individually. With the touchpad, each piece of equipment is controlled from the touchscreen with its own screen. For instance, to control the VCR, one would press “VCR” icon on main screen, another screen would appear that would have icons on it for traditional VCR functions such as “play”, “stop”, “rewind”, etc. This would make the rooms considerably easier to use.

Projected cost: $3500 per room


New technology issues:

As new technologies are developed and become mainstream, the classrooms will have to be updated or they will soon be perceived as “ancient” by the students. Education must “compete” with not only other universities, but with other delivery methods to which the students have become accustomed. I feel that if continual upgrades are done, the classrooms will be viable teaching environments for several decades. Although none of us have a crystal ball to predict future developments, I feel that high-definition television, video-on-demand, higher resolution computer images, and digital rather than analog distribution of all media are all technologies that are knocking on the door. These will all require some changes in equipment and distribution of information in the classroom environment.

The video-on-demand technology is probably the one of the most immediate concern. The video-on-demand action plan that was recently approved may have a significant impact on the mediated classrooms, depending upon the model chosen. The impact of this is being considered as the project is evaluated. Until further decisions are made, I cannot estimate the cost.

Projected cost: ????


Routine maintenence:

Additional budgetary resources will need to allocated on a continual basis to cover routine maintenance on the rest of the equipment. While the lifespan of equipment varies according to its use as well as its nature, all equipment does have a finite lifespan. I have developed a custom spreadsheet based on one presented as the result of a major study of estimated live-span of media equipment developed by the directors of campus-wide media directors at the public universities in the State of Ohio over the past twenty years. It has been widely reported in the media and was most recently updated in 1997. The data is being input into this spreadsheet at the present time. When completed, it should give a good estimate of expected cost in future years.

Projected cost: ????/year