Building a technology classroom: lessons learned at a small liberal arts college

ABSTRACT

The expertise necessary for building a technology classroom usually does not reside in any one organization of the college - it is a collective effort. This requires experts in the areas of presentation equipment, networking, construction, acoustics, and more. At Allegheny College a Special Projects Manager has overseen the building of five full-scale technology classrooms and fifteen technology-enhanced classrooms. Each room is equipped with an instructor podium and state-of-the-art presentation technology. The full-scale technology classrooms also include student workstations. Initially, our Project Manager received support from members of the IT department, however no clear documentation outlining the steps of the process was available.

The goal of our presentation is to share our knowledge of building a technology classroom. We hope that others can avoid some common mistakes by identifying issues related to the process from conception to completion.

REFERENCES

• 1: Howard Strauss. New Learning Spaces: Smart Learners, Not Smart Classrooms. Syllabus, Volume 16, No. 2 September 2004, p. 13--17.
• 2: Designing the Space: A Conversation with William J. Mitchell. Syllabus, Volume 17, No. 2, September 2003.
• 3: Charles T. Morrow , Judith V. Boettcher, Technology classrooms at Penn State, Proceedings of the 22nd annual ACM SIGUCCS conference on User services, p.213-226, October 14-20, 1994, Ypsilanti, Michigan, United States [doi>10.1145/196355.196459]
• 4: Rebecca L. Kopf. How to Build the Perfect Distance Education Classroom. Distance Education Report, April 1, 2003.
• 5: Cathy Murphy. ABC of Smart Classrooms. Syllabus, Volume 16, No. 2 September 2004, p. 24--26.
• 6: Amy Zuckerman. How these Tech Managers Learned to Work with Architects & Contractors. University Business, February 2004.

INDEX TERMS

Primary Classification:
  K. Computing Milieux
  K.3 COMPUTERS AND EDUCATION

Additional Classification:
  K. Computing Milieux
  K.6 MANAGEMENT OF COMPUTING AND INFORMATION SYSTEMS

General Terms:
Management

Keywords:
computing labs, implementation, planning, project management, technology classrooms