Technologically advanced "smart" classrooms are cropping up on university campuses all over the nation, and Brown is no exception. While a handful of students, faculty and administrators at the University remain doubtful about the potential upside of the costly technology, the majority considers the developments to be a welcome tool that aids the learning process.
"These classroom improvements are invaluable," said Ronald Dunleavy, manager of Media Services at the University. Media Services is responsible for purchasing the new equipment and for installing it in selected classrooms.
There are currently 150 smart classrooms sponsored by Media Services, although some argue that the real number is much smaller, around 75. "Smart" is a flexible term that can be used to describe a wide range of classrooms, Dunleavy said.
At the low end of the spectrum, smart classrooms feature basic audio-visual equipment: a DVD/VHS combination unit and a data projector. The standard equipment in larger smart classrooms, such as lecture halls and auditoriums, also includes an integrated microphone and sound system.
The most impressive smart classrooms on campus - such as those in Sayles Hall and Smith-Buananno - have all the standard equipment, as well as touch-screen panels to control lighting and window shades. Technology found in individual classrooms may also include a video monitor, an overhead projector, a slide projector or dual slide projector, a boombox for playing CDs and a sound system.
Such equipment is costly. Metcalf Auditorium is one of the rooms most recently made "smart." Its upgrade cost well over $20,000, Dunleavy said. It received an overhead projector, a data projector and a DVD/VHS player, as well as a microphone and integrated speaker system.
Classroom technology improvements like these were part of President Ruth Simmons's Plan for Academic Enrichment.
A key component of the related initiatives emphasizes the need for new - and more technologically savvy - faculty who can take advantage of the available technology, abandoning the less efficient "chalk and talk" teaching style of the past, Dunleavy said.
The equipment in the smart classrooms makes the educational environment interactive, and therefore, far more interesting, Dunleavy said. Learning is not just theoretical when a professor supplements lectures with actual footage of the topic at focus, he added.
Today, many of the University's professors find the smart classrooms to be highly desirable teaching spaces.
Professor of Sociology Phil Brown teaches SO125: "Perspectives on Mental Illness" in Smith-Buananno 106. The new environment is a refreshing change from last year's classroom in Wilson Hall, Brown said.
"The acoustics in my classroom now are great. I play music with the boombox before every class as the students come in. I did that last year, too, but now the music plays a greater role than ever before," Brown said. The music Brown plays for students is selected to reinforce the concepts being taught in the course.
Last year, Brown used transparent slides and an overhead projector to guide his lectures, a process he found somewhat frustrating: He had to sift through literally hundreds of slides before each class meeting in order to find those he needed. When he was assigned to his new classroom this year, he took the old transparencies to Media Services, where they were scanned and converted to be used in future PowerPoint presentations.
Brown also appreciates the microphone and sound system available to him this year. "A microphone is a small thing, but it's really helpful," he said. With a large class like SO125, he needs the microphone and sound system, Brown said.
Thomas Biersteker, director of the Watson Institute and Henry R. Luce professor of political science, who also teaches a course in Smith-Buananno 106, uses the classroom's equipment to incorporate PowerPoint presentations into his lectures. He utilizes the other technology available, too - albeit for a unique purpose.
"I have been recording my lectures because I'm writing a book based on them. Obviously, my notes aren't as complete as the actual lectures, because I elaborate far more and give the students more information during class. So, having the recordings is helpful," Biersteker said.
Biersteker taught the course PS148: "Theories of International Relations in the Twentieth Century" in Smith-Buananno 106 in prior years, too. This year, however, he had to struggle for this room assignment.
"I requested to be placed in Smith-Buannano 106 again this year, but was originally assigned room 110 in the List Art building - a room which isn't very 'smart' at all. To teach there, I would have needed to supply some of my own equipment just to deliver my lectures, so I went to Lora Rossi at the Registrar's office and requested a change. I eventually got my assignment switched back to Smith-Buannano, but I'm still not sure if it was my protesting or the fact that the enrollment went up that did this," Biersteker said.
Many students enrolled in courses held in smart classrooms find the technology helpful to the learning process. The PowerPoint format that guides many professors' lectures is especially helpful to students, helping them determine which concepts are crucial and what information is merely supplementary.
"The technology was a welcome surprise," said Joey Borson '07 of the course he attends in a smart classroom. "Initially, the technology had the 'gee whiz' effect on me. Now, I'm used to it, though I still think PowerPoint presentations are helpful - especially when they're posted on WebCT so I can print them out."
Several of Borson's courses in the past have been held in smart classrooms. His professors have used a range of equipment to bolster learning, he said.
Only a handful of professors hesitate to use the new technology, fearing that technological glitches might slow down the pace of the lecture - an embarrassing mishap for anyone trying to present material in front of an audience.
Chalkboards are foolproof and reliable, and a few professors even believe that the same amount of information can be conveyed through well-designed lectures and older teaching techniques as through PowerPoint and technologically innovative equipment.
As the number of smart classrooms at the University continues to increase and improvements are made in some of the more basic pre-existing smart classrooms, increasing pressure is being put on teachers loyally adhering to tradition, Dunleavy said.
Nevertheless, with every classroom that is made "smart" - or, in some cases, made "smarter" - even the professors most wary of technology could be inclined to start using the available equipment.
