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October 2003 Home Page
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Hardware on the Hilltop
Classroom Educational Technology Services
In just a few years, computers have gone from being regarded as an "extra" to a necessity in the classroom. Georgetown continues meeting the challenge of bringing the most modern computer technology to our historic campus.
In 1975, ten years before most of Georgetown’s incoming students were born, the Georgetown University Library's Audio-Visual Learning Resource Center (A-VLRC), was transformed from a small collection of tapes, films, and slides into to a service organization delivering instructional media and presentation equipment to university classrooms. By the summer of 2001, recognizing that A-VLRC had evolved to support in-classroom technology, the organization was split into two distinct departments: the Gelardin New Media Center, to continue housing the library's vast media collection and to offer a wide variety of media production facilities to students and faculty; and Classroom Educational Technology Services (CETS), to further develop and offer technology for use in classrooms.
While part of this evolution can be attributed to the march of time, Georgetown’s evaluation by the Middle States Association (MSA) in 2000 played a large role. Preparation for the MSA evaluation gave rise to a charge from then-Provost Dorothy Brown to fulfill the rapidly increasing need for computer technology in main campus classrooms. The Unified Classroom Services (UCS) working group was convened by CNDLS executive director Randall Bass and included members from the Registrar’s Office, UIS, and Lauinger Library/CETS. This variety of representatives ensured that UCS addressed both technical and educational concerns. CETS emerged from the working group with a plan to expand classroom services and increase its level of support staffing.
By 2001, the university had equipped every single classroom on campus with at least one network connection—no small accomplishment, as it entailed replacing twenty-year-old wiring in many historic campus buildings. To complement the lecture-based teaching favored by most instructors at Georgetown, forty-four classrooms have been converted to "smart classrooms" featuring built-in presentation technology and a network-connected computer at the instructor’s "e-podium". Still three others have been designed as interactive classrooms ("e-classrooms") with one computer for every one or two students in addition to smart classroom capability. The university’s goal is to convert a minimum of 75% of Georgetown University classrooms to at least "smart classroom" configuration.
Recent construction on campus has created unprecedented opportunity for provisioning technology-enhanced classrooms. "Every time we turn around, new space, such as conference rooms, is being committed as classroom space," notes CETS’s Mark Cohen. Technology classrooms were built in to St. Mary’s when it was refurbished last year. UIS moved to St. Mary’s from New North, vacating space that will soon be converted to new classrooms for Art, Music, and Theater. The Southwest Quad project has added three new seminar classrooms that will house classroom technology by the beginning of the spring semester. Renovation in existing campus buildings also continues, with new technology-equipped classrooms in Reiss and Walsh to be completed over winter intersession. A White-Gravenor room will be completed this fall. (For a full inventory of built-in classroom technology on the main campus, visit the Technology by Classroom Web page.)
Faculty and staff may have a different perspective on classroom technology than students who have worked with computers all of their lives—undergraduates who are, as CETS’s John Steitz says, "younger than the IBM PC". Students expect the latest technology in Georgetown classrooms, and in many cases have driven faculty demand for technological capability. When surveyed by the Technology Services Advisory Committee last year, students reported that they found lectures conducted in technology-enhanced classrooms more interesting than traditional lectures. Even faculty who do not use technology during sessions see their students take full advantage of classroom technology by making multimedia presentations for class assignments. In 2002, 78% of Georgetown's first-year students reported that they used technology during classroom activities in two to five courses.
As shown by the rapid adoption of desktop computers, the World Wide Web, and PDAs, technology enters our lives in new and unexpected ways. Georgetown University continues laying a foundation of classroom technology that will enrich students' learning experience and enable faculty to implement technology-aided learning strategies as they desire.
Detailed information about CETS can be found online at http://www.library.georgetown.edu/dept/cets.
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