Making the case for Smart: as teaching technologies get slicker, the 'smart' campus is becoming an increasingly compelling competitive-edge argument -

It's late afternoon on a Friday in September, and John Meerts, VP of Information Technology at Wesleyan University (CT), is in Science Center 150, standing in the projection booth, admiring the technology arrayed before him.

An amphitheater-shaped hall housed in the Exley Science Center, the space has been architecturally outfitted to encompass the latest in projection, network, and communication technologies for its multiple use as classroom, lecture hall, and cinema. Embedded in the hydraulic lift central podium (designed to spare middle-aged backs) is a touch-screen via which the professor can adjust room lighting, sequence slides through an LCD projector, or run a DVD or VCR. A digital document camera that can project images of three-dimensional objects and papers sits to the left of the podium.

In addition to the array of projection equipment, the entire room is networked so that students can plug into the university network and download information while the class is in session. In some cases, they can interact directly via the network, and post answers and information to the class that may then be projected onto a giant screen. And (as if this isn't enough), the room is wired with a sound system that would satisfy a Hollywood produce Suddenly, the opening shots of Stanley Kubrick's 2002: A Space Odyssey splash onto three screens simultaneously. Strauss' famous "Also Sprach Zarathustra" theme booms from the speakers. Meerts grins. The room and the technology are "way cool," he declares. I'm thinking Kubrick in triplicate is beyond "way cool." But Meerts concedes the razzle-dazzle technology comes with a huge price tag not just for the original equipment, but for ongoing equipment purchases, upgrades, and maintenance, as well. For example, he's budgeting $350,000 annually for maintenance of new advanced technology equipment alone.

And at the University of Illinois at Springfield, Director of Educational Technology Farokh Eslahi estimates that maintaining existing equipment, new purchases, and training will cost close to $2 million a year. With financials like that, it's not surprising that IT managers at colleges and universities nationwide have to sell hard to nudge their institutions into the 21st century. They have to convince wary faculty and administrators that moving into the high-tech, wireless age makes financial and educational sense. The most common question they face is whether the money--no doubt tough to come by these days--is better spent on technology, or on more conventional teaching tools.

At Wesleyan University, the University of Illinois at Springfield, and a third school, the Isenberg School of Management at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, the technologies embedded in smart classrooms are the end result of strategic plans and decisions that date back to the 1990s. It was then, according to technology consultant Mike Tremble, principal of MA-based Valley Communication (www.valleycommunications.com), that the college audio/visual department began merging with campus IT, IS, and ITS departments. Joshua Kranz, Systems Designs and IT manager for Valley Communication, concurs. "The college ITS department got dragged into the A/V world. The A/V people started saying they wanted computer stuff, and IT people ended up in multimedia." Then, he says, A/V literally "came out of the closet," and started to have a major impact on campus technology and higher education.

Working with IHEs throughout New England on technology deployment, consulting, and training, Tremble has more recently witnessed the emergence of another trend: wireless-technology teaching tools. A major shift, says Tremble, is the transition from analog to digital transmission technology in video. "It provides the ability to capture more and do more, transmission-wise via a telephone," he says, adding, "It opens up use of devices from LCDs to traditional television monitors, and whole new projection abilities."

THREE STRATEGIC DRIVERS

From the ground up. Gino Sorcinelli, director of Computer Resources at the UMass Isenberg School of Management, addressed these technology shifts about five years ago when a major donor (Eugene M. Isenberg) provided funding to build an addition to the existing school of management. "One of the first things decided was that this was going to be a new, special facility and it would include high-tech equipment that reflected a broader pedagogy--meaning, it would enhance classroom teaching and research. That was the number one driver and focus," he explains.

But it was tricky in 1998, determining what technology would actually be available when the new building opened in 2002. According to Sorcinelli, administrators wanted to make sure all classrooms were hard-wired so students could plug in to network connections at their seats. "We also agreed that by 2003, wireless capabilities might be a happening, but held off until last fall to develop a strategy to allow the technology to evolve