"Do you have any comments concerning the difficulty or ease of using ClassTech rooms ?"
| 1. I really dislike the feature that saves desktop files to my AFS space (which is usually 99% full). I understand the rationale for this feature (desktop portability across all eos windows machines), and that many folks may require it, but the way I use the PC (chiefly bring a USB flash drive) means I don't need desktop saved to afs space. I'm hoping this feature is user-configurable? How? 2. It takes a long time to login and logout from the PC. (Seems to be the nature of how PCs age...disk fragmentation?) 3. This may not be ClassTech, but to be on the safe side: the light switches in these rooms are completely chaotic. Is that because of controls in both the front and back? 4. Again, not ClassTech, but to be safe... 1007 EB1 has a chalkboard. This is excellent. Now: can EB2 classrooms have chalkboards too? Much more usable and healthier than dry-erase whiteboards. | |||||||||
| About as easy as could be expected. | |||||||||
| After training it is very straight forward. | |||||||||
| All of the technology works well and is easy to use. | |||||||||
| All things worked well | |||||||||
| But I do not want to carry my laptop to school each day and prefer using the in-class computer! | |||||||||
| Difficult because of (1) poor lighting, (2) screen (when down) covers important board space, (3) system does not always work | |||||||||
| Difficult to erase the whiteboards. | |||||||||
| Easy | |||||||||
| Effortless. | |||||||||
| Every room is different, which can be confusing. Standardizing how the equipment is used would be helpful. | |||||||||
| Every time I use the VCR or DVD player, I must look up the directions -- then all goes OK | |||||||||
| Everything seems easy to use | |||||||||
| Everything worked well and was easy to figure out. | |||||||||
| Excellent service by tech personnel if a problem occurs. The instructions for use are easy and user-friendly. I like the "muted" and "blank" possibilities on the computer. | |||||||||
| Excellent! | |||||||||
| For my lectures, a working computer and projector were essential. However, use of the whiteboard was also important, but typical student hijinks like taking the caps off all the markers caused me to bring my own marker for class. Also, projector issues (the in-class computer also had to be rebooted sometimes) started to arise during the forth week or so, thus I moved my class into a non ClassTech classroom that just had a computer and projector that was maintained by our department, so I know it would work everytime, and a chalkboard. | |||||||||
| Great resource...not yet fully realized utilization by faculty. | |||||||||
| I am only now beginning to understand how to use and I'm never sure I will be able to make it work. | |||||||||
| I appreciate that I do NOT have to tote around a laptop. My office is a 10 walk from my classroom so it is VERY convenient to have the lectern computer available. However, if I had to bring my computer in order to have the technology I would. | |||||||||
| I believe there were problems with the document camera at some point during the semester. (Riddick 315--- wasn't an option on the list above). There wasn't a regular overhead projector. Time taken to start up the LCD is an issue, particularly if you want to switch between forms of presentation. (Having a regular OHP would have helped.) | |||||||||
| I cannot understand why the screen for the room is set up on one-side of the room. It is difficult for students on the opposite side to see the screen. | |||||||||
| I find it easier to use my small portable CD player than the one in the room. | |||||||||
| I find it easy and I love it. | |||||||||
| I found the computer in Tompkins G112 very useful; in Caldwell G108 I had some trouble with the computer at times, but I don't remember the details right now. | |||||||||
| I had no problems with any of the equipment. | |||||||||
| I had no trainnig, but just spent about 20 minutes "playing" around after class early in the semester and was basically able to figure everything out. I did not immediately realize that there was a sound system in the room. | |||||||||
| I had trouble with the sound when using the computer. I called to have it fixed once and then the problem came back. | |||||||||
| I like the ClassTech environment for teaching and every semester I seek to learn new ways to use the equipment. In reply to Question 8, the student help applies to the classroom in Riddick, Room 301. | |||||||||
| I love the ClassTech rooms! They are crucial to the subject I teach and make my teaching more creative. | |||||||||
| I need a lectern installed computer. | |||||||||
| I prefer the setup CHASS provided in Winston 001 two years ago, where a normal monitor is on top of the desk, to the setup in Fox. The problem I sometimes have is that I want to look at a paper or two--or a paper and an open book--at the same time I'm viewing the computer screen. With the monitor below the desk and the document camera anchored in place, I don't have as much space as I would like. Also, in Winston the screen returned from a blanking command more reliably and the boot-up time seemed shorter. | |||||||||
| I sometimes switch between the computer and document camera, which is very distracting. It would be EXTREMELY beneficial to be able to have two Proxima-style projectors in the room projecting two images at once. | |||||||||
| I thought I would need help figuring it out for the first time, but it was so clearly marked it was quite self-explanatory. | |||||||||
| I usually am able to use the equipment. If not, one of students can always show me what to do! | |||||||||
| I usually do not drag the laptop with me. I usually bring a storage devise and use the facilities. | |||||||||
| I would like to rely completely on using the computer in the classroom for my lecture presentations. However, the one time I decided not to bring my laptop, the computer in the classroom was locked up and there was no way for me to manually reset the computer (or perhaps I just could not find a reset on the front panel of the computer). If possible, there should be a straightforward way to permit the inclass computer to be reset without having to call for help. | |||||||||
| I would prefer not to have been scheduled into this one, since I had no intention of using its resources. | |||||||||
| I'm concerned about the whens and wheres of MS Vista. I hope you take a long time to implement it. | |||||||||
| In some rooms, the console turns dark when it is "resting" to save energy. It is a pain sometimes to get it to show up again so that I can increase/decrease volume, etc. without interfering with a presentation. | |||||||||
| It is difficult to "seamlessly" use the document camera. The wiring for the desk makes it very difficult to maneuver the desk enough so that documents can lay flat on the desk in view of the camera without having other things in the way. A dedicated mini desk with markings on the floor to know where it should be in order to be in view of the camera might be one option. | |||||||||
| It is quite easy to use. The instructions are clear and the tech assistant was excellent. | |||||||||
| it would be better to have equipment more centered in the room, with room for a lecturn on the desk. When I want to put up a map, I need to walk back and forth and then wait for the screen, camera, etc. to come on. This takes up too much class time. Also, the screen takes up too much of the board, meaning that it too often has to be raised and lowered, again wasting class time. | |||||||||
| I've used the room for many years and it seems like any old problems have been ironed out. Everything works very smoothly and is well maintained. | |||||||||
| more instruction in needed (leazar 316) | |||||||||
| Most of the equipment was pretty easy to use with the exception of the laptop inputs and the wireless mouse was sometimes in needing of charging; hence, a backup might have proved useful. | |||||||||
| My comments have to do with the scheduling of tech classrooms. Again, I plan on tech classrooms for teaching. I have some questions about how tech classrooms are assigned and who gets priority. I had to hold my breath until I turned blue, before my scheduling officer found me tech classrooms this semester. Yet I observe that there are people assigned to them that never use them. When I asked a professor who followed me in one of my classrooms this semester if he would like for me to leave the projector on, he told me he didn't use any of the technology. Again, I have the hardest time getting classrooms, yet some are scheduled to people who do not use them. Is that a good allocation of scarce resources? | |||||||||
| My laptop died. Too expensive to replace right now. Markers dry. My room was 301 Riddick. The room is well designed and I enjoyed teaching there. Oh, I could not figure out how to put a CD in the coumputer. I was afraid that it was only a DVD player, not connected to the computer. Basically, I did not feel as though I knew how to operate all the device despite the fact I went to the training. | |||||||||
| My main complaint with the room had to deal with the motion censor/energy saving lights. I'm assuming that they are not your concern, but if they are it is really annoying when they constantly turn off in the middle of exams and group work and when they turn on during movies if someone walks in late! | |||||||||
| My students and I occasionally stumbled because a couple of times the DVD button for power didn't work...nor did the eject button. However, we always found ways around the issue....and things were fine the next class. | |||||||||
| no comments. things are sufficiently easy to use. | |||||||||
| No, they're easy to use in general. | |||||||||
| No. I thought it was simple. The only thing I didn't like was the screen. It was manual. I am used to a screen that can be rolled up or down by pushing a button (in Nelson Hall). Having to do it manually was a pain. | |||||||||
| Occasionally the computer cycled through a seemingly endless loop of initialization befiore deciding to let me have access. Once, I just went upstairs and got my laptop and proceeded. No big deal but an aggrevation, nonetheless. | |||||||||
| Once you work your way through the first time everything is OK. The learning curve is rough. | |||||||||
| Other than the microphone system, the controls are very user friendly and usable with a minimum of training. | |||||||||
| Overall I feel they are very easy to use. The only control difficulty I've ever had is with the room lighting - figuring out which switches to darken the front of the room when showing certain animations, graphs, etc. that are harder to see in normal classroom lighting. However, I've noticed that when students (who are not used to using the gyroscopic mouse) give presentations, they often have issues using the mouse even when clicking to move on to the next slide (they will often inadvertently press or hold the button underneath to make the mouse move before they click). I personally like the gyroscopic mouse control a lot, but I wonder if there is another competing product that is more initially intuitive to more people (I feel like I'm in the minority in finding it intuitive). | |||||||||
| Please see comments listed from 3B - covered there | |||||||||
| Position of doc camera on desk is a problem. Not enough desk width on one side to support wide materials like an open book since camera is located at the edge of the desk. Call me at 5-7412 if you need a better understanding of problem. | |||||||||
| Pretty darn easy. | |||||||||
| Relatively easy to use once I was trained. | |||||||||
| Riddick 450: quirky projector screen; placement of light switches and controls BEHIND screen is incredibly inconvenient; it would be really nice to have a laser pointer (remotes in previous classrooms have had this feature, but the rechargeable mice do not); was never able to get the DVD to work - ran DVD off the computer instead. | |||||||||
| Rooms could have more power sources so that students could have the option to use their laptops. There are some programs that I use that would be easier to teach if they are following along while I am teaching. | |||||||||
| See above. Physical demonstrations with real equipment are essential for physics teaching, and the ClassTech arrangements make this very difficult. (I doubt that it's a ClassTech problem, but Riddick 450 also had very noisy and intrusive air handling.) | |||||||||
| See comment above about the terrible clicker situation that plagued us for many weeks at the start of the semester, due to the university decision makers overruling deliberative faculty input. | |||||||||
| Sometimes the wireless mouse dies since someone forgets to charge it. | |||||||||
| technology did not work at times (issues with overhead projector). | |||||||||
| Terrific | |||||||||
| The basic factors are very easy to use. | |||||||||
| The batteries in the wireless keyboard needed to be replaced several times. It was very difficult to effectively use the keyboard because the signal was often very weak. | |||||||||
| The document camera base is often dirty. Although I place paper over the surface, it would be good to have someone clean the surface periodically. | |||||||||
| The ease of using ClassTech rooms? Fantastic! I am in heaven when I have a classtech room. | |||||||||
| The laptop connections are not compatible for Mac laptops!!! | |||||||||
| The light switches are at the back of the room, a potentially awkward location if one wants to alternate between say projections of media and commentary in a class period. | |||||||||
| The lighting is bad and hard to operate. | |||||||||
| The placement of the projector screen in the center of the board is not desirable. It should be set to one side. | |||||||||
| The quality of video from the document projector is excellent, but one of the applications that I needed required that the objects be backlit. The old project did this, the new on only has front lighting. The problem could easily be resolved with a thin light box. | |||||||||
| The remote is VERY DIFFICULT to operate. It really needs to be replaced. | |||||||||
| The technology is straightforward and easy to use, at least for those with computer literacy. | |||||||||
| The touch screen pad that activates the projector is not intuitive at first sight - i've had difficulties figuring out how it works. An sheet with operating instructions for each of the technologies (document camera, projector etc) would be helpful. | |||||||||
| The VCR/DVD not attached to the computer did not work, causing me to lose valuable classroom time and forcing me to call in a ClassTech specialist. Specialist showed up promptly, but still, I regretted losing the time on a machine that's supposed to function. | |||||||||
| The wireless mic was a problem throughout the semester due to the lack of batteries. People often forget to turn off the the mic and the batteries die. On many occassions, I had no batteries available for replacement and had a very tough time delivering my lecture. The support staff was very understanding and helpful, but nevertheless, this continued to be a problem. I'm not sure what you can do to fix this, but please address. | |||||||||
| The wireless microphone (on the rare occasions I needed it) seemed to never have working batteries available. | |||||||||
| the wireless mouse lost function in Riddick 325 - charging issues, but it took a while to figure that out. Riddick was not included in your list of rooms above | |||||||||
| they are fine as is. | |||||||||
| Touch screen controls were very easy to use. Integration of lighting and sound volume was very nice. | |||||||||
| VCR's are important for a few more semesters. Many departments, ours included, have a large collection of VHS tapes. We are slowly replacing them with DVD's, but this will take a few more semesters before it is completed. | |||||||||
| Very easy and excellent usage! | |||||||||
| Very easy for what I do | |||||||||
| very easy to use | |||||||||
| Very easy to use system | |||||||||
| Very easy to use the ClassTech rooms. I experienced no problems during the Fall 2007 semester. | |||||||||
| Very easy to use. | |||||||||
| Very easy. | |||||||||
| Very well set up to be easy to use. Only problems were getting the screen down or up. | |||||||||
| We couldn't get the microphone to work. ClassTech responded immediately and got the microphone to work, but it stopped working the minute the technician left the room. 158 Weaver may still not have a working mic. | |||||||||
| When connecting my laptop to the overhead computer, it often would not communicate with the laptop. The problem appeared to be in the switch. On several occasions, I had to use the document camera to project the screen of my laptop onto the screen | |||||||||
| When I needed help, it was easy to get. I appreciate that. | |||||||||
| Witherspoon has never been more reliable than it has been this past semester. | |||||||||
| Would like another orientation. Will try to attend Jan. 8 session. | |||||||||
| Yes, see above. Either you or the Scheduling Officer should circulate in a timely manner a email form asking who needs a tech classroom and why. |
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