This past summer, the first floor of Nicarry underwent renovations, which not only changed the look of many of the rooms, but added new technology and features as well. Since many of the rooms are mainly used by the Education Department, the redesign was a collaboration between the Education Department, ITS, and Facilities. The Etownian talked to Ron Heasley, the Executive Director of ITS, about the changes.
Heasley said the goal of the redesign was to create “active learning classrooms” for the education department.
“In general, active learning means that the students are more involved in the class and there’s opportunity for less lecture and more group work,” he explained. Heasley said the renovations mainly affect eight “learning spaces,” including five classrooms and three other space where students can learn outside of the traditional classrooms.
Three of the five newly finished classrooms are general purpose classrooms, with one of them having an attached library. These general classrooms have mainly the same features, including repositionable tables and chairs to facilitate different learning environments and group work, whiteboards on all four walls, and portable whiteboards to help with group work and presentations. Each room also features new technology, including a desktop computer with dual monitors, software with the ability to mirror laptops or tablets, two projectors, a webcam and voice-tracking microphone for video calls, and dimmable lights. These rooms were also designed to function with no specific front of the room, allowing classes to easily rearrange the rooms in order to suit their needs on any given day. While the podium housing the desktop computer is rather stationary, the rooms also each have a portable podium, which would allow the use of a laptop or tablet, paired with the screen-mirroring technology.
Another one of the classrooms was converted to be used specifically for STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) work, meaning the room not only includes the technology and features of the general purpose classrooms, but also science kits, sinks, a refrigerator, a rolling demonstration table. The room will also be used to teach with robotics and a 3D printer.
The final classroom has been named the Collaboration Classroom. It features the same aspects of the general purpose rooms. However, instead of a second projector, the Collaboration Classroom holds six TVs, so students can use their specific TV in group work, then broadcast to the rest of the class using the rest of the monitors.
One of the other learning spaces will be used for seminars, videoconferencing, ITS training, and TeachLive, which is a program that creates an interactive virtual classroom that can be programmed to simulate different classroom scenarios.
The room designed specifically for videoconferencing will initially be used by a group of students in a joint program with Drexel University to be able to interact with the other students in the program. After this program, the room will be available to others with videoconferencing needs, such as remote guest speakers or job interviews.
The third learning space, called the “Innovation Lab,” will feature new technology each year to allow the students and campus to stay updated on innovative technology. Currently, the room features a 3D printer, simple robots, and a telepresence robot. These new technologies, as well as future ones, will be used in the Education Department’s STEM program, and will also be available to others on campus.
The rooms were also freshly painted, each featuring one wall with color, in contrast to the other all-white walls. The rooms got new, brighter lighting, new carpeting, and new furniture. Heasley said the goal in adding color to the rooms was to create a “friendly, warm, welcome environment.”
ITS also updated their spaces, including huddle stations for each group, a new Help Desk, and new offices for Networking, Database, and Client Services staff members.
Heasley discussed future Nicarry renovations, specifically regarding the second floor. While the first floor renovations were mainly done to meet the needs of the Education Department, many different departments utilize the second floor. However, Heasley believes the second floor can be customized to meet the requirements of the different departments and people using the spaces.
