糖心动漫vlog

By Walter Ryce

On Monday, May 24, there was a demo held at Tanimura and Antle Library that previewed what classroom teaching and safety protocol might look like this fall. The audience for the demo was Katherine Kantardjieff, Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs.

Jeff McCall and his team from the Center for Academic Technologies have outfitted three classrooms in the library building with devices that transform them into interactive 鈥渃oncurrent teaching rooms,鈥� able to deliver lessons to an in-person audience and online audience separately or at the same time.

A student studying in Forager's Cove.

鈥淟et鈥檚 say I want to use the Zoom board,鈥� Espanola said.

Then she walked over to a large Zoom board, a touch-screen digital monitor that incorporates Zoom software and has a webcam and speakers. CAT colleagues Troy Challenger and Christopher Beem were already there in gallery view, standing in as students. Espanola began gently touching different icons and buttons (like CNN鈥檚 John King with the 鈥渕agic wall鈥� during election coverage), and opened a digital whiteboard.

She used a stylus to write: 鈥�5 + 5 =鈥�

To which Challenger wrote below that: 鈥�10鈥�

Remote students and in-person students can see the same thing and write on the board as if they were all together. Espanola pressed a button and all the Zoom participant email addresses and photos appeared, ready to have the contents of the whiteboard sent to them.

鈥淐an you load images ahead of time, like some sort of a graphic that you can write on?鈥� Kantardjieff asked. 鈥淔or math colleagues, and chemists like me, we like to put up partial equations we can write on.鈥�

McCall interjected that something like a Jamboard would allow that.

The front of the classroom still had large physical whiteboards (the kind written on with markers) attached to the wall. There was a mic affixed to the ceiling near the front of the classroom to capture the instructor鈥檚 voice for the remote audience. Espanola pulled up a Google slide presentation to show that Challenger or Beem can annotate on it from their screens at home.

There were three cameras at work: one on the desktop monitor, one on the Zoom board, and another mounted on the ceiling near the back of the classroom. That last one was a camera that followed an electronic beacon that Espanola wore like a lanyard around her neck, compelling the camera to track her movements.

鈥淲e have the best seat in the house鈥� Challenger said. 鈥淲e can see the instructor, we can see the whiteboard, and we can also see the classroom. So it has the feel of that physical space.鈥�

鈥淵ou can still engage the student,鈥� Kantardjieff said. 鈥淵ou鈥檙e not asking the faculty to do something they鈥檙e not already accustomed to doing.鈥�

The group walked to the next classroom, a smaller one called Level 2, which was set up with a Zoom board that had a separate camera mounted on top, a desktop computer with a webcam, a physical whiteboard, and screen projector. Here, Richie demonstrated how these could all be integrated into the teaching delivery.

鈥淪ome people are going to use this [physical] whiteboard,鈥� Cobb said.

They moved on to a final classroom, Level 1, to show Kantardjieff the third configuration. It didn鈥檛 have the Zoom board, but instead it had a mounted 4k camera on the instructor鈥檚 desk that can be moved about, while a projector screen mirrored the Zoom session from a desktop computer. This was the simplest form of concurrent classroom.

鈥淭his isn鈥檛 scary,鈥� Kantardjieff said.

McCall said these enhanced classrooms will give instructors freedom to use different teaching strategies, including 鈥渁 live guest, a remote group of students at another teaching facility, students at their homes, or to simply record their lecture for later viewing.鈥�

The demonstration rooms were built by AV staff Kurt Henne and Travis Rippee; during the summer they will work with contractors to build out similar technology in more than 110 classrooms across the campus. The instructional designers will attend professional development and build curriculum around the classrooms, as well as supporting individual faculty and summer courses.

McCall said there will be 100 of the Level 1 classrooms, 10 of the Level 2, and eight of the high-end Level 3 rooms. Money for the hardware came out of the Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund (HEERF) authorized by the 2021 Coronavirus Response and Relief Supplemental Appropriations Act (CRRSAA).

鈥淲e don鈥檛 want technology for tech鈥檚 sake,鈥� Kantardjieff said. 鈥淚t has to help the student learn better, in their preferred learning style. There are students who need to see, to hear, to think or reflect, to do or talk.鈥�

McCall added, 鈥淪ome students feel more comfortable with their camera off. And they can engage more.鈥�

CAT is also conducting training with Teaching, Learning and Assessment (TLA) during their joint , covering technical aspects, best practices, Canvas, and more. For instructors who run into technical problems, CAT will have student assistants on call 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. on weekdays at 831-582-3755.

鈥淭his is impressive what you all have been able to put together in a short amount of time,鈥� Kantardjieff said. 鈥淭his is the future.鈥�

After the classroom demos, Amy Thomas, director of Enterprise Risk Management and Environmental Health and Safety, showed Kantardjieff a line of masks and shields that balance varying levels of protection and accessibility features.

鈥淭he latest in fashion attire,鈥� Kantardjieff playfully said, striking a pose.

There were four options, and Thomas explained each feature and its appropriate setting.

The first option was a cloth mask or non-surgical face cover, which the university will provide to every instructor. Both Thomas and Kantardjieff were already wearing their own variation of this.

Option 2 was a face shield that is worn in addition to a face mask, which Thomas handed to Kantardjieff who slipped it over her head.

鈥淯seful if someone is teaching a lab and has to be close to another person,鈥� Kantardjieff said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 comfortable.鈥�

鈥淕ood,鈥� said Thomas. 鈥淚鈥檓 glad to hear that.鈥�

Option 3 was a face shield with a cloth drape underneath that seals off the wearer鈥檚 face from the surrounding atmosphere. And option 4 was a clear face mask, provided by Student Disability Services, for students who need to read lips.

鈥淭hese are supposed to be anti-fog,鈥� Thomas said.

Kantardjieff gamely sported each novel PPE, relaying observations and general approval to Thomas.

And thus ended the day鈥檚 preview of what teaching might look like at 糖心动漫vlog in the Fall 2021 semester 鈥� a future scenario still in the making.