Multiple classroom maintenance projects will be completed across LSA this summer by the Academic Technology Services department. A wide variety of changes will be happening in the Modern Languages Building (MLB). MLB Room 1200, also known as Auditorium 3, will have its furniture and AV renovated to turn it into a better teaching space that is more appropriate for active learning in large enrollment courses. In August, new seating will be installed which will transform the room from a more traditional auditorium to having modern seating like the auditorium in the Central Campus Classroom Building (CCCB). This will be a large and noisy project that will entail full demolition. It will take place throughout the summer and will be completed just before the start of classes in August.
In addition to the work being done in Auditorium 3, four smaller classrooms will be combined to form two larger ones. Demolition will occur in May and continue throughout the summer. New ceilings, HVAC, technology, and furniture will be installed. Finally, the MLB Media Center, the Media Demonstration Room, and the Editing Rooms will be updated to meet more modern technical standards and better meet the needs of classes.
The most exciting technology that will be installed this summer will be the latest in high end projection technology coming to two of the auditoriums on Central Campus. In MLB Lecture Room 2 (MLB 1420), there will be a major upgrade to the digital projection technologies with the installation of a Sony VPL-GTZ380 projector. Major features will include:
- Brightness of 10,000 lumen (10k)
- Native Digital Cinema Initiative (DCI) 4K specification resolution (4096x2160)
- 256:135 (1.9:1) aspect ratio
- Liquid Crystal on Silicon (LCoS) microdisplay engine with Sony’s proprietary LCoS Silicon X-tal (crystal) Reflective Display (SXRD) technology.
- SXRD engine provides much higher-contrast ratios and smaller inter-pixel gaps for a much shaper, brighter and deeper color picture
- Support for full DCI-P3 color space
- Multiple Laser Diodes vs traditional “color wheel” filters expands the color volume to provide immense color accuracy
- High Dynamic Range (HDR10+) support
- Sony’s flagship XR1 Ultimate projector video processor that provides drastically reduced digital noise, with enhanced resolution and dynamic range
There will also be an upgrade in Angell Hall to the Christie DCP projection system in Auditorium B. It will be replaced by a Dolby IMS3000 Integrated Media Server, which has a variety of new features:
- 4K 60fps/DCI compliant files
- HDMI 2.0 4K 60fps signals with HDCP 2.2 copy protection (High Value Flag) support
- Digital Cinema Package (DCP) bitrates up to 500Mbps
- Improved system ingest with eSTATA, USB 3.0 and Ethernet capabilities
In Mason Hall, the doors in several classrooms will become ADA compliant by increasing the doorway space available for mobility device users. There will be between 8 and 12 classrooms modified in this way, with one classroom expected to be completed per week. It will entail loud demolition as the door frames are reconstructed. Engineering teams will coordinate to use the same doors and same locks the classrooms had before the reconstruction. At the same time, a pilot project of wireless control of locks will be implemented. Engineering staff currently program these stand-alone locks by visiting each door and updating codes with a dated personal digital assistant (PDA). The times and codes are changed by hand every semester. After the pilot project is launched, lock and unlock capabilities will be programmable wirelessly with CCure, the software that runs the access control on card readers for the external building doors, as well as the electronic card readers on classrooms in new buildings. This will improve the capability for after-hours access to self-serve rooms and will positively impact staff with MCards.
Special attention will also be given to team-based learning (TBL) classrooms during this season of classroom maintenance projects. The oldest TBL classrooms will be updated to LSA Technology Services’ latest standards. There will be improvement of the programming and functionality of the TBL interface in room A859 of the Chemistry Building and rooms 110 and 120 of Weiser Hall. This will include both classroom equipment and furniture. In addition, to further encourage active learning, Haven Hall will have a new team-based learning classroom with a capacity of 30. Moni Dressler, Director of Academic Technology Services, sees this development as a strong step forward for teaching and learning on campus. “We’re super excited about the impact this will have on active-learning classes,” she said.
On top of the work happening in classrooms this summer, the Conference Room Upgrade Project will also be underway. Several conference rooms across the college will be updated, including technology in neglected spaces. This will facilitate easier support and fewer calls for help and technical failures during events in these rooms. Around 20 conference rooms will be part of the project. Projectors, audio, computers and more technology in classrooms will be upgraded by the LSA Engineering team and Instructional Computing team as a part of this project. Room schedules during this time will be posted in the MClassrooms database, and all work done this summer will be reflected.
If you are interested in knowing what conference rooms are available, please reach out to Moni Dressler, Director of Academic Technology Services. An exciting return to school in the Fall is anticipated after all of these renovations are completed!
