Recommendations for the Classroom Technology and Layout at WPI

Recommendations for the Classroom Technology and Layout at WPI

An Interactive Qualifying Project Submitted to the faculty of

WORCESTER POLYTECHNIC INSTITUTE in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the

Degree in Bachelor of Science By:

Mimoon Alwash Jacob Grills

Richard Hinrichs Brittany Wasserman Submitted on March 5th, 2014

Project Advisor: Dr. Chrysanthe Demetry, WPI Professor Sponsoring Agency: WPI Academic Technology Center

This report represents the work of WPI undergraduate students submitted to the faculty as evidence of completion of a degree requirement. WPI routinely publishes these reports on its

website without editorial or peer review

Abstract

The Academic Technology Center (ATC) at WPI replaces the technology in each classroom every five years. The goal of this project, sponsored by the ATC, was to determine how current classroom technology could be improved to enhance the teaching and learning experience. Using interviews and surveys we gathered both qualitative and quantitative information from more than 140 faculty members and 550 students. Based on those findings, we formulated recommendations that include increasing the size of the podium tops and moving the projector screen to maximize board space.

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Executive Summary

Technology is incorporated in every classroom at Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI), and the Academic Technology Center (ATC) is responsible for the installation and maintenance of that technology. The ATC renovates the classrooms every five years to keep up with new trends and to ensure reliability of the technology. During renovations the ATC replaces all technology in each classroom and tries to make improvements based on any feedback they've received. The goal of this project was to make suggestions to the ATC for improving the implementation of classroom technology and improving the design of the podiums at WPI based on feedback from a large sample of professors and students. Our ambition was to suggest a technology layout and podium design for each room up for renovation in the summer of 2014 and 2015 that would be considered beneficial by the majority of professors and students.

Methodology

In order to gather the data needed to accomplish this goal we established the following research objectives:

1. Gathering feedback from professors about the podium design and placement, the projector screen location(s), and the desire for new technology.

2. Gathering feedback from students about the classroom layout, the podium design, the desire for new technology.

3. Analyzing feedback and formulating recommendations for the ATC to use for future classroom renovations.

In order to gain both the qualitative and quantitative data we needed to make wellinformed conclusions to our research questions, we used a combination of interviews and surveys. We were able to conduct 21 interviews with faculty members from 10 different departments. These interviews allowed us learn how professors use the podiums and gather their thoughts about how the technology in classrooms can be improved. Their responses, along with background research, helped us develop online surveys for both faculty and students to complete. We received just over 560 responses, a 10% response rate, from the student classroom technology survey, resulting in a 95% confidence that the sampling error is ? 3.9%. We received 130 responses, a 52% response rate, from faculty members which gave us a 95% confidence that the sampling error is ? 5.9%. The quantitative data from the surveys along with the

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recommendations from faculty that we received from the interviews helped us make recommendations to the ATC.

Findings

After analyzing the survey and interview results we developed the following findings regarding the classrooms at WPI:

1. Professors want podiums to have larger surfaces. Overall, podium size was the number one concern among faculty for both interviews and survey results. More than 95% of faculty members indicated that they use the podium while teaching. Of those professors, only 6% are opposed to having a larger podium desktop. Many of the professors indicated that the podium top needs to be larger or have a more optimized design that will allow for more mobility of the components. According to the ATC, components are anchored to the tops to prevent them from falling off of the edges. Many professors also commented that they would like to be able to have more room on top for notes and a laptop or textbook. More than 10 professors commented specifically that the keyboards are in a bad location and that there is no other comfortable spot for it.

2. Professors want the podium controls to be the same in every room. Professors also had some strong opinions about the controls for the podium components in the classrooms. Many professors said during interviews that the controls were either hard to use in general or that there was too much variation between rooms. That led us to ask both of those questions on the faculty survey to determine if other professors agreed. Over 52% of professors said that the podium controls were easy to use with only 19% saying they were difficult. In the comments professors mentioned that having different controls in certain rooms made teaching more difficult. Although they figured out how to use them, they don't like having to spend time at the beginning of the class trying to Figure them out.

3. Professors would like to be able to use the boards and projector screen simultaneously. The majority of faculty said that they do or would like to use both the boards and the projector at the same time while teaching class. Over 42% of faculty said that the current layout in the classroom they are teaching in allows them to use both the

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board and the projector at the same time. Another 42% said they would like to use both but there is not enough room for both. 4. Students and faculty are in favor of new screen sharing technology. The ATC showed us some new screen sharing technology that they were evaluating, so we decided to see what students and faculty thought about it. Over 87% of students expressed interest in being able to mirror the projector screen onto their laptop during class. The majority of students are also interested in being able share their screen with the projector and class. Faculty agreed that this would be useful for some classes. The majority of faculty also expressed interest in being able to use the projector from a wireless device. 5. Students and faculty showed interest in studio classrooms. One way universities are incorporating technology into classrooms is by building studio or flipped classrooms. These student-centered learning spaces are designed to support active learning and teaching strategies, collaborative learning, and peer instruction. During the interviews and surveys, we showed participants a picture of one of these rooms in addition to a brief explanation; then we asked them if they thought these rooms would be beneficial at WPI. 82% of students are interested in having some of these rooms at WPI and 63% of faculty members feel the same way. Many students had comments similar to: "...I would really like to see that at WPI..." and "...I think the learning process would greatly benefit." 6. Students and faculty said that other classroom elements like seating, lighting, HVAC, and power outlets are also important to learning. Although the ATC only manages the technology, we found that other classroom elements are important to students and are in need of improvements. The element that ranked lowest in quality, according to students, is power outlet accessibility. Many students want to be able to bring their laptop to class and charge it at their seat/desk. Students and faculty commented that the HVAC systems in some of the buildings like Kaven, Washburn, and Higgins are noisy and fail to provide a consistent temperature. Students also mentioned that seats are broken in some rooms like SL 115 and squeaky in others. The last element that came up as needing improvements was lighting controls. Faculty members especially think that the lighting in many rooms is hard to adjust to the desired lighting levels.

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