District-Wide Projects
Classrooms/Labs and College Services
Introduction
The Measure B Bond Program for Chabot and Las Positas Colleges contain new construction projects or facility renovations that require technology improvements in the data network and computer equipment. These improvements include technology changes related to the facility structure such as fiber optic wiring and conduit between buildings that are required for the District networking infrastructure. These improvements also include classroom equipment, network devices, communication equipment to support data, video, or voice, and all technology advancements that support the instructional environment.
The ultimate desire for the students is to have open access to learning experiences and college services at any time and any place. Therefore, the advances in technology to provide on-line access either from campus or from a remote location achieves this objective and additionally improves the overall communication with the students to help them succeed in their educational goals. So technology is no longer just an “nice-to-have” aspect of our educational environment, but now has become an integral part of the student learning experience for all disciplines, even with the most unconventional uses of computers like art and music. Therefore, the District wants to ensure that it provides high quality technology support for all instructional programs and administrative services.
Classroom Advancements
With the introduction of expanded technologies, the colleges will make the shift from a campus-centric to a consumer-centric model where learning centers will extend to homes, libraries, networks, job sites, and community groups. Thus, course content will include video and digital images with text and audio rather than blackboards and books.
Portable wireless technology will be introduced into the classroom environment with the appropriate security levels due to the escalating demand for flexibility and sharing of computer assets for instruction. Mobile carts will be adopted so that the wireless technology can be shared across campus locations. The vision for the classroom environment is to seamlessly allow students to connect their own laptops or Personal Data Assistant (PDA) to the appropriate campus server using wireless technology; thus allowing faculty to access student's work on-line.
The classroom setting continues to expand its usage of computer applications, videos, DVD, and Internet access to augment the learning setting. “Smart classrooms” are electronic or technology enhanced classrooms that integrate networking, computers, and audiovisual technologies to allow multimedia and Internet access within the classroom. In addition to local computer access, there is a need for expansion to show information or research data from outside resources worldwide. It is envisioned that the lecture classroom settings will require the installation of multi-media PC/video/audio capability. The lecture rooms will be designed to become “smart classrooms” with computer workstations, wireless keyboards, LCD projectors, VCR and DVD facilities, retractable viewing screens, touch screen control, slide projector, cassette player, and stereo amplified sound. Currently there are not very many “smart classrooms” at Chabot College whereas Las Positas has most of their classrooms with this technology. The objective is to make this the standard classroom setting for both colleges and to continue to upgrade the equipment as new technology advances are on the market. Portable laptops for instructors will contain standard application software with plug-ins for usage in any classroom. Facilities for digital media will be improved to encompass audio, video, film, and graphic design. Where appropriate, “smart” boards that are essentially electronic whiteboards with the capability of recording pen strokes will be strategically located on the campus for instruction.
With the continued expansion of Distance Education courses as well, the computerized facilities are becoming an integral part of the student experience. The adoption of the Blackboard Course Management Software system for the Chabot and Las Positas colleges as the District standard has facilitated the expansion of these offerings. For some classrooms, the ability to broadcast on-going teaching sessions to the Web in “live” streaming mode will provide another forum to provide distance education to students. In other locations, videoconferencing facilities will be expanded at each of the colleges to provide increased accessibility to this technology for meetings and conferences across the District.