Project Summary
Space:
Kutztown University of Pennsylvania
Social Media Analytics Strategic Hub (SMASH) and Public Relations Agency (The Agency)
Date Completed:
01/19/2019
Brief Overview:
Supporting Kutztown University's Social Media and Public Relations majors, two nearly identical classroom spaces were redesigned for collaborative learning. Each space has four “Pods” consisting of at least one 4K display, a centrally-located wireless collaboration device earmarked for each individual Pod, and the ability to route any piece of content in the room to any other display in the room using matrix switching. The spaces are controlled via respective touch panels, which are reprogrammed per-semester to meet the needs of individual faculty members in each space.
Both spaces were redesigned and renovated with the purpose of adding collaborative elements, resulting in classrooms that give our students a different learning experience. Each space has four individual “Pods,” where students can use any type of mobile device to connect and share content wirelessly. Provided are laptops preloaded with specially requested software by the faculty teaching in the spaces. Students can also choose to bring their own laptops, use their cell phones or tablets, or utilize the instructor’s workstation. The rooms were envisioned to be used as collaborative workspaces for a majority of the time. The rest of the time, it was requested that we allow for standard classroom instruction. Changes in room configuration happen in real time via a single button press on the touch panel on the teacher’s podium.
The rooms were also designed to allow individual users or small groups to enter the rooms during non-class hours and utilize the Pods singularly without having to turn on the entire system. The opportunity for students to utilize the space during off-class hours provides access to specialized software, otherwise unavailable to them outside of these classrooms.
One of our instructors turned the Pods into stations around the room and had groups of students complete a task at each Pod before rotating to the next station. Also available to the instructor is the ability to perform this station-based approach by moving the “stations” instead of moving the students. Via matrix switching, any input can route to any display, at any time. “In other classrooms, we might spend as many as five minutes reconfiguring desks and students into working groups for peer-review of their writing. In a 50-minute class period, that’s a considerable time loss. The ease of student mobility in the Agency means we waste no time on peer-review days. Paper drafts can be displayed on Pod screens and read and discussed by multiple students. Laptops are easily moved. Both productivity and student interaction are high because the space was built for collaborative work,” says Dr. Amy O’Brien, the Agency visionary and professor of public relations.
Since both spaces involved renovation, the room functions align perfectly with the intended uses, while while allowing for growth in each space if new technology becomes available or new pedagogical practices are adopted. Faculty and staff were closely involved in the planning of both the renovation as well as the technology selection and implementation. “One of the most exciting parts of teaching in the Agency space is its adaptability,” says O’Brien. “I can transition from having a student display her design work on every monitor in the room for a peer critique session to enabling small groups of students to display paragraphs on their localized pod screens for collaborative writing assignments in about five seconds.”
The Agency was designed to allow for local organizations to meet with students in person to develop public relations campaigns. A dedicated client meeting space with a large format interactive 4K display facilitates collaborative interaction between the students and the client. “The ability for our public relations students to interact face-to-face with clients is one of the differentiating aspects of our public relations program. We will use the room’s client meeting space to display concept designs on the large display screen, and its interactive capacity will enable us to take notes and sketch out ideas right before their eyes,” says O’Brien. “This will both facilitate and showcase our students’ creative approach to public relations and communications.”
Even after completion, Kutztown University IT works closely with the faculty in each room on a per-semester basis to set up individualized macros that tailor room layout and settings to each individual instructor’s needs. The macro-based programming means that with a single button press by the user, specific displays turn on or off and signals route in a pre-defined manner. However, this doesn’t mean users are limited to a single room layout. Inputs can be routed to any output via two button presses on the touch panel at any point during a class period. The macros are simply a starting point for each instructor. Faculty can manipulate the room to show what they want, where they want, at any time.
We believe the correlation between the technology and the instruction to be a circle – the technology was built based on specific instructional desires, and the instruction is adapted to make the most effective use of the technology. The addition of matrix switching to these rooms makes the spaces immensely more flexible than our standard classroom. We can send any input to any output in either space.
The wireless collaboration devices allow for an impressive amount of flexibility. We can connect up to four mobile devices to any one of the Pods in the room. All told, we can connect 48 mobile devices simultaneously to the displays between the two spaces. Not only can the rooms be used for classroom instruction, but they can be reserved by outside groups, bringing in additional visibility for the university and exposure for the Social Media and Public Relations programs.
Kutztown University's SMASH and Agency Showcase
Category
Best Flexible Space Experience
Description
Company Name
Kutztown University