DePaul University: A Case Study
By Guest Author, Erin Keplinger, CTI
DePaul University has been educating students for over a century. They have established an amazing culture around making education personal and accessible to all people. This mission drives decision making and in recent years has led to including more and more technology in the classroom. DePaul’s first offering of virtual classes was minimal, and the classes were limited to asynchronous learning only. But, with recent advances in Unified Communications and Collaboration tools they took a huge step forward in broadening virtual class offerings while creating an environment that synchronizes students and professors.
Gregg Barker and Paul Martin from IT work with Director of Online Learning, James Moore to identify pain points in the IT and consider new designs to improve the classroom experience. They also determine when to include an integration partner like CTI as an extension of their team. Upgrades were already in process when Covid hit the scene in 2020 and DePaul responded by increasing the scope of the project. “We were overwhelmed with how successful it was and that we could meet the needs of DePaul and get it completed in time.” Said Mike Maturo, Design Consultant, CTI.
Their unique set up is referred to as a Trimodal Flex Room. This title is indicative of the three audiences and the three main technological components that make these rooms so high functioning. First, the inclusion of multiple cameras, both Aver static and Vaddio tracking, allow for all parties to see and be seen. Second, the use of highly sensitive Shure microphones ensures that people are heard. “It is one thing if you can’t see someone for a few minutes, but if you can’t hear them, then the entire class is cut off,” said Paul Martin, IT Specialist at DePaul University.
In addition to allowing virtual and in-person students to engage with one another, the professors are liberated from the lectern. Tracking cameras follow them as the move and teach and strategically placed monitors in the back of the class enable them to view the entire student group at one time. Lastly, the BenQ interactive white board and a document camera keep everyone on track during the class.
By introducing the new Trimodal Flex Rooms DePaul was able to keep their education personal and technology accessible at scale. “This is a way that they[students] can get a college experience, and when they can’t be on campus, it feels like they are.” Says James Moore, Director of Online Learning.
Both IT Director, Gregg Barker, and IT Specialist, Paul Martin expressed their pride and satisfaction with how the rooms turned out. CTI Director, Matthew Swiderski added, “It is really rewarding that we can give students the opportunity to get a good education remotely.” The technology also makes it a good experience. As for the professors, James Moore says that these rooms have the “Goldilocks affect”, they are ‘just right’ for the majority of the professors. The IT teams design is consistent throughout the classes which minimizes the learning curve for users.
In the competitive landscape of education, DePaul has pulled ahead of the pack with this latest installation. They leveraged the latest in technology trends to fulfill their timeless mission and the result is an overwhelming success.
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