News

Beginning in May of 2024, RTL will update our classrooms with microphones built into the ceiling, wireless display, interactive whiteboards with annotation features and easy remote connections over Zoom without the need to bring in your own device.  It will take about seven years for all 200+ classrooms to be upgraded. Instructors will be able to project without the fuss of cables and teach without having to put on a microphone.

Responding to feedback from instructors and insights gleaned from the Classroom of the Future pilot program, our engineering team is gearing up to implement a range of new technologies aimed at enhancing the teaching and learning experience in a select set of classrooms in the Social Sciences Building for the Spring 2024 semester.

For this edition of "Behind the Scenes of a Classroom Refresh", we bring you 177 Stanley, which received a major technology update in July 2023.

For this edition of "Behind the Scenes of a Classroom Refresh", we bring you 120 Latimer, which received a complete renovation over several months last year during Summer Sessions and the Fall 2022 semester.

In the second of our continuing series to give you a peek behind the scenes of technology upgrades in UC Berkeley classrooms, we are taking you to 159 Mulford, which was upgraded over Summer 2022. If you missed our first article, please visit Behind the Scenes of a Classroom Refresh - 100 Lewis Hall and learn what it takes to swap a projector 25 feet up from the floor.

As we near the end of the Spring 2022 semester, we want to share an improvement that RTL has made in the classroom based on your feedback from the Classroom Technology Feedback Survey - Fall 2021 that we sent in December 2021. Based on our helpdesk ticket review, our team was aware that audio capture for Course Capture was a top issue in our classrooms. As a result, we included a question in the Fall 2021 survey to gauge options to reduce audio capture issues in our classrooms.

Have you ever wondered what it takes to replace a projector 25 feet above the ground or what goes into refreshing classroom technology at UC Berkeley? If the answer is yes, then here is a glimpse into this process as our engineers, Vince Barma, Nich Caldwell, and Steve Johnson, refreshed 100 Lewis over the Winter Break in December 2021 - January 2022.

Updated Guidance as of February 2, 2022:
Thanks to the hard work and collaboration between our hardware vendor and the classroom technology services team, a workaround has been implemented in all of our video conference capable rooms and Monterey (macOS 12) devices can now connect to our classroom cameras in our general assignment classrooms for use in Zoom or other video conferencing platforms.

What a whirlwind semester start. We want to thank all of you, the instructors that support the teaching and learning mission of the campus, for understanding that technology does not always work and for being partners in figuring out solutions to keep instruction going when faced with technical challenges.

To keep our tightly scheduled 200+ classrooms operational and updated in-semester, our dedicated engineering team turns to evenings and nights to do some of their best work when the rooms are empty. In addition to addressing more complex issues, such as replacing a bad projector, that requires an empty classroom, we also focus on upgrading smaller, analog-only classrooms during the semester to bring them into the digital world with the following updates:

Research, Teaching, and Learning (RTL) is offering several programs and support services for faculty as they prepare for the Fall semester.

Link to Fall 2021 Classroom Technology Newsletter.

Thanks to generous support from campus and departmental leadership, RTL has received funding to accelerate our classroom refresh, add video cameras, and add video conferencing capabilities to 37 classrooms this summer.

About

The Instructional Computer Facilities (ICF) service from ETS provides dedicated computer lab access to instructors for their classes that have specialized hardware or software needs.  During the shift to remote and virtual instruction, the service was able to pivot and offer scheduled instructors the option to connect to the physical computers on campus remotely through the Citrix platform.  

We at RTL Classroom Technology Support have been working this past semester to provide you with various support options for your online classes, and we are excited to introduce a new one!