High Definition Learning

The Business School brings new life to class

From the first day of back-of-the-napkin sketches through the entire process of design, there was never a doubt about the central role high technology would play in the classrooms for UT’s new College of Business Administration building, set for completion this year.

“We didn’t hold back,” says Tom Ladd, a key player in the process and associate dean of research and technology at the college. “When our classroom technology switches on for the first time this fall, it will be the best in the world.”

High-definition projection systems in each of the 20 or more classrooms will be so precise a student in any seat will be able to read complex details, including intricate spreadsheets and formulas, on a central screen.

“We worked with the most advanced technology ­presentation companies,” says Ladd, “and we even pulled a number of our solutions right out of industry tests. We did a lot of visioning work to get here. Except for some analog circuits involved with carrying sound, everything having to do with learning technology will be digitally based.”

The design team’s drive toward making the whole of the effort “classroom-centric” is actually a focus on how to create a learning environment that is as easy and user-friendly as humanly—or architecturally—possible.

“Originally, we discussed using the traditional horseshoe seating common to business school classrooms,” Ladd says; “then the architects and technology consultants said it should be more like a rounded ‘V’ so each student can take everything in without having to strain eyes, neck, or back.”

Smaller meeting rooms, typically holding up to eight people, will also be equipped with high-definition monitors. Using laptops, participants in any of the building’s gathering spaces can change and download online content so ideas and images flow freely between participants. Thanks to on-board recording gear, lectures can be seen from remote ­locations. And, in yet another area of advanced ease-of-use, faculty and students will be able to schedule classrooms and break out spaces “on the fly” using a Web-based scheduling system.

“The way we’re looking at it,” Ladd says, “this kind of technology is going to be with us from here to eternity so we didn’t want to shoot low. We intentionally built the complexities into the system instead of into its use. Our idea was to be the best stewards we could and to venture out into the open sea of what’s possible.”