Blog: Fun at Work
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Fun at Work - Thursday, August 30, 2007
Lately I've been helping to replace the computers in each Anderson classroom with newer ones. Most of the classrooms consist of a few rows of cushioned swivel chairs around a central podium with a computer in it. The podiums themselves have a button to raise or lower their height depending on the professor's preference. There is a monitor beneath the glass top of the podium for the professor to look at. A pull-out touchscreen device controls everything from the digital projector overhead, the retractable projector screen at the front of the room, and input from an optional laptop connection. There is a regular mouse on top of the podium, as well as a bluetooth-enabled gyro-mouse that can be operated by waving it around in the air. Not to mention a slick sound system tucked nicely behind the paneling of the walls.
Unfortunately, as nice as the podiums are, they weren't built to be technician-friendly. The only access is in the back of the podium (facing away from where the students sit), and reaching all the way in there to unplug/plug in cables isn't easy when you've got large controller devices and a hundred wires stuffed back there in a mess of spaghetti.
Anyway, it was cool to be doing something new for a change. The complexity of those classrooms amazes me. Compare that to the classrooms we have in the engineering/science buildings that consist of pretty much a chalkboard and chairs. And the chairs don't swivel.
Unfortunately, as nice as the podiums are, they weren't built to be technician-friendly. The only access is in the back of the podium (facing away from where the students sit), and reaching all the way in there to unplug/plug in cables isn't easy when you've got large controller devices and a hundred wires stuffed back there in a mess of spaghetti.
Anyway, it was cool to be doing something new for a change. The complexity of those classrooms amazes me. Compare that to the classrooms we have in the engineering/science buildings that consist of pretty much a chalkboard and chairs. And the chairs don't swivel.