Each year, SMU leadership and the Academic Technology Council reviews and approves a collection of classroom upgrade projects to be funded by the University Technology Fund. Project requests are submitted by each school in addition to identified major maintenance/fixes based on the age or current state of each room. These are vetted and prioritized to ensure we are providing stability across classroom experiences while also modernizing the technology in as many spaces as possible. In addition to the classrooms funded by the University, several schools or departments independently fund additional upgrades that are critical to their environment. The majority of these projects are conducted during either the summer months or during winter break to minimize impact to teaching.
The Covid-19 pandemic has drastically altered this year’s original upgrade plans. Instead of the original proposal of work, Continue reading Classroom Technology Updates: Preparing for Fall
Classroom instruction has been turned upside down this year, shifting from 100% in-person to 100% online. As we return to the Hilltop for Summer 2, we are anticipating yet another transition where instruction occurs in both online and face-to-face modalities simultaneously. Pedagogically, this will require a good bit of flexibility for faculty. The classroom technology to support this hybridized approach is also very different and complex. 
Our first one is to be mindful of our video feed. I usually turn on my webcam because I think it is essential to make that connection, but you will want to be cognizant of how you dress. I know if we are working from home, we might be a little bit more 
In this blog post, we are going to go through a couple of different things about working from home or working remotely. I know our situation now is a little bit different than your normal telecommuting situation. Many of us will have children and spouses in the house as well, so that adds some complications. Hopefully, you’ll find some useful information today on the equipment that you need and the different resources that we have available to you. 