Technology for Learning
When classes commence at the new Edward P. Evans Hall campus in January, Yale SOM students and faculty will benefit from a number of cutting-edge technology features designed to enhance teaching and learning for years to come.
Alan Usas, SOM’s chief technology information officer, says these are some of the building’s most distinctive technological features:
- High-definition video conferencing in all classrooms that will allow students to interact with remote guest speakers or their peers at Global Network for Advanced Management schools around the world.
- Wireless screen sharing in breakout rooms and classrooms that will allow students to mirror their laptop or smartphone screens on a large screen when collaborating with their colleagues.
- Custom, multifunctional lecterns, designed with faculty input, for controlling presentations, annotating lectures, and other teaching tasks.
- A centrally managed Media Control Center from which IT staffers can remotely control all of the technology installed in each classroom, including high-definition cameras with which they can record lectures or stream live video over the internet.
Each of the building’s classrooms, Usas says, is designed for a particular teaching mode—for example, a lecture, case study discussion, or group work session—and the technology for each room is intended to enhance that mode. For example, one “theater-in-the-round” classroom has 360 degrees of seating around the lectern and eight screens spaced around the entire room, allowing students to interact directly with each other, a professor, and remote speakers. “You can experiment with a variety of methodologies and the IT component is built right in,” he says.
The new building also has an expandable network infrastructure, says Usas, making it “future-proof when it comes to technology.” As technology continues evolving, so will Evans Hall.