ETSU students may have observed a few changes in their classrooms and on the web when they returned to school for the fall semester.
One change is the new look of the ETSU home page and other connecting Web sites, including Blackboard. Vincent Thompson, manager of the Office of Information Technology, said this change makes things a lot easier. The new web sites “all have the same look and feel,” he said.
This makes things less complicated for those who design the sites, Thompson said. No one has to decide what sort of font to use or what colors to make a certain page, he said.
Thompson said that the OIT was also busy this summer turning rooms in Sam Wilson Hall and Brown Hall into multimedia classrooms. A total of 18 classrooms were changed over for the fall semester.
Thompson said that these changes included bringing in new equipment such as a PC, laptop, LCD projector and the proper network hook-ups.
Also added during the multimedia change were the smart “sympodiums,” which are touch-screen monitors that can be written on and controlled with a special pen.
They hook up to the computer and display an image on a SmartBoard, which students may recognize from classrooms in Rogers-Stout Hall. They are touch screen as well and can be electronically written on.
A VCR for each classroom was also included in the multimedia upgrade, along with a hook-up to the campus cable TV system.
Thompson said another important update is the implementation of a key server, which allows a certain number of licensed software applications to be used on any campus lab computer.
Software was updated for the computer science and media classrooms, he said. This is convenient for students because they are able to work on a certain project from any computer on campus, Thompson said.
Another relatively new technological improvement is the wireless laptop lab in Lucille Clement Hall. Although it opened last fall, Thompson said that many people are not aware of it.
The lab contains over 60 laptops, which may be checked out by students for a maximum of two hours. There is also a mock-up multimedia classroom area were students can practice computer presentations.
Thompson also said that the lab has a color laser printer – something not available in other labs – that costs 50 cents per page. The lab stays open until 2 a.m., and the computers are available to students who do not live in the dorm.
Thompson said that they chose Lucille Clement Hall for the lab because it is the largest dorm and had the empty space for the lab.
He said the lab is useful for those who feel concerned about safety issues. “Someone doesn’t have to leave and walk across campus late at night to find a lab,” he said.

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