Not long into the spring semester, the Boston University community began feeling the impact of the pandemic. Classes were held remotely, and the faculty and students had to quickly adjust. BU’s recovery working groups were established and began planning for a return to a residential educational experience for the fall. An approach called Learn from Anywhere (LfA) was developed, allowing students to attend class in person or remotely. The Online & Remote Technology Working Group was tasked with developing a multi-faceted plan to add Zoom capabilities to a then unspecified number of classrooms. A multi-phase project was launched following existing procedures around classroom renovations.
The LfA classroom technology project was then handed off to the team regularly and actively involved with the implementation of classroom renovation projects, including technology upgrades. This includes IS&T’s Learning & Event Technology Services (LETS) group and partners from the Provost’s Office, the Office of the University Registrar (OUR) and Campus Planning & Operations (CP&O). LfA functionality had to be added in over 500 spaces across all three campuses. The project for the 490 classrooms on the Charles River Campus continues to unfold.
Our colleagues in CP&O also had to coordinate furniture moves, HVAC assessments and signage for every room. LETS balanced audio systems to level out increased HVAC noise and installed or deployed as many additional microphones as we could buy to improve the audio experience. In some spaces, Bluetooth headphones helped faculty members using their own device to provide better audio to remote students and for recordings. The work was all happening at once in a reality of uncertainty, including whether we could get the equipment we needed.
National supply chain issues were a major challenge, as all industries rushed to install the same functionality. As we executed our primary plan to bring installed Zoom functionality into hundreds of classrooms, gyms, chapels and event spaces, we simultaneously considered what we would do if the equipment was not available. We began ordering small batches of web cameras, carts, tripods and microphones as a contingency. It was a daily hunt.
On August 21st, we began deploying this equipment as a simple way of delivering LfA capabilities in classrooms where the installed solution was incomplete due to back ordered components. We were comforted by the fact that this was also the primary solution widely deployed by the IS&T team at BUMC and their classes were already running smoothly.
LETS hosted visits to prototype LfA rooms on the Charles River Campus for about 500 faculty members in July and August to offer training. In–class meetings with faculty were also held on BUMC by the team there.
Faculty feedback was used to shape instruction videos, classroom instructions and FAQs shared in the Back2BU guides, the Digital Learning & Innovation web site and on the Boston University Classrooms site managed by IS&T. This Classrooms site also offers the Find a Classroom search feature which includes all LfA enabled classrooms. The Client Services & Support Operations team has been instrumental in keeping this page up–to–date, posting PDFs of reduced seating capacities and the specific technology solutions in place. More than 250 unique classroom pages were added for proprietary spaces and the BUMC classrooms as well, again in partnership with IS&T staff across all campuses. These resources were widely accessed by the community.
We continue to install components as they are delivered from orders placed in early summer. We review ticket data to find patterns and reach out to faculty and students to learn how we can improve the LfA experience this fall, and to refine plans for the spring.
If you have feedback, questions or would like more information on the LfA classroom technology project, support or training, please contact IS&T’s Learning & Event Technology Services (LETS) group by sending an email to classrooms@bu.edu.
While this has likely been the single most challenging year we have all faced at BU, it was also inspirational, as so many areas of the University pulled together to make this fall a success. Now together we look ahead to the spring.
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