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Professors and students—approximately 8K people per hour—rely on classroom technology to facilitate the teaching and learning experience in the 110 centrally scheduled classrooms supported by CTS.

Classroom Technical Support (CTS) provides a wide range of AV services to the University community. Our trained staff are certified by AVIXA. The University of Guelph was the first university in Ontario to be awarded Infocomm's Gold AV Certified Solutions Provider status, an internationally recognized standard for audiovisual and communication industry professionals.

Text image that reads: Classroom Upgrades

With the continued COVID-19 pandemic lockdown, we brought back about 500 sections of courses in a web conference format for the Fall semester. To do this, we improved the existing web conferencing classrooms and rolled out a total of 42 classrooms with web conference capability. This investment was managed internally and achieved its critical milestones and objectives ahead of schedule and within the allocated budget.

For the Fall 2021 startup, CTS engaged with 28 students to assist faculty for the first six weeks of the semester, handling in-person support with a dispersed support model.

Results:

  1. Instructors were trained to become comfortable with the technical aspects of the classroom, keeping equipment failures at a minimum.
  2. Our full-time technicians were able to concentrate on resolving technical issues, making the instructional experience better.
  3. The semester was successfully delivered.

Web Conferencing Classrooms

We upgraded the following academic spaces to add a web conference layer:

Classrooms 
List of Academic Spaces with an Added Web Conference Layer
Alexander Hall 100 MacDonald Stewart 121 MacKinnon 228 Richards 2529
Alexander Hall 200 MacDonald Stewart 209 MacKinnon 230  Rozanski 101 
Alexander Hall 218 MacKinnon 029 MacKinnon 232  Rozanski 102 
Animal Science 156 MacKinnon 031 MacKinnon 234 Rozanski 103 
Crop Science 116 MacKinnon 115  MacNaughton 105  Rozanski 104
Crop Science 117 MacKinnon 116 MacNaughton 113  Rozanski 105 
J.D. MacLachlan 102  MacKinnon 117 OVC ECLA 1720  Thornborough 1200
MacDonald 149 MacKinnon 120  OVC LLC 1714  Thornborough 1307 
MacDonald Institute 106 MacKinnon 224 OVC Pathobiology 1800  War Memorial Hall
MacDonald Institute 300 MacKinnon 226 Richards 2520  

Text image that reads: Upgrades & Maintenance

Current Projects

  • Guelph Turfgrass Institute
  • Biodiversity Institute
  • Honeybee Research Centre
  • Bedrock Aquifer Centre
  • Research Innovation Meeting Room
  • Meeting Room AV in Registrar’s Office, Alumni, OVC, Athletics, HR, Library
  • Library CFI Project
  • University Club

Academic Space Audio-Visual Upgrades & Maintenance

Upgrades to the entire AV systems of the following academic spaces were a part of the Audio-Visual Evergreen program and included a web conference upgrade:

  • MacKinnon 121
  • JD Maclachlan 101
  • JD Maclachlan 107

 

Future Strategy and Vision of Classroom Technology

We engaged in a strategic design process for the future of the classroom by engaging stakeholders, support resources and partners, to solve critical problems in the classroom infrastructure.

  • Partnered with CCS on networking requirements to use the Campus Network as a transport mechanism to integrate as an industry best practice for classrooms.
  • Built a Crestron Fusion server and integrated over 25 classrooms gathering data from classroom usage.
  • Commenced a laptop loan program for students, staff, and faculty. Students can borrow laptops free of charge, enabling digital access to their coursework.

Infographic stating that Classroom Technical Support repaired 40 microphones.

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We evaluated conferencing equipment—cameras, microphone systems, USB capture, recording and streaming, AV bridge—for classrooms, seminar rooms, and meeting rooms.

Ontario Agriculture College Web Conference Rooms

  • Ridgetown Campus, web conference classroom carts
  • Animal Science, 110 (classroom)
  • Crop Science, 121a (classroom)
  • Crop Science, 307 (classroom)
  • Alexander Hall, 265 (classroom)
  • J.D. MacLachlan, 319 (classroom)
  • Food Science, 128 (classroom)
  • Johnston Hall, 104 (meeting room)

College of Arts Web Conference Rooms

  • MacKinnon, 114 (classroom)
  • MacKinnon, 132 (meeting room)

College of Biological Sciences Web Conference Rooms

  • Summerlee Science Complex, 2315 (classroom)
  • Summerlee Science Complex,  3317 (was cut by department)
  • Web conference lab cart

LANG School of Business

  • Macdonald Hall, 232

Ontario Veterinary College Web Conference Rooms

  • Enhanced Critical Learning Addition, 1720
  • Lifetime Learning Centre, 1714
  • Pathobiology, 1800
  • Meeting Rooms (7)

Text image that reads: Committee Participation

Over the past year, we have enthusiastically participated in the following committees:

  • Accessibility Built Environment Committee
  • Campus IT Leaders Group
  • Classroom Advisory Committee
  • IT Special Interest Group
  • IT Strategic Plan Committees
  • Joint Health and Safety Committee
  • OpenEd Wellness Committee

We are also members of several external industry leading associations and committees.

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Sean Jordan | Instructor and Research Technician, School of Environmental Sciences

Opening quotation mark.The people of Classroom Technical Support were all very helpful and patient, and helped me set up for my individual teaching style without any hassle or extra effort. Being able to teach remotely from a classroom, with a chalkboard and a doc-cam, helped me create a virtual learning environment for our students that was closer to an in-person experience. The students in all the classes I taught in this manner were appreciative of the setting."

Scott Moccia, Associate Director | OVC IT Services

Opening quotation mark.During the 2021 calendar year, OVC and CTS began informally working together on maintenance, support, and upgrades of all classrooms and meeting rooms on the OVC campus. CTS was able to coordinate implementation of fully capable web conferencing technology in our three primary classrooms on budget and on time to start the Fall 2021 semester. As we work to formalize and deepen our partnership, CTS has continuously demonstrated their capacity and skill to deliver quality technical and customer service.”

Sean Jordan | Instructor and Research Technician, School of Environmental Sciences

Opening quotation mark.The technology available in Alexander Hall and the MacKinnon building provides a great deal of flexibility in teaching my applied classes. Having a camera that can clearly capture the chalkboard and the use of multiple cameras for when I have a demonstration set-up in the classroom is invaluable. Students learning remotely in the hybrid model can clearly see what the in-person students are seeing in the classroom."