By: John Strickland, Assistant Director, IMS
One of the best things about working in IMS is September. It is great to see new and returning students coming back to campus, to catch up with colleagues and hear about their summer experiences. As I write this, there is a definite chill in the air, and soon leaves will be changing colour, thick sweaters will return, and we will all watch the ducks fly south for the winter.
In IMS we have been busy this summer preparing for the fall ahead. We have updated video projection in the first floor Azreili Theatres with a larger screen and dual data projectors in each room. Each of the projectors is now serviceable with ceiling mounted scissor lifts, which will allow technicians to safely drop the units down to a safe working height, thus eliminating the need to erect scaffolding to perform routine maintenance like changing lamps and vacuuming filters. This should also reduce any down time for these units.
In a little more than a week, teaching technologies were installed into a new room in 303 St. Patrick’s, which we were able to have ready for the first day of class. It now has a new teaching console, computer and projector, and we hope this will enhance classes in that room.
Similarly both 3235 and 3269 Mackenzie were completely renovated with new furniture, fixtures and technologies. So over the summer, many of our old classrooms have become new again.
This is particularly true of Porter Hall, which, like the Mackenzie rooms, was completely overhauled with new furniture, seating and technology. Porter Hall, which used to be a meeting/performance/gathering place for the university community, has been transformed into a first rate lecture theatre.
Oddly, this is not the first time Porter Hall has been repurposed as a lecture theatre. I well remember the day, about eight years ago, when the first 8:30 a.m. class was about to be held, and installers were busy until the start time laying down carpet on the lecture podium, dressing loose cables behind the chalkboard, and finishing off painting the wall behind the instructor. The paint was literally drying as the instructor delivered the first lecture of the year.
We’ve come a long way since then, but there is usually something that isn’t quite done or up to scratch by the time the calendar turns over to the first day of term. And there is always something that we would like to include in our rooms that either doesn’t quite work, or we can’t quite afford. Still, that is one of the best aspects about our jobs in IMS, in that no matter how many things we install, no matter how many solutions we provide, no matter how many times we think we are ‘finished,’ there will always be something more, something exciting, something new. In that sense, we will never be ‘done.’
An empty classroom is of no use to anyone. I hope that this year, you will fill Carleton’s classrooms with your expertise and your knowledge, and that whenever you need us, we will be able to help.