Designing a Computerized Presentation Center

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The Office Systems and Business Education Department at California State University, Los Angeles, has faced what so many schools face – declining budgets and increased demands for teaching state-of-the-art technology skills. The School of Business and Economics has long recognized the need to deliver teaching methods and techniques that enhance the communication skills of its students. And we have undertaken a project – a computerized presentation design center – that intends to fulfill those needs, now and in the future. * Reasons Behind the Project California State Los Angeles is one of the most culturally diverse campuses in the U.S. Over two-thirds of its student population are non-native English speakers. Therefore, preparing students to be adequate writers and speakers for the business community is of paramount concern. Also, the recent changes in technology necessitated the department’s upgrading of equipment in the office systems courses that focus on application and technical knowledge. The impetus to better serve our students resulted from research findings and technology-growth projections. The department met with a local business advisory council comprised of managers, teachers, human resource personnel and former students. Objectives set forth by the department and advisory committee to make the presentation center a reality were: Objectives of the Center: 1. To increase student retention and learning. 2. To offer office system students state-of-the-art training and a technological knowledge base. 3. To prepare business education students to effectively teach in either a Macintosh or IBM/IBM-compatible environment. 4. To expose business students to desktop publishing, desktop presentation, presentation graphics, presentation media and computer-based shows. 5. To develop the communication skills (oral and written) of all students in the School of Business and Economics, by utilizing voice annotation, e-mail, video presentations, voice recognition and electronic research services. 6. To develop a direct partnership/training collaborative venture with business, utilizing distance learning and conducting meetings via teleconferencing (audio/video). 7. To serve as a resource center for faculty in the School of Business and Economics. 8. To offer courses via distance learning to break constraints of availability of faculty, location, course limitations, etc. 9. To create new opportunities for faculty to rethink content, as well as deliver content in non-traditional ways such as computer networking, etc. An ubiquitous component in the design of the center reflected our tenet that technology is only a tool to accomplish the overall objective (communication and technical skill development). * Purpose of Design Center The center comprises two electronic classrooms (one IBM/IBM-compatible and one Mac-based) and a multi-purpose electronic center. Each of the IBM and Mac classrooms houses 30 computers, while the design center will have 12 workstations and seating for 30 (see Illustration 1). We proposed to implement the center in three phases. The first phase consisted of upgrading the IBM/IBM-compatible classroom; the second phase upgrades and structures the Mac classroom. The third and final phase implements the “heart of the center” – a multi-purpose electronic design center. * Multimedia Classrooms The IBM classroom, the first phase of our project, has been completed. The focus of the multimedia classroom is to provide students with the necessary setting in which to train them to interact successfully in a technology-based business environment. The multimedia classroom is expressly designed to teach students to use e-mail technologies to retrieve information from data services. It enables them to send and receive voice documents and to prepare multimedia materials to enhance their presentation and communication skills.