Classroom & Teleconferencing Services

News and Updates (All News)

Classroom and Teleconferencing Services has moved to the first floor of the Library in an effort to improve service to faculty, staff, and students through closer proximity to Ross Hall classrooms. All telephone numbers and e-mail addresses remain the same but staff and equipment pick-up are now located across the hall from the Library's main Circulation Desk.

One full time technician and one permanent part-time technician are responsible for providing audiovisual projection equipment and services throughout Ross Hall, Hospital 6th Floor and Himmelfarb Library classrooms, weekdays between 7:30am and 8:00pm. Requests for projection services outside of these hours are subject to technician availability and incur an overtime fee.

A variety of equipment is available for loan and must be picked up and returned by the borrower at the Classroom & Teleconferencing Services Office. There is no charge for equipment loan services. A department fund and account number is required. Audio/video duplication services are also provided for a fee. Services are restricted to Medical Center affiliates. For further information call (202) 994-2856 or e-mail classrooms@gwumc.edu.

Classroom Reservations

All room and equipment scheduling for the School of Medicine and Health Sciences and the School of Public Health and Health Services, is centralized under the Department of Classroom Services. Locations include Ross Hall, Hospital 6th Floor, and Himmelfarb Library.

All requests should be made using the Classroom Reservation Request Form or by calling (202) 994-2856. Equipment requests should be made at the same time when scheduling a room in order to determine the appropriate room selection. The equipment request should be entered in the Comment field of the online form.

Ross Hall 201: Digital Laboratory

General Description
Ross Hall Room 201 is an amphitheater-style digital laboratory seating 180 with 90 shared workstations.  The room’s control system, integrated into the custom designed podium, is centralized in a SMART Sympodium, which serves as the “touch panel” for the installed pool of AV equipment:  DVD Player, VCR, Document Camera, slide to video converter, PC and a CD player/recorder.  The SMART Sympodium also provides the user the option of annotating over any existing presentation.  Laptop, zip drive and flash drive access are also provided at the lectern. 
 
The individual student windows-based workstations have the following software available for use:

• Office 2003
• Active X controller for webslide server
• SAS v8.2
• Quicktime 7.0
• Realplayer
• Macromedia flash player 8.0
• Shockwave player
• Adobe Acrobat reader 7.0
• Synchroneyes 5.1
• Google Earth
• World Wind
• EpiInfo
• DVD software
• Roxio creater software
• Java software
• Netdrive
• Patchy software for updates
• windows media player 10
• Zen client 6.5
• Symantec AV ver. 10

Software Environment and Requests
The room is a managed desktop environment requiring that any additional software be approved and loaded by the Medical Center’s Computer Applications & Support Services [CASS] staff.  The GWUMC Institutional Software Request Policy can be found at:  http://inside.gwumc.edu/vpha/forms/institutional_software_request_policy.pdf 
The Institutional Software Request Form may be found at: http://inside.gwumc.edu/vpha/forms/institutional_software_request_form.pdf

As stated in the policy, under normal circumstances new instructional software is added only three times a year prior to the start of each semester.  However, the staff will make every attempt to accommodate requests necessary to meet needs of guest speakers and special programs which have arranged for use of the facility.  But we require three days advance notice to 1) determine if the desired software can be made available and not interfere with the standard software image and 2) provide sufficient time to image and load an approved application as access to the facility is limited due to its high use for regularly scheduled classes.

Faculty and guest speakers have access to a shared drive to preload files for presentation.  Only windows-based laptops can be connected at the podium.  We request that groups using the room with more than two speakers request presentations in advance so that staff can load the files onto the accessible shared drive in advance of the session.  While the instructor’s workstation is equipped with Synchroneyes, specialized software that pushes programs out to and takes control of the student workstations, Synchroneyes is certified for a maximum of 50 workstations.  Therefore, for large audiences, it is highly recommended that presentations be made available from a web page accessible with a standard web browser.  Digital laboratories in anatomy and pathology are taught using images on web-based servers, not images pushed to the desktop from the instructor’s workstation. 

Instructional Capabilities and Caveats
The room, as noted above, was designed as a digital laboratory.  It is, therefore, optimally not a lecture hall as the computer monitors cannot be moved from the desktop nor is the room currently designed as a testing facility.  Wireless capability exists with a University VPN client authenticated with a GW net ID.  Internet and wireless access cannot be temporarily ‘turned off’ to increase security for a testing environment. 

Projection capabilities include 2 ceiling mounted 4700 ANSI Lumens LCD projectors, and 2 retractable electric screens mounted in the ceiling.  Audio capabilities include a gooseneck microphone at the lectern, a wireless lavaliere microphone, source audio playback for VCR, DVD and computers, Assistive Listening System for hearing impaired and audio recording in CD format.  The room does not, however, have an integrated video recording capability.

The Department of Emergency Medicine has successfully used its own Audience Response System [ARS] software and handheld keypads.  CASS will be happy to assist with advanced notice, but all arrangements to use the ARS system must be made directly with the Department of Emergency Medicine.

Security System Ross 201 doors are unlocked and the room is available for scheduled classes Monday – Friday 7:30am – 10pm.  The doors are otherwise secured and alarmed with approved access only for technical staff via a GWorld ID card reader.  Special clearance will be arranged through the GWorld Office for anyone planning to use the room outside the standard classroom schedule.

Equipment Charts:

• Himmelfarb Library (PDF)
• Hospital 6th Floor (PDF)
• Ross Hall (PDF)

Requests for rooms for regularly scheduled classes should be submitted by the following dates:

June 30th for the Fall Semester
October 20th for the Spring Semester
March 30th for Summer Classes
Email notices will be sent to remind you of the scheduling deadlines.

All classroom and equipment requests are entered in the schedule between 7:30 AM and 6:00 PM, Monday through Friday. For additional information, please contact 202-994-2856 or e-mail classrooms@gwumc.edu.

Projection Services

The main lecture rooms in Ross Hall and the 2 large classrooms on the 6th floor of the Hospital are permanently equipped with state of the art projection facilities. Most, but not all other classrooms and conference rooms also have permanently installed projection equipment. If additional equipment or services are required Classroom Services staff must be notified 48 hours in advance. Projection Services requests outside of normal working hours (7:30 AM - 8:00 PM weekdays) are subject to technician availability and incur an overtime fee.

Media Duplication Services

Audio cassette-to-cassette and video tape-to-tape duplication services are available (no edition or splicing offered). Allow one week for completion. Patrons are responsible for dropping off and picking up items at the Bloedorn Audiovisual Study Center Circulation Desk, third floor, Himmelfarb Library. These services require a fee.

Fees

To request further information on costs for services please call (202) 994-2856 or e-mail classrooms@gwumc.edu

To request Classroom and Teleconferencing Services

Call (202) 994-2856 or e-mail classrooms@gwumc.edu

This information applies to Ross Hall, Hospital 6th Floor and the Himmelfarb Library.
For AV support in other areas of the Hospital call (202) 715-5061.