CEAS Teaching Tech for Checkout

• Wacom One with pen display 
• Document cameras, Hovercam Solo 8 Plus
• Voice amplifiers, (Zoweetek Voice Amplifier; limited supply
• Headset mics, Jabra Evolve 20 UC; very limited supply

Headsets may be kept permanently, while Wacoms, document cameras, and voice amplifiers may be checked out for an entire semester.

NOTE: The Wacom One will require drivers and additional HDMI adapters for your specific laptop; testing prior to instructional use is critical. User is responsible for purchasing all necessary adapters.

Faculty members who need a laptop can explore the Faculty Computer Purchase Program (FCPP), which provides a subsidy to faculty to purchase laptops. 

Unfortunately, the time and logistic requirements of special one-on-one arrangements make reservations impractical. We suggest you arrange for someone to pick up your equipment on your behalf if you are unable to come during the listed hours.

If you find that you need a specific piece of technology that isn’t part of our college purchase, you are welcome to contact your department or program regarding funding (please observe your department’s purchasing policies).

We have worked in partnership with OIT on these equipment purchases. OIT has set up a recommended computer peripherals page that we suggest consulting before purchasing your own equipment.

We encourage you to test-drive your equipment on campus and at home to get comfortable. 

NOTE: The Wacom One will likely require drivers and additional HDMI adapters for your specific laptop; testing prior to instructional use is critical. User is responsible for purchasing all necessary adapters.

• Headset mics: How to use the Jabra Evolve 20 UC
• Tablets with pen display: How to use the Wacom One (with pen)
• Document cameras: How to use the Hovercam Solo 8 Plus

OIT has set up a Technology Copilot program. A technology copilot can be a TA/CA, a student volunteer, or an OIT student employee that is assigned to you for the semester upon request. Their role is to help setting up the technology in remote-capable classrooms (including control the camera to follow you as you teach if you desire) and to help facilitate communication with the remote students: reading out loud questions that they ask in the Zoom chat, etc. Learn more and request copilot support on the Technology Copilots resource page.

If you would like your TA/CA or student volunteers to take the copilot training, please send them this link to enroll in a self-paced Technology Copilot training Canvas course: https://canvas.colorado.edu/enroll/TK4WN3 Estimated time to review the material is 2-3 hours. This is open for TA/CAs of courses with any teaching modality (remote, hybrid or in-person) if they could benefit from part of it. You can pick and choose the modules that are relevant to you.

If you would like to have an OIT-hired copilot assigned to your classroom (at no cost to you, for remote-capable classrooms only) please complete this form.

To know what technology your assigned classroom has, please refer to this list.

Classrooms that will host hybrid courses may be one of two types:

• Classrooms that were already equipped for Classroom Capture and can also be connected to Zoom for remote synchronous students (see related video on how to connect to Zoom from Classroom Capture rooms). These classrooms have a wearable microphone and a camera that you can control with a touch panel.
• Classrooms that were equipped with a brand new audio/video system to be remote-capable. Remote-capable classrooms have a microphone array that can pick up your voice but also that of all students in the class as they ask questions, etc. They also have a loudspeaker that remote students on Zoom can speak through. Finally, they have a movable camera that automatically (but slowly) tracks your movements and can also be controlled via an app. Visit the OIT webpage for instructions on how to use a remote-capable classroom and to sign up for training.

Based on survey results from summer 2020 and subsequent discussions with OIT and the CEAS Resource Alignment team, we decided to purchase the equipment listed previously. In alignment with OIT, we decided not to purchase any devices with their own operating systems (e.g., standalone tablets, like iPads) and focused our resources on peripheral devices. The management of the privacy and security of tablets with their own operating systems at the campus or college scale is something that OIT is not currently set up to do. Additionally, it is difficult to identify a single device that works for all users.

The following considerations influenced our decisions on how much of each technology to purchase.

• In the scenario that we end up teaching entirely remotely, we wanted our instructional faculty to have what they need. i.e., we were preparing for remote learning and hoping for hybrid and in-person learning.
• If we assume that our survey respondents reflect a representative sample of the instructors of record for fall 2020, then 55% of our instructors do NOT need an annotation device (document camera or, Wacom One). Therefore, we needed to make sure we had enough annotation devices for 45% of our 350 instructors.
• On the survey, instructors indicated whether a webcam, headset, and other technology were a high priority, low priority, or not needed. For each type of equipment, we focused on meeting the needs of the “high priority” requests.
• We multiplied the data we had from our ~2/3 response rate by 1.5 to extrapolate coverage to the entire 350 instructors. We added a small margin for spares of each device type to account for unmet needs or errors in our methodology.

Considering the above factors, strained national supply chains, and the exhausted inventories of our preferred equipment in 2020, we purchased the quantities and devices listed above.

Limited quantities of headset mics, tablet displays with pens, and document cameras, are available to TA/CAs.

All equipment is being distributed on a first-come, first-served basis to TA/CAs according to the guidelines in the section above with the check-out instructions.

A few more details:

• We ask instructors to think creatively about the equipment needs of their TA/CAs. For example, can you set up one document camera in a shared location?  
• For courses that have a large number of TA/CAs, we suggest you ask your department for supplemental funds to support the equipment needs of your TAs. Again, we just don’t have enough equipment for all TA/CAs, and we need to spread the equipment we have as broadly as possible.
• Your TA/CAs can pick up the equipment, you can pick up their equipment, or you can arrange for someone to pick up the equipment on behalf of you and your TA/CAs.

We worked with OIT to secure a small pool of new laptops that can be checked out to TAs, CAs or any student who is supporting instruction. TA/CAs can check out these laptops from the front desk of the Integrated Teaching and Learning Laboratory (ITLL). Depending on the situation, the TA/CA may also want to explore the resources available to students (see section below).

• Laptops: Unfortunately, resources for laptop checkouts are extremely limited after a campus laptop-checkout program was paused. Until the campus program is restarted or replaced, we suggest students check if any laptops are available from the front desk of the ITLL, which will also help us understand the needs of the students in CEAS even if no laptops are currently available.

Funding is available to CU Boulder students facing financial hardships. These funds can be used to purchase a laptop, books, software, pay for rent, food, medical expenses and more. Grants are limited to a maximum of $2,000, and eligibility requirements apply. Learn more and apply for these funds.

A variety of software is available for students to download to personal computers through the Office of Information Technology and the Integrated Teaching and Learning Program (ITLP).

Remote computing capabilities have also been developed and are accessible to all CEAS students through the CEAS cloud computing system.