The A/V department as curriculum consultant at Loyola University

"We're not content to stay with our traditional approach to a/v delivery," says Paul Jensen, head of the new Instructional Environment Department for Loyola University's three campuses in Chicago and Wilmette. "Our new structure, though it adds to our responsibilities, allows us to step back and start looking into the future, to see how we can better position ourselves to help our faculty."

A new mission for a/v

Jensen's department embarked last summer on a major restructuring effort. Now joined to the Loyola University Center for Instructional Design (LUCID), the former Audio/Visual Department has taken on curricular support as a major part of its mission. Today Jensen and other department members work hand and hand with curriculum designers to offer full consulting services to anyone wishing to develop a new course or revamp an old.

Though the university has long encouraged faculty to work with instructional designers, a feeling developed in recent years that LUCID could improve its approach to media.That became increasingly obvious as a number of faculty members began to work with videoconferencing and web-based instruction. 

Today, should a professor plan to use computer images, video, audio or slides for a course, LUCID staff will offer a multimedia or video producer, ora graphics designer to help create materials, and an a/v consultant to plan and schedule presentation systems. The expanded department is thus able to offer a very complete support service, and it is becoming an important advocate for the use of media in the classroom.

Before the restructuring, a/v staff spent most of their day, and budget, on scheduling and transportation. That's a complex function at Loyola: the department serves approximately 600 faculty on three campuses and is responsible for sound and projection support for a large number of special events that the university offers. One reason for the restructuring, says Jensen, is that managers tended to get caught up in the complexities of the delivery program and not look at whether there were ways to do it better. "We were doing 100 deliveries a day per campus, day in and day out," says Jensen, "and really, we only had time to concentrate on what was needed right at that moment."

Today, says Jensen, the department is getting back to what has always been its primary mission: to help students and staff gain the full benefits of instructional technology. "We're in the business of offering faculty instructional tools," he says. "It's easy for them now to incorporate sound and video into a presentation, or even jump onto the net and show people articles that came out this morning. That helps with retention, as all the studies say, and adds an air of vibrancy and immediacy to their instruction."

Details of the new structure

To add a consulting role while keeping the delivery network working smoothly is a key challenge of the restructuring effort. Jensen today does a large part of the consulting himself. He shares special events planning with two campus managers, who are mainly responsible for day-to-day equipment deliveries, and who supervise 15 part-time workers. In addition, the group includes a full-time staff member in charge of order-processing and main taining the department's database. One of Jensen's major goals is to free up the other full-timers to spend more time with faculty consulting.

To make this possible, two major steps are under way. The university has embarked on a system installation program, with 36 video classrooms (each with an installed monitor and VCR) and 20 multi-media rooms (with computer, data projector and sound system) now complete or under construction. Instead of delivering equipment as needed to individual classrooms, the group has begun to schedule classes that use media into rooms with the appropriate systems.

Second, the department is upgrading its inventory and scheduling database, making it relational and configuring it to allow ordering via the university's intranet. Today the staff member in charge of the database must be constantly available by phone or e-mail to keep orders and inventory on track. The new system should free up many hours of his time.

Advantages of installed equipment

Jensen says the restructuring was not brought about by any desire to save money, though he expects it to have that effect. While it's true that installing an a/v system takes an upfront investment, there's less wear and tear on the equipment and on the staff. "Instead of having ten classes using VCRs and monitors scattered around the campus, I'll just have two rooms, both with built-in systems, and we'll schedule five of those classes in each."

The quality of the media delivery is also one of Jensen's concerns, with built-in systems offering obvious advantages. Computer and video images are bigger and brighter, sound systems much more dynamic. Instructional impact, a key goal of the restructuring effort, improves dramatically.

One challenge Jensen faces is the age and structure of many of the facilities. At the Graduate School of Business in Wilmette, for example, lighting is florescent, without the dimmers that newer systems feature, and the rooms have several windows. Faculty at the graduate school favor a discussion format, and so lights must stay on, even though professors may be projecting small computer text. United's Dave Woods, who has been working with Jensen throughout the project, recommended Sharp LCD projectors for these classrooms. The ultra-bright units are able to shine through the glare. "It's a great setup," says Jensen. "While these rooms were built for evening and weekend business classes, they are so popular that other departments' faculty are moving their classes in to take advantage of the equipment."

Partners in the process

The restructuring has proved rewarding; for department staff as well as faculty. "The campus is run seven days a week, so you don't just work from eight to five," says Jensen, but it's obvious that he enjoys his work and takes a great deal of pride in his department.

The staff at United are also proud to be a part of the efforts at Loyola. Jensen says he was attracted to United by the low prices of our system packages, but that's only part of the reason he became a customer. "You all have a high level of knowledge," he says, "and that's a big help. I'd like to say we always know exactly what we're doing, but a lot of times we have to count on our vendors. You haven't let us down. Then too, when I call other companies and want to talk about equipment, all we talk about are prices and specs. But your people always go a little further and really try to understand what we're doing and keep us on course."

The biggest advantage of the restructuring, says Jensen, is that a/v staff have been able to change their outlook, from members of a day-by-day delivery service to partners in the instructional design process. Through constant participation in that process, they are much more able to understand the needs of their faculty. "I'm very happy," says Jensen, "when I think about how far we've come this year."