latest news & information

Latest Renovations
For Fall Quarter 2009, UCI will have a net gain of 2 general assignment classrooms. New rooms include:

• EH 1200 - a 332 seat Smart Lecture Hall with multiple images, Blu-Ray projection, and Dolby surround sound
• HG 1800 - a 131 seat SmartClassroom
• HG 2310 - a 26 seat SmartClassroom
• HG 2320 - a 22 seat SmartClassroom

Those four new rooms are offset by a loss of HH 251 and HH 257. The University Registrar worked with departmental SOCCs to re-arrange classroom priorities in the Humanities area, and HH 108 became a seminar style room to replace HH 257.

UCI Replay
OIT has introduced a new audio/screen capture service which can be voluntarily used by instructors, employees, and departments who wish to easily record classes or presentations. UCI Replay is available on all SmartClassroom computers, and can also be downloaded to office or personal computers for UCI use.

For instructions and additional information on UCI Replay, visit: http://replay.oit.uci.edu/About_UCI_Replay/

Computers in the Classroom Program Suspended
As of June 22, 2009, CTS has had to suspend the Computers in the Classroom program. We will no longer offer free delivery service of computers or data projectors to regularly scheduled class sessions. We still have equipment available, but our standard rates of $26.25/day for computers and $52.50/day for data projectors will apply to all classes and events.

Enhance class participation with audience response "clickers"
What is audience response? At UCI, it means that we have equipment available to collect responses from handheld devices purchased by the students. These devices (commonly called "clickers") enable students to respond to a question by pressing one of the keys on the clicker, much like using a TV remote control. The instructor determines when students may use the clickers and can optionally show a histogram of student votes at the end of each response period on the projection screen.

Faculty are using this technology now to get immediate feedback on student comprehension and as a means of encouraging students to keep up with assigned reading and attend lecture. Some courses are even using the system to conduct weekly quizzes.

To participate, students will need to buy an audience response clicker. These are inexpensive, and a student only has to buy one, because they will use the same clicker in any UCI class that uses the technology. When the clicker is purchased, the student visits a website to register their device's serial number so that they can receive credit for using it in classes. Over 5000 UCI undergraduates have purchased these devices since Fall 2006.

For more information about this technology or for help in using it, please visit our web pages on audience response at UCI. You are also welcome to contact Dave McCue at (949) 824-4210 or dmccue@uci.edu.

If you would like to read more about the audience response equipment we use from the maker of the system, please visit http://www.iclicker.com/ (opens in a new browser window).