Uniting Tradition With Technology

ALLENTOWN, PA: The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and Vistacom Inc have finalized plans to bring technology into over 120 classrooms of Huntsman Hall, Wharton's new 300,000 square-foot academic building.

"With the opening of Huntsman Hall and Wharton's West Coast campus in downtown San Francisco, Wharton will employ the most sophisticated and large-scale instructional technology of any educational institution in the world," stated Gerry McCartney, CIO of the Wharton School in Philadelphia, as they embark on the largest technology integration of any University, ever.

The building will house high-speed networking, videoconferencing, multiple-screen systems for video projection and teleconferencing, an advanced control system allowing all audiovisual equipment, lights, and room settings to be operated both within the classroom and remotely, along with fully equipped conference and seminar rooms for training and internal meetings. This technology enables the Huntsman Hall classrooms in Philadelphia to link with Wharton West in San Francisco, and INSEAD in Fontainebleau, France. The purpose of the technology to enhance the interactions between students and faculty, not replace it.

"Our goal is to make the technology easy to use and readily accessible to faculty within the classroom," stated McCartney. "Students will learn more effectively as the technology allows richer interactions with the faculty and with each other,"

Huntsman Hall will also be equipped with 57 group-study rooms designed to increase interaction between students. These study rooms will include network connectivity for all students, a computer with a wireless keyboard, an Internet video camera and microphone for videoconferencing and an electronic whiteboard connected to the rooms computer to allow information written on the board to be stored, e-mailed, or posted on the web.

"A key goal of Huntsman Hall is to provide instructional technology that is both "pervasive" and "transparent", stated McCartney. "The technology should be available everywhere, and yet should never interfere with faculty engaged in traditional classroom instruction or interaction with students."

" Technology must support and enhance the classrooms experience, not dominate it," stated Jim Ferlino, Vice President of Vistacom. "That is why we strive to make our solutions as unobtrusive as possible."