The Office of Instructional Services and Computing Services recently merged to streamline planning for the next generation of classrooms and teaching.
Deputy Provost Bruce Pipes, a key figure in the merger, said he does not expect there to be any big, short-term changes because of the merger.
"This is the kind of merger that is planning for the future," Pipes said.
The merger, which occurred in the beginning of July, was a result of Instructional Services increasingly being asked to do things related with computers, Instructional Services Director Mike Beahan said.
"More and more, what people want is computer-based," he said. "Like a professor wants to use a computer in a classroom. Obviously, Computing Services may be interested in that as well. I think this will allow us to coordinate our work in support of the faculty."
Beahan said Instructional Services is the audio-visual center for the College. It provides audio-visual materials for classes and for special events like Commencement.
Pipes said the merger should make things more efficient in the short term.
"I hope in the near-term there are some efficiencies to be gained because the two organizations do similar things," he said.
Pipes said he expects the major gains from the merger to come when new technology changes how audio-visual materials are used in the classroom. He said things like slides will increasingly be sent over the College's data network.
"What the merger does … is unite two organizations that are increasingly drawn together by the evolution of computing and information technology," Computing Services Director Larry Levine said in an electronic-mail message.
Beahan said one project Instructional Services and Computing Services will be working on is the modernization of classrooms.
Currently, the College is renovating Dartmouth Hall Room 217 to make it the first completely integrated audio-visual and computerized classroom by the start of this Fall term.
The room will be capable of displaying both multimedia and traditional audio-visual materials, according to Director of Academic Computing Malcolm Brown.
He said the merger will make it easier and more efficient to change the classrooms.
Another area where the two will work closely together in the future is video taping.
Instructional Services is currently located in North Fairbanks Hall, while Computing Services is in Kiewit Computation Center. Beahan said he is not sure when or if the offices could be physically merged.
The final decision to merge the two offices was made by the Provost's Council, a group of senior-level administrators chaired by the Provost.
Beahan said he is excited about the merger.
"I've been very supportive of it all along," he said. "Our focus is not going to change &emdash; our top priority will be still be to serve academic programs. We probably will be able to do that even better."
