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TECH Center Features & Resources

TECH Overview • General-use labs• Breakout rooms• Specialty labs • Internet Lounge• Social spaces• Help Desk• Faculty Wing• Welcome Center

TECH Systems • 600+ desktops• 100 laptops• 150+ software• Gigabit network • Specialty labs:

○Video editing○Graphics○Music composition○Software

Development

TECH Systems• Dell Optiplex & Precision PCs,

Latitude laptops

• Apple iMacs, G5s, and PowerBooks

• AMX control systems

• Internet Security Systems (ISS)

• Bluecoat proxy servers

TECH Services

• Open 24 hours, Sunday through Friday, plus Saturday hours

• 400-page free laser printing quota

• Desktop login with “MyBackpack”

• “Ask a Librarian” service

TECH Services • “Quiet Labs”

• Large format scanners, plotters, and color printing

• Laptop-friendly furniture

• 30+ flat-screen wall displays

Physical Security• Round-the-clock security guards

○ID swipe system with photo response○Security videos at guard station

• Security cameras with DVR• Cable locks for desktops• Lockers and cameras for laptops• Close relationship with police

Systems Security• Fortres desktop security• Symantec Sygate • Symantec antivirus• Samba authentication• Computrace

Social Spaces and Student Life

• Starbucks Café• Social spaces and

lounges throughout• Internet lounge• TV to the desktop• Student radio station

Vending Machine• A surprise hit; not

snacks, but…○Headphones for audio

jacks○Flash drives○Other computer

supplies ○School supplies ○Personal care items

• Run by campus bookstore

Help Desk • Open 24 hours ○After 10pm, Help

Desk staff moves to lab area

• Walk-in area • Call center

○Over 80,000 calls annually

• PC Clinic

Faculty Wing • Instructional Support Center

• Teaching and Learning Center

• Presentation room

• Breakout room

• Lounge

Welcome Center • For prospective students

• Run by Admissions

• 100-seat auditorium

• All campus tours start here

Opening Results

If we build it, will they come?

They came –

…to the tune of 6,000+ visits per day…420,000 in the first semester…closing in on one million visits

before year’s end

Lessons LearnedThe Hits and the MissesThe Hits and the Misses

The Hits…• Quickly became a new hub of

campus social life

• Students adopted as “hot spot”

• Thousands of visits per day, and hundreds all night

• Great recruitment tool

The Hits…• Breakout rooms booked until 3am

• 76% rise in Help Desk walk-ins

• “Quiet lab” extremely popular

• Internet Lounge a hit

• Music & video labs have high usage

• #1 Starbucks in Philadelphia area

The Misses…• Overwhelmed with video lab support

○Added video support specialists• Software Development lab… “Sandbox”

wasn’t enough ○Recofigured lab

• Language lab largely unused…Quiet Lab too popular?○Moved language software to general lab

and used space for second quiet lab.

Continuous Improvement Process:

• Center built for flexibility

• Regularly solicit student feedback

• Act on change… immediately, whenever possible

• Expect and encourage constant change…NOT a static project

Trend or Fluke?

Implications for other institutions

Back to the Future?• At a time when many universities

are decentralizing/closing labs or mandating laptop ownership, we’ve opened a mega-scale computer center, ala the 1980’s

• Is this unique to Temple, or are there trends here for all?

How Temple is Unique• Urban setting with security

concerns

• Large commuter population

• Growth of residential students outpacing growth of campus social and study space

Universal Lessons?

• Rise of the “cybercafé culture”○Computing, work and social lives are

becoming more intertwined

• Collaborative environments

• Need for overnight study space

• Design counts (The “wow” factor)

Universal Lessons?• Computer ownership does NOT

mean access to expensive software and peripherals○Cross-disciplinary needs

• For students, is John Gage’s saying “the network is the computer” true?

For more information:

Web: techcenter.temple.edu

E-mail: techcenter@temple.edu