To make teaching more flexible and less dependent on specific classrooms, a new virtual platform for student computer rooms will be introduced in 2025.
The fact that software necessary for teaching at Chalmers is tied to specific computers in specific computer rooms often complicates scheduling for courses and booking of rooms. Instead of having to book a room where the computers have the right software for the current course, schedulers and teachers will be able to conduct teaching in any of the rooms and access the necessary software from the virtual platform.
“It can be described as streaming software. This way, schedulers and teachers do not have to deal with room limitations, creating a more efficient teaching environment,” says Sofia Dersén, project manager for Virtual StuDAT.
All rooms will offer most of the applications used in Chalmers teaching.
“Teachers and students will have access to the software from any location and are not tied to a physical environment, which facilitates remote work if necessary. Students can also use their own computers to access the programs they need,” says Sofia Dersén.
The virtual platform also eliminates problems such as teachers having to manually order software for the rooms they have been assigned, and the bottlenecks that occur when specific rooms containing specific software are booked for other courses.
Additionally, the solution allows for scaling up if, for example, a course sees an increase in the number of students.
Initial tests have already been conducted with reference groups consisting of teacher representatives, and they have yielded good results. Now, a pilot project is entering a critical test phase, initially covering two computer rooms and one specific application that approximately 120 students will try to use. The pilot project begins at the end of November and will then be evaluated.
The project will then be completed in stages with the goal of being fully implemented by the end of 2025.