Case Study:
Meharry Medical College Amphitheater Classrooms

Meharry Medical College, since its founding in 1876, has provided superior health sciences education primarily to African Americans and other students of color. Meharry has elevated its national stature through the value of its three core enterprises - education, research, and health care services, with schools of Medicine, Dentistry, Graduate Studies and Research, and Allied Health Professions. This case study focuses on 3 large amphitheater-type lecture classrooms which were in need of modernization, integrating today's advanced audiovisual technology into an interactive multimedia learning environment! They went from an overhead projector, traditional blackboard, portable projector on a table, and wheeling in an electronic whiteboard, to a totally integrated system.

The Challenge:
After the challenge of designing a system that would do what Meharry needed it to do- within their budget, several main installation challenges remained. These three large classrooms presented a signal strength obstacle, running that much cable that far always means signal deterioration. One of the biggest jobs to tackle was that each classroom existed on an 18" thick solid concrete floor, but cabling needed to be run beneath it! After that, normal installation processes seemed pretty tame!

The Solution:
Hard Hat Area! The MMS team had to drill through the floor to make cable runs without leaving any cable visible over the top of the floor. The signal integrity was maintained by installing appropriate signal power distribution amplifiers. The projector was installed in the old unused soundroom at the back of the room, and, with a good long throw lens, shot the image to the existing projection screen.

The SMART Sympodium interactive lectern module turned that screen into a completely interactive electronic whiteboard with all its attendant control features, and the ELMO visualizer took over the old overhead projector's functions and a lot more! Remote Pointer RF keyboard and mouse, and the touch panel control system brought it all under the control at the instructor's fingertips!

The System Includes:

Sanyo 3,500 Lumen Projector with Buhl Long Throw Lens

SMART Sympodium

Elmo EV2000-AF Visual Presenter

VersaPoint Remote RF Keyboard and Mouse

Crestron Touch Panel Control System Plus all appropriate cabling, connectors, and distribution amplifier