Scheduling Instructional Equipment, Material and Assistance
Equipment
Instructional Design and Technology (IDT) can supply the equipment you need to project your own or prerecorded materials, including DVDs or VHS tapes, material resident on your laptop or live from the
internet, and audio in a variety of formats. In addition to projecting prepared materials, you may also
record your own video and audio presentations using formats varying from digital cameras and podcasts
to traditional camcorders and tape recorders.
What is this going to cost? It's FREE!
However, we do ask you to
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make requests using the IDT online request form when possible. This makes things much easier
for us and allows you to browse all available types of technology that we have available.
let us know if you have problems with any equipment (including transparency overhead
projectors, ceiling-mounted LCD projectors and other equipment installed in your classrooms). If
we don't know it's broken, we can't fix it!
return any equipment borrowed for out-of-class use to the IDT office (LRC 112) by 9:00 a.m. the
following morning unless arrangements have been made for extended use.
On-Campus Equipment Use:
IDT provides instructional equipment and support services to all on-campus
instructional spaces, i.e., classes scheduled by Registrar and academic departments.
All general use classrooms are equipped with a ceiling-mounted LCD projector,
sound amplification, DVD/VHS players and speakers. Most spaces also have a
transparency overhead projector for displaying transparencies. To find out what
equipment is available in your classroom, you may want to do a search using the
classroom search link.
Any other equipment needed in an on-campus classroom can be delivered
when scheduled with IDT. Only reservations with course ID's will be
scheduled through IDT. All other requests must go through AudioVisual
Services (ext. 2913) located near Starbucks within the Learning Resources
building. Instructors not familiar with the operation of equipment should make
an appointment with IDT staff before the class session in order to be shown
how the equipment should be used properly.
Academic departments wishing to purchase instructional equipment may call
IDT (ext. 2290) for a list of equipment currently supported by the University.
Off-Campus Equipment Use:
Off-campus classrooms and extension sites contain no standard instructional
equipment from IDT. After completing a loan form, an instructor may borrow
some types of equipment from IDT for use in off-campus classrooms. The
instructor is responsible for IDT equipment charged in his/her name. Support
personnel and delivery of equipment to off-campus classrooms is not provided
by IDT. The instructor is responsible for operation of the equipment in the offcampus classroom; therefore it is recommended that an appointment be made
with IDT staff prior to the use date to be shown how to operate the equipment.
The instructor must pick up equipment at the IDT office during service hours.
Equipment must be returned to the IDT office. Equipment can also be delivered to and picked up from the
instructor's on-campus office.
Video Recording:
IDT provides the ability to video record in various formats: digital (using the Kodak Zi10 PlayTouch), DVD
(using Sony Handicams) and traditional VHS. Because of their particular vulnerability to theft, portable
camcorders require special precautions. An IDT staff person will set up camcording equipment and
instruct faculty or students in its operation prior to or at the beginning of the class session. Equipment will
not be left in the room until the instructor arrives. Normally an IDT staff person will arrive at least five
minutes before the scheduled end of the session to pick up the camcorder. If the recording session ends
earlier than scheduled, the camcorder must not be left unattended at the end of class - IDT should be
notified. If the faculty member does not want to wait for the IDT pick-up, he/she may return the camcorder
directly to the IDT office within a half hour of the scheduled end of the class. Faculty may also make
arrangements ahead of time to pick up and return the camcorder directly from/to the IDT office, again
within half an hour of the scheduled class times.
Material
Scheduling delivery of DVD and VHS titles from NMU's Media Collection can be done by filling out the
pertinent details on the IDT online request form in the title section. The sooner you submit your requests,
the greater the chances the titles will be available for your use. IDT staff will deliver material upon request
to your faculty office, a classroom, or you may choose to pick up the material at Olson Library's circulation
desk. You should receive a confirmation within 24 hours of submittal of online requests.
DVD and VHS Videos:
Materials to support classroom lectures and presentations are available from the Olson
Library Media Collection. All items in the Collection are included in Olson Library's
online catalog. The Media Collection is an open collection of over 3000 VHS and DVD
items located on the third floor of Olson Library. Items from the collection may be
borrowed for three days. Faculty may request that items be delivered directly to their oncampus classrooms or faculty offices.
Previews & Purchases:
Previews of materials being considered for purchase are encouraged, and can be arranged through
Olson Library. Costs associated with previews are borne by the requesting department, with the
exception of return postage which is paid by the library. If you find that the material is appropriate for your
classroom instruction, you can also request that Olson Library purchase as new media.
On Reserve:
You may wish to put materials on reserve at the Olson Library Circulation Desk so that students can use
them for review purposes. An instructor's own materials or materials from the Olson Library Media
Collections can be placed on reserve, following the procedures used for print materials.
Equipment for viewing or listening to most prerecorded materials is available on the third floor of the
Library near room 326.
Assistance
We can supply personal instruction to
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operate installed and/or portable equipment
record classroom presentations in a variety of formats
If you require a complex setup, e.g., hooking your laptop up to a LCD projector for the first time, please
make an appointment to test the equipment in the classroom before the day it's needed to make sure that
it performs to your expectations. Please note that IDT assistance related to laptops is limited to projecting
sound and picture from the laptops through our equipment. NMU’s Help Desk is the support for laptop
hardware and software issues.
A Note to Academic Departments regarding equipment repairs:
IDT will transport University-tagged departmental equipment requiring repair to and from Electronic
maintenance. Repair costs will be charged to the department by the Engineering Department of the
Learning Resources Division.