--- Forwarded Message from Duncan Charters <[log in to unmask]> ---
>Date: Thu, 23 Apr 2009 11:15:58 -0400
>From: Duncan Charters <[log in to unmask]>
>Subject: #9124 Language Lab Options
>To: [log in to unmask]
>cc: Duncan Charters <[log in to unmask]>
We are in the process of selecting a new language lab system, and we are at
a "cross-road" of deciding between accepting bids for hardware(only)
solutions versus software(only) solutions. The question we would like to
pose this question "How did your college/university decide to obtain one
solution type over the other?" Second, is it possible to let me
know which system you are using?
Thanks
Jason Vance
Language Learning Center Supervisor
Thomas Nelson Community College
(757) 825- 2819
When deciding on a new lab system 4 years ago, as part of some fairly
extensive research we visited a hardware-based (hybrid) lab at a major
university. The technical staff there said they would definitely purchase a
software solution the next time they upgraded as they would not have
proprietary hardware handshaking issues to deal with. As we are a small
college without specialized in-house lab technical support, they strongly
recommended we go to a software-based lab for this reason. There was some
question at that time about comparative stability and video and audio
quality of a software only system. That was our major concern, but we chose
the software solution on the basis that the extra expense of a 1Gb network
(rather than 100Mb) would mitigate those issues. That was unusual then,
common today. After careful checking which included multiple calls to users
of all the then current software systems, we went with the ReLANpro system
from Renet, supplied by ASC-Direct, and it did work out as well as expected,
with fast and stable video and audio transfer. When we switched from analog
to USB headsets, that improved the audio quality even more. We are running
on standard Dell Optiplex computers and are very satisfied with the results.
At our next upgrade in a year, we will check on whether we could run Macs
under Windows XP through Bootcamp (Vista is causing probems with labs as
with many other systems, as is well known). It should be possible to run
software systems on Macs, but we would want to know the experience of other
users first. Our IT people and administration were very PC-oriented for a
long time, but then we had the anomaly of all the technical support staff
choosing to use Macs for their PC service work. So wisdom prevailed on the
basis of providing flexibility for faculty, graphics and other applications
including some of ours (video editing for student projects, etc.), as well
as greater reliability of Apple hardware, and now we can choose whatever
system makes the best sense to each program and to individual faculty.
Duncan Charters, Principia College
***********************************************
LLTI is a service of IALLT, the International Association for
Language Learning (http://iallt.org/), and The Consortium for Language
Teaching
and Learning (http://www.languageconsortium.org/).
Join IALLT at http://iallt.org.
Otmar Foelsche, LLTI-Editor ([log in to unmask])
***********************************************
|
