HOURS OF OPERATION:
In general, IAT is open from 8:00am-9:00pm Monday through Thursday, and from 8:00am-5:00pm on Friday. IAT is closed on Saturday and Sunday. If you come to the IAT control room and we are closed please call us from a campus phone at 2-7203 and leave us a voice message. We will contact you as soon as we are able.

MICROPHONES:
Videoconferencing is fully interactive. The microphones are always on. Other sites can hear comments (even whispering). Don’t say anything you wouldn’t want everyone to hear. When speaking, normal conversation voice levels are sufficient. PLEASE do not tap on the microphones or place books/paper on the microphones as this causes audio disturbances. Also please do not unplug the microphones.

HOMEWORK:
All homework turned into IAT must have YOUR NAME, COURSE NAME/NUMBER, the INSTUCTOR’S NAME, and the Videoconference SITE at the top. We recommend keeping an extra copy of your submitted material. Homework must be turned in when the professor requests. The CAMPUS courier leaves the Control Room at 2:00pm. Homework handed in before 2:00pm will go out that same day. All others will go out the next day at 2:00pm. If homework is handed in late, it will be marked with the date/time it is received. Please come to the control room (222W) before or after class to pick up and/or drop off homework.

HANDOUTS:
Handouts will be distributed when the instructor calls for them. If you miss a class or need another copy, please contact your Videoconference Operator in Room 222W or Call 372-7203.

VIDEO STREAMS:
Class lectures are routinely encoded for video streaming. If streaming is approved by the instructor, the course streams may be viewed in Blackboard. Click on the “Zoom” link in the menu on the left of the screen and then select the date you wish to view. Streams are generally kept on the server for the full term. They are primarily intended for students who miss class due to illness, emergencies, etc. The streams are not intended to take the place of attending class.

If you have any questions, please contact the Tri-Cities Integrated Academic Technologies Control Room at 372-7203.

A brief history of Videoconferencing at Tri-Cities

The Academic Media Services (AMS) system received initial funding from the State Legislature in 1984 and came on-line in the Fall of 1985. From the beginning, the AMS system has been used to share expertise among all of the Washington State University campuses and to expose place-bound students to degree programs where once it was impossible to have such programs due to funding and amount of demand.

AMS, an interactive video-voice microwave system, delivers courses and teleconferences to each of WSU’s four campuses, Pullman, Tri-Cities, Vancouver, Spokane. This electronic communications system is a critical component for multi-campus program delivery. It efficiently offers courses to students at multiple sites, and makes experts accessible from across the state. Thereby, AMS broadens the quality curriculum available to branch campus students.

AMS connections also go to the University of Idaho, Wenatchee Valley Community College, Seattle Central Community College, Central Washington University, Gonzaga University, The University of Washington, and the Intercollegiate Center for Nursing Education in Spokane, and can be transmitted to industry sites through Instructional Televised Fixed Service (ITFS) connections. The land-based microwave system was funded by the state legislature in 1983, and was built and operated by KWSU Radio and Telev ision Services at WSU. It has been operational since 1985.

Each AMS site is equipped with electronic classrooms in which instructors are able to observe and interact with students at each AMS location. Students ask questions over microphones at their desks, and watch the professor on a television monitor. Classes also are video-taped for later use by students.

The system’s present five channel digital and two channel analog microwave configuration allows for an average 130courses to be delivered system wide per semester. This fall (2002), 51courses will be either delivered to, or transmitted from WSU Tri-Cities, serving more than 1000 students on site in Richland. Since the fall of 1989, AMS activity in the Tri-Cities has increased 600 percent, due to a funding increase form the legislature allowing the expansion of the technology.

The system also is used for teleconferencing between campuses to conduct personnel searches, press conferences, staff training, collaborative research, administrative planning, and student-faculty advising. Sub channels on the microwave system are used to transmit data and voice signals.

Since the majority of branch campus students are professionals or place bound adults, the peak hours for classes are from 3 p.m. to 10 p.m. Select engineering, management, nursing and vocational education classes are scheduled during the day, as is teleconferencing.

During the fall of 1995, AMS and the Integrated Academic Technologies department added a satellite downlink system to offer courses and conferences through National Technological University taking AMS and Washington State University around the World.