- Established in 1845, Baylor University is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of Texas. The picturesque 735-acre campus located in Waco on the banks of the Brazos River draws nearly 14,000 students annually, making Baylor the largest Baptist university in the world.One of the hallmarks of the university's Hankamer School of Business is its Southwest Securities Financial Markets Center, an extraordinary room designed specifically for the school's "Practicum in Portfolio Management" course, which provides graduate students and senior finance majors with hands-on learning as they manage one of the nation's largest student-run portfolios – currently worth more than $6 million.
"We've had a high rate of technology acceptance because the Modero Touch Panels are so easy to use. Once you show a faculty member how the AMX system works, they basically tell you to get out of the way, and they're off and running."
Award-Winning Design
- The brainchild of Dean Terry Maness, the Financial Markets Center combines the functionality of a classroom with the atmosphere of a hi-tech corporate boardroom. The Center is so unique, Presentations Magazine awarded it the Grand Prize for 2005 "Best Presentation Room."
- As Larry Essary, director of the Casey Computer Center in the Hankamer School of Business explains, "Technology was a critical component of the vision for the room because we wanted to expose our students to the sophisticated equipment they'll encounter in the financial world." Of the $900,000 spent on the Financial Markets Center, more than $350,000 was allocated for technology.
Under Control
- Essary worked closely with Waco-based Padgitt's Communications, which has installed audio/visual equipment at Baylor for approximately 15 years, to specify technology for the room. Selecting an easy-to-use control system was extremely important to them, because the technology would not be used if it was too complicated, confusing or cumbersome, explained Essary. After weighing their options, they selected an AMX® control system comprised of an NI-3000 NetLinx® Integrated Controller, a fixed 17 inch Modero® VG Touch Panel and a wireless 8.4-inch Modero ViewPoint Touch Panel. The university also installed the AMX TakeNote™ software to encourage highly interactive, visually appealing presentations. TakeNote is an annotation tool providing students and professors with an easy, interactive way to write notes, highlight key information, draw diagrams and illustrate ideas directly on the Modero, while also being able to view the same information on the display screens.
Class Act
- The Practicum in Portfolio Management course primarily consists of teams preparing and presenting detailed reports on stocks. Following the presentation and discussion, the team makes a recommendation for each stock, the class votes, and its decisions are implemented. Over the years, Baylor students have diligently increased the value of the portfolio and have consistently outperformed the returns of their benchmark, the S&P 500.
- The students in this class spend a considerable amount of time preparing for their presentations, and we didn't want them to have to invest even more time learning how to use the equipment," said Essary. "So Baylor enlisted Padgitt's help to design and implement a customized user interface enabling anyone to operate any of the equipment in the room using an AMX Modero Touch Panel after only a few minutes of instruction, explained John Copeland, project manager for Padgitt's Communications. "The 17" Modero allows students to select their source and display devices using only a few buttons," he added.
- John Connors, a student enrolled in the class, actually taught himself how to operate the system. "The touch panel is very user friendly," he said. "When I was preparing for my first presentation, I actually taught myself how to use it. I think it integrates very well with our class."
Off to the Races
- Both Modero Touch Panels can control nearly all of the technology in the room, including the videoconference equipment used by the class to communicate with their professor – a director of a $17 billion asset management company – who teaches the class from his home office in Boston. They can also operate the two rear-projection displays, two 61-inch plasmas, document camera, VCR, DVD players and student laptops.
- "I've been in School of Business for 15 years, and in some instances, the rooms with the most technology were not used much because the technology was just too hard for the average faculty member to learn how to operate," said Essary. "In this room, we've had a high rate of technology acceptance because the Modero Touch Panels are so easy to use. Once you show a faculty member how the system works, they basically tell you to get out of the way, and they're off and running."
