In the new state-of-the-art
business building, students are able to plug in their laptop
computers and take notes, or explore vast areas of information
on the Internet.
Computer networking allows students to participate in electronically
mediated discussions, conduct group interaction activities,
such as strategic planning, or even take exams via computer.
MBA courses are available to students in Billings,
Butte, Kalispell, Helena, Great Falls and Bozeman through a
sophisticated telecommunications system.
To accomplish these feats, the Gallagher
Business Building is equipped with a variety of rooms which are
used for training and instruction. The rooms range from those built
for presentation and computer training, to those equipped for conducting
focus groups and video conferencing. All of the rooms in the facility
are well appointed and spacious, which enables lecturing and learning
to be comfortable as well as professional.
Overall, the building hosts three or more fully configured computer
labs; three rooms specifically designed to enable video conferencing;
thirteen spacious presentation rooms; and one room designed for
conducting focus groups. Each of these types of rooms are explained
in detail below.
Presentation rooms
are equipped with an instructor computer and VCR that are
linked to the over-head projector feeds. These rooms
can be used for PowerPoint presentations, viewing videos
or projecting computer interfaces. All of these classrooms
have Internet and LAN connections as well. The majority
of these 13 presentation rooms are tiered, and range in
seating size form 60 to 150.
Computer Labs:
The Business Building offers three different computer labs,
allowing for the flexibility of computer based training
with customizable hardware and software.
The computer lab's software packages include
state-of-the-art hardware and software. There are
also specialized stations with multimedia hardware
and software. For more information about the Computer Labs, such as hours or operation,
click
here.
Video
Conferencing:The University of Montana
delivers most of its professional program courses
through compressed digital video over the VisionNet
telecommunications network.
VisionNet allows students to interact during instruction with
the professor and with students attending classes in other
communities in a user-friendly live video environment. With
the increased pace of today's world along with geographic
separation, communicating effectively is a business imperative.
Focus Group
Room: The ability to conduct focus groups is
useful for any organization as a means to collect opinions
from a group of representative people in the market.
The room is versatile to allow for instructor style gatherings,
as well as formal meetings. The most important feature
of the room are three large one-way mirrors located in the
back with a smaller observatory room on the other side.
The observing organization goes unnoticed throughout the
interview or meeting.
The School of Business Administration has
a technology support team that can provide hardware/software support
and training for faculty and students. The team consists of a
full-time director, network administrator, instructional media
technician, and a technical training coordinator. Students are
also members of the team with responsibilities for the help desk,
computer labs, web development projects, and other technology
related support.
This team combines the unique enthusiasm of students and full-time
staff members to help move SOBA forward in integrating information
technology into the curriculum.