Specifications

Learning Spaces Guidelines
Large Lecture Theatres: 39
In large lecture theatres there should be four wearable
microphones provided. The logic for providing four microphones
is that there is less chance of finding the internal batteries of both
microphones depleted and the provision of multiple microphones
better supports team teaching and/or passing a microphone to
students for discussion activities.
The brand and model of microphone specified should be simple
to operate and the appropriate operation steps for using the
microphone should be included in the teaching station instructions
(see Section 3.14).
In the largest lecture theatre spaces, which are often used for
mass meetings and events, it is desirable to have additional
handheld radio microphones available that can be passed into the
audience for pickup of questions/comments.
Across all these spaces there should be an additional single array
microphone installed on the teaching station. This microphone will
provided a ‘fallback’ audio pickup in the event that the users forget
or don’t understand the need to use the wearable microphone(s)
or the microphone batteries are not sufficiently charged for use.
However it should be noted that an array microphone on the
teaching station only provides effective pickup if the presenter
remains in close (< 2 metre) proximity to the teaching station.
Installation of gooseneck microphones on the teaching station
should not be necessary and should be avoided as they encourage
static lecturing styles and potentially cause uneven sound levels if
the lecturer does move in and out of its pickup zone.
One challenge in larger spaces is facilitating a method for the
instructor to write/illustrate and those markings be clearly seen by
the students. Conventional whiteboards have a workable height
range between 1000mm and 2000mm depending on the height
of the lecturer. Column-track mounted boards enable the lecturer
expand this workable height as the lecturer can easily raise a board
to make it more visible to students whilst continuing to write on
second board below.
In the larger lecture theatres the legibility of material written/
illustrated on vertical writing surfaces is constrained for the students
furthest from the front by the limit of scale that it is possible to write
at with natural fluidity.
Technology can provide solutions to this issue in the following ways:
use of visualiser as a horizontal writing surface
use of touch sensitive fixed display monitor (for example
Smart Sympodium)
use of an interactive whiteboard with its display duplicated
onto larger projection surface
use of a portable tablet device with its display mirrored onto
larger projection surface (possibly via the fixed teaching
station PC)
Evaluation of the advantages and drawbacks of each of these
technologies will form a focus for upcoming research by E-Learning
Environments to inform the future revision of this document and
define the convergence onto a single solution for this issue.
TASK
Projection/
writing in
large lecture
theatres
7.07