The new addition to the Annie Richardson Bass Building brings new elements of creative learning to students in the Harris College of Nursing and Health Sciences.

“We wanted to facilitate teaching strategies of the future,” Jimmie Borum, assistant professor of professional practice, said.

The building opened this fall and features lecture halls with improved multimedia capabilities, movable desks, dry erase capabilities on most walls and smaller class sizes in larger rooms. The technological aspects include dual projection capabilities on the walls allowing students to interact with the projected screens.

Junior nursing major Britt Kujawski said professors can open all of their videos and other media at once before class starts, eliminating awkward pauses in class and wasted time.

She said the whiteboard walls combined with the projections facilitate learning because professors can draw on a projected image, and give more detailed explanations during lectures.

While the technology is new to Harris College, it can also be found in other parts of the campus. Rees-Jones and Beasley also received the upgrades over the summer.

The Bass Building previously possessed audio and visual capabilities, but supplied fewer options for professors.

“We’ve not had as many options in the classrooms to reconfigure, and to use basically every surface in the classroom as teaching modality,” Borum said.

In addition to the lecture halls, the new Bass Building offers a large study space in the lobby. Kujawski said this is her favorite part of the building and allows nursing majors to feel less uncomfortable studying material that may seem inappropriate in other sections of campus.

Additionally, professor Linda Moore said she appreciates the consolidated technology. Rather than bringing her own computer equipment, she can load everything onto a portable hard drive and bring it to class.

The building also houses additional offices for the faculty in the college. The office of the dean, as well as the offices of anesthesiology, nursing and social work faculty are located in the building.

Going forward, Kujawski said she thinks the “new technology always opens up new doors and things like new downloads can be made, new apps, and it just kind of has that unlimited ability now.”

An update was made on 9/26/14 at 3:45 p.m. to reflect the correct title of the Harris College of Nursing and Health Sciences.

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