Implementation Timeline

• May 2008 : Quote request from Tomoe
• June 2008 : Tomoe returned a quote for 20 million yen, we looked at cost reduction stragies included putting LCD TVs in the ML building
• 2nd week of June 2008 : Quote request to Epson (end of school, most teachers have left for vacation)
• 3rd week of June 2008 : Epson returned a quote for 6 million yen, We kept with ML original plan for LCD TV as it was understood this is what they wanted (end of school for admin and most have left fo vacation)
• July 12, 2008 Project had to be completed, as building cleaning started on this date
• June 18th, 2008 : IT department does a walk through with Epson on install locations for Projectors and screens
• July 7-11th, 2008 : Projectors are installed
• July 17th, 2008 : ML TVs arrive, waiting for teachers to arrive before TVs are placed in their classrooms

Some have rasied the issue, there wasn't enough input in the process. Our time line was tight. If done again and we installed the projectors over the year. The project wouldn't have been completed until the spring of 2009. Our question, would that have been a satisfactory completion date?

QUESTION: The positioning of screens and projectors

ANSWER: Projector position was dictated by the construction of the ceiling and walls. Location of AC units, supporting beans, plumbing fixtures and previous screen location played in the role in projector placement. 

QUESTION: The rules concerning use of iBooks

ANSWER:  The sign out process was developed before the school year started with the help of SALT.

QUESTION: The set up of computers

ANSWER: This was developed over the year and is documented on this wiki here. Deep Freeze which resets a computer on restart was implemented a year ago. It helps keep a consistant user experience across all computers at YIS. If computers are unfrozen they become inconsistant as students like to customize the computers, delete applications and files.

QUESTION: Is there a timeline for putting a screen or speakers in the Dance Studio?

ANSWER: The 3 year Classroom upgrade plan is here in it are details for the Dance studio

QUESTION: Why aren't wireless connectors used for the Projectors?

ANSWER: The wireless connectors limit video to 30 frames a second, which degrades video quality. Wireless connector pose inferferance issues and we'd be limited to one projector company as all the other providers only support Microsoft Windows. 

QUESTION: At my previous school the IT dept. had the facility of converting videos to DVD or even placing videos and DVDs onto a database that could then be downloaded for viewing in classrooms. While the second option is probably beyond YIS capacity at the moment, are you able to convert videos to DVD. Even if I need to do so myself with some instruction, I am happy to do.

ANSWER: There have been some concerns with Japanese copyright law. Brian F did some research on the subject and found some promissing news.

After some light afternoon reading of the relevant Japanese copyright law, I may have found some ways that we can make this happen.  Essentially, if the videos in question are library materials, we can convert them to DVD in order to ensure their preservation (tapes do wear out after all).  This is also allowed if the video in question is for personal use. 

In line with this news, the IT department will be Working with Brain F in digitizing all VHS tapes into a centrally shared iTunes libary.

QUESTION: The position of TV in the Modern Language building is not ideal but it is the best that can be done. We still have one major problem however: the videoplayers (and some of the DVD players although I believe this is ok now) are not compatible with the TVs and are either not showing or are showing in black and white.

EXPLANATION: The TV's in ML building are in NTSC format and many of the video players are PAL. The IT department purchaced 10 black VCR+DVD players which  work with all the projectors. After installing these players in the main building we were able to free up some of the older multiregion TVs and place them in the ML building.

QUESTION: The language department has worked quite a bit with Christine last year to discuss our situation here. We thank her for all her time. We were told that projectors would never be mounted in this building so LCDs mounted on a special stand were suggested as an option so that we could view our DVDs, videos and computer projections that way.

By the end of the year however we hadn't heard whether this would happen or not. Upon return the TVs were sitting in boxes in the hallways and needed to be installed since they did not come with the special carts. Mounting them on the walls again was not an option and they have now been put on cupboards or old computer carts and secured.

EXPLANATION: Part of this is explained in the time line of events above. The cart's quotes we recieved we're beyond our budget. The cart's size became an issue for the small classrooms in the ML building. We looked at mounting them to the wall but that was also an additional expense as the wall's are too weak to support the weight of the TVs. Our best option was to wait for teachers to return and work with them on finding the best place to put the displays.