The college of business is giving the Nicholls Online experience a facelift by making a business degree available and implementing new teaching technology, all due to the LAQSF grant awarded by the state in late 2014.

The state awarded the University with $100,000 to purchase equipment to enhance the development and execution of the online business degree program.

A portion of the funds has been allotted to creating a studio that will function as a virtual classroom, where faculty stand and lecture in front of a camera. Through this interaction with the camera, the faculty can focus more on engaging the students online.

In addition to the studio feature, some classrooms are now fixed with cameras pointed at the professor, the students, the boards and the projectors. The professor can adjust the cameras before the class begins to show different parts of the classroom throughout the lecture and to give students a more enhanced classroom experience.

The common inhibition of students with regards to online classes is the fear of missing out on classroom discussion that may help them better understand the material. In an effort to eliminate this fear, classrooms have also been equipped with microphones to capture in-class discussions between teachers and students, and to then be uploaded and made accessible for the online students.

Ronnie Fanguy, head of the department of business and computer information systems, said the new classroom capabilities “capture what the teacher is doing on the screen, with the power point, the students’ voices to give a richer experience for online students.” Fanguy also said that the equipment will, “make instructing from online the best experience possible for the student as well as the teacher.”

Due to some complications, the accessibility of all the new equipment is not yet complete, but administrators are hopeful that it will be up and running by next semester.

The LAQSF grant was not the only grant awarded to the business department. In 2015, the state ranked the proposal second and fully funded the college $55,400 to build a computer networking lab.

An advanced networking class was offered for the first time this spring for students to take a more hands-on approach using routers, switches and networking equipment. Experiences like the ones presented in this new class will open many more job opportunities for students.

Amy Kugler, maritime management freshman, said she feels “the University does a great job keeping their equipment up to date.” Since her first few weeks of school in the fall semester, she has noticed that the money granted to the college has been put to good use.