In the technology-centered education system of the 21st century, professors at Mississippi State University face a challenging time getting things to work, but the administration works equally hard to equip every classroom with state-of-the-art equipment. 
William Kallfelz, instructor in the department of philosophy and religion, said IT Helpdesk is usually quite responsive when it comes to tech-related issues, and IT sends someone over to the room in a timely manner. However, he said it still can be an annoying distraction.
“It ‘rains on the parade’ for any teacher who has spent hours planning their ‘show’ with slides and videos,” he said.  “The main problems I’ve encountered have to do with workstations (e.g. the laptop in Etheredge 223A) being cluttered with new updates, which can sometimes spontaneously appear and blue-screen out everything in the middle of my teaching.”
Kallfelz said the workstation is formatted with the latest Windows version, which can be cumbersome and user-unfriendly.
Julia Hodges, associate vice president for academic affairs at MSU said the administration is aware of the instructional technology needs across the MSU campus and addresses them as it can.  
“Since we do not have the financial resources to update all of our technology classrooms at once, we are working on them in phases as recommended by an instructional technology committee that meets with Mr. Rackley, the chief information officer,” Hodges said.
She said this committee has representation from across the campus, and Rodney Pearson is this year’s chairman. 
Kallfelz said he has faced similar issues with technology in different building across campus. 
“In terms of other workstations I have used, e.g. podiums in lecture halls in particular, some rooms like Simral 129 have some really clunky late-1990s workstation with its own special local network password, not the same as the usual user ID granting one access to MyState, etc.  I found this out the hard way when I first began teaching in that room,” Kallfelz said. “Also, the podium workstation in McCool 212 almost, I hate to say, seemed ‘demonically possessed’ when I taught there last fall. Frequent shut-downs, shut-outs, i.e. user ID and password suddenly not working and freeze-ups occured.”
Hodges said the reason there are different technologies in different classrooms across the campus relates to the technology that was available at the time those classrooms were equipped.
“We are now working with a standard approach as we continue our classroom updates, so over time, the faculty members should not be faced with having to be familiar with such different technologies. We agree that uniformity is desirable, but even this can be a challenge sometimes since technologies change,” Hodges said. 
Kallfelz said he did not have any problems teaching in Allen Hall. 
“It’s also true that in the majority of tech classrooms I’ve taught and in particular, those in Allen Hall, their workstations worked well and smoothly, like a well-fed horse,” Kallfelz said.  
Brian Shoup, assistant professor in the Department of Political Science and Public Administration, said his problems are with the Blackboard system and the interface for the new system is not very intuitive.
“In fairness, I am not the most technically-gifted person, but I am not sure if I should have to attend a class in order to learn how to post a syllabus and Poweroint lectures for my students. Luckily, one of my grad students saved my bacon on this and showed me how it works,” Shoup said. “I honestly feel like my 65-year-old mother who can’t figure out her voicemail. Come to think of it, I haven’t really figured out my office voicemail either.”
An instructor from the department of political science who chose to remain anonymous said the first classroom she teaches in has a monitor that does not work, and she has to twist around to use the projector screen as the monitor.
“The other classroom has an HD projector, a huge screen and a nice computer, but you cannot raise the screen up for the giant whiteboard without turning the projector off. So I can’t write on the board and use the projector without difficulty,” she said.
Linda Morse, director in the Center for Teaching and Learning at MSU, said tech podiums maintained by ITS have specific instructions for faculty to reference.
“ITS also has a quick response to classroom problems when the Help Desk number is called, and faculty can request individual instruction from the Center for Teaching and Learning on using a tech podium,” Morse said.   
 Hodges said when a department head is aware of particular equipment needs in classrooms used by the faculty in that department, he or she can bring those needs to the attention of Rackley and the committee. 
“We will continue to update as many classrooms each year as our resources will allow us to do. I am also pleased to tell you that the classrooms in our new classroom building, which is to be built behind the YMCA building, will be equipped with current instructional technology,” Hodges said.