History

Red Square in front of the ICC Building on Georgetown's main campus
Red Square in front of ICC Building

CETS has a long history at Georgetown University. In 1971, the Georgetown University Library’s “Audio-Visual Department” began providing instructional media and educational technology for library and in-class use. At that time, the department had a small collection of open reel audio tapes, 1″ video tapes, 16mm films, and slides.

In 1975 the the name of the department changed to the Audio-Visual Learning Resource Centrer [A-VLRC] and it began its service of delivering instructional media and educational technology to main campus classrooms at the request of faculty, students, and staff. In the 1990’s the A-VLRC designed and installed the first generation of installed AV technology in the Classroom.

In summer 2001, the A-VLRC was reorganized, relocated, and named Classroom Educational Technology Services (CETS). July 1, 2006, CETS became a department reporting to the Office of the University Registrar. CETS’ main office is now located on the first floor of ICC Building in ICC 121. In 2019, CETS undertook a reorganization and created the staffing and service stucture that remains until today.

Both CETS and the former A-VLRC have been able to offer classroom delivery of media and educational technology by hiring and training about 25 Georgetown University students assistants each semester to work under the direction of professional staff.

The full time staff and student assistants set up and solve problems with diverse technology (from computers, smart lecterns, lecture capture technology, personal response systems to projectors and LCD panels) in classrooms throughout the main campus.

During the 2019-2020 academic year, CETS provided technology and media to over 157,039 classes in 12 classroom buildings as well as other spaces.

As technology has come to play a greater role in our culture, its use in education has increased at Georgetown University. From document cameras to network interactive computer classrooms and video conferencing, live Zoom sessions during classes, and new “Zoom-Room” based classroom tech systems, CETS provides a wide range of educational technology services.