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Sydney uni opens TechLounge: photos

The University of Sydney has opened a new "TechLounge" to encourage students to interact with a variety of new technologies.
By Michael Lee, Contributor
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(Credit: The University of Sydney)

The lounge has been built in collaboration between the university and Microsoft, and includes a Microsoft Surface table.

Microsoft Australia public sector director Michael Gration said that he hoped the students would love and relate to this sample of Microsoft's technology, and said he wished that he had had that sort of common room when he was at university.

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(Credit: The University of Sydney)

The room forms part of the university's Learning Networks Program, which aims to expand and modernise on-campus learning and social spaces.

It was based on feedback from students who stated that they needed more places to work collaboratively in addition to independent study areas.

"There is an increasing diversity in terms of what students need from their study spaces on campus, and those needs go beyond the traditional individual desk in a 'library-style' learning space," said the university's Students' Representative Council president Donherra Walmsley.

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3 of 8 Michael Lee/ZDNET

(Credit: The University of Sydney)

It will also be used to improve the university's understanding of how students interact with new technology outside of formal settings like classrooms and computer labs, and it will be monitored to see how technology can be adapted elsewhere on campus.

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4 of 8 Michael Lee/ZDNET

(Credit: The University of Sydney)

The lounge will include laptops, desktops and Windows smartphones supplied by Microsoft.

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5 of 8 Michael Lee/ZDNET

(Credit: The University of Sydney)

The university expects to include further hardware from Dell, Samsung, Sony, Acer and Asus in the lounge in the future.

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6 of 8 Michael Lee/ZDNET

(Credit: The University of Sydney)

The space opened in time for the start of the second semester of 2011.

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7 of 8 Michael Lee/ZDNET

(Credit: The University of Sydney)

There are also Xbox 360 gaming consoles with Kinect.

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8 of 8 Michael Lee/ZDNET

(Credit: The University of Sydney)

The lounge will be supported by a university staff member at all times, who will collect feedback from students and provide assistance with devices where necessary.

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