BACK TO SCHOOL
May 1, 1999 12:00 PM, Allan Collins
Over the past few years, education has grown from a once small market into the primary source of business for many dealers, consultants and system integrators. This unparalleled transformation is the result of many factors, including the growth of several technologies, declining prices and changes in how this sector is funded. In addition, educators are seeing the benefit of incorporating computers and multiple media sources into the classroom environment, and they need the help of the A-V industry to make their visions reality.
For those who may not have noticed this sector's recent growth, know that colleges and universities have been making great strides in the use of high-tech A-V equipment for communications and instructional purposes. Rapidly leaving us are the days when a student would wheel around a spaghetti-wired cart with a VCR and mid-sized television or even a film-reel projector. Now, fixed data and graphics projectors with high-quality film screens are joining the omnipresent overhead models, along with computer-video interfacing, multiple media sources, centralized control systems and dedicated A-V staffs who keep it all running.
"I've been working with education for five years, and when I first started, people would ask why I worked with schools, believing there was no money there," said Bryan Boehme, director of project engineering for Hoffman Video. "In some cases they were right because at the time, schools were not well funded for A-V technology. Now, with the publicity surrounding the Internet and other areas, funding for these technologies has been rapidly increasing as knowledge of their benefits grows.
What Boehme describes is the result of the most recent rise of educational funding as a political issue and the widespread desire by the sources of funding to see creative and innovative uses for it. With the incorporation of computers and A-V technology, educational facilities see a useful forum for displaying their dedication to remaining on the cutting edge to their prospective donors, students, parents and legislators. A-V technology is, of course, a means to an end. Although the various sources may be more willing to allocate more funds for technology as opposed to other areas, the total amount of money coming in will always depend largely upon the number of students at each facility.
"It's basically a business decision for colleges and universities that compete against each other for students and their money," states David Gales, senior associate at Ove Arup & Partners and the Arup Audio Visual consulting group, for which educational facilities currently account for 60% percent of business. "To remain competitive, educational facilities need to deliver a product that appeals to their market, and their market is the students who are technologically sophisticated."
Boehme said, "What schools understand is that they have to draw students. That's part of their revenue, and there are a lot more places to go these days, so the presence of technology becomes part of their advertising. Student interest in this type of education is high, and enrollments in schools that do these sorts of things go up."
The fact that A-V technology will also add to the quality of education at these schools is an added bonus. The attraction also applies to instructors, particularly when a facility offers well-integrated videoconferencing systems or distance learning.
"We are doing a job in Wyoming where the school has an instructor who speaks five languages, yet there wasn't a single language class they could put together for German or Spanish because their weren't enough students," said Boehme. "They are now connected to 22 other campuses, however, and are able to put language classes together by drawing people in from the distance-learning environment."
The benefit to a school with such abilities is obvious. As Boehme continues to explain, available instructors have always looked to forums where they might focus on their primary discipline as much as possible. Schools that are able to draw students from a larger body will benefit and attract more high-quality instructors as the technology gains greater presence and acceptance in the classroom. Whether the body of students is local or includes cities miles away is essentially irrelevant.
The recent upswing in educational funding notwithstanding, incorporating videoconferencing into the classroom environment is often classified as a future goal, should budgetary concerns arise. For the A-V professional, this means that systems may need to be initially designed for multiple sources with large-screen display, with the incorporation of videoconferenc-ing abilities at a later date. Cabling and such core technologies as switchers and other signal distribution equipment should reflect this and any other future goals. In some cases, cameras and scan converters may be functional parts of the original installation but intended for use in videoconferencing once lines and codecs are furnished.
When asked about technology in the classroom, educators are quick to focus on the benefits it bestows upon the students. Charles Hickman, director of projects and services at the International Association of Management Education said, "The employers who hire business-school graduates expect our students and graduates to enter the workplace with sophisticated information technology skills. In terms of helping your graduates be competitive, you had better have these technologies."
The technologies Hickman refers to may include Internet, local and wide area network access at student desks, and videoconferencing. Other educators see modern data projectors that draw from computers, VCRs, DVD players and other sources as valuable tools to incorporate into existing curricula. The result is the need for such equipment as switchers, line multipliers, scan converters and computer-video interfaces to go along with projectors and computers.
Because this is a relatively new trend and many of the technologies being drawn from are new or under constant change, expect few in the realm of education to be well-versed in their use. Typically, educators and those in decision-making roles for them have a good idea of what they want in terms of functionality, but they know little of what is necessary to reach their goals. For this reason, dealers, consultants, system designers and contractors will need to spend a good amount of time with clients in education.
"Every client has a different reason for using these technologies, and we need to understand those reasons before we can start designing systems for them," said Gales.
Training for both on-site A-V staff and faculty is also necessary, and contractors may expect to see this need in the specs for such jobs. Instructors may not realize what resources are now available to them, and they will need knowledgeable A-V professionals to get them on track. Although some schools may use technology as part of marketing ploys, once instructors understand how to make full use of the equipment provided, most will readily embrace it as a valued tool.
"First, we train the staff, both in how a room operates and what to do if things go wrong," said Boehme. "Then, we go through and teach instructors how everything works, with my point of view on how each room is supposed to be used sprinkled in."
"These technologies can really make teaching dynamic," said Prashanth Nyer, a marketing professor at Chapman University. "We switch from text on the screen, to videotapes, to pulling something off the Internet so quickly that the presentation is absolutely seamless. I've already gotten to the point where I've started wondering how I ever taught without this."
Central to keeping acclamation periods short in this or any other installation is the incorporation of a user-friendly control system. Many of the instructors who will use the equipment in their classes may have VCRs or DVD players at home, but how to route either through a matrix switcher and a line doubler to a projector is likely unbroken ground. A customized control system that might be optional in some jobs is really a necessity here. Large, easily understood controls on a touchscreen will give the instructors, guests, teacher aids and the occasional substitute the ability to command the equipment within the room without fumbling at the rack every few minutes. These systems, when properly configured, will also allow for a similar look and feel to the controls in each room, and the average can move from one room to the next without relearning the controls.
Educational facilities, like other multi-room environments, will vary among having local equipment in every room and a centralized media hub serving many rooms or both. The argument against a media retrieval system for use with a media hub is one of convenience to the faculty.
Gales said, "In some cases, the instructors develop their own media and bring it with them to the classroom, and they want to be able to produce it immediately."
In such cases, instructors typically are concerned about having to schedule media use ahead of time.
Boehme said, "Media retrieval systems work; it's the system of people. It is understandably difficult to know what you want to do a week in advance and then to get it played back in your room at the right time. Most instructors want to be able to walk in with whatever media they want that day."
Where retrieval systems and media hubs do work is in DTV, RF and satellite reception. Reality with these systems is that having a point of entry to the campus in every room is not practical. Scheduling a media retrieval system is the only efficient method of distributing these types of data to each classroom.
Another key point to remember when working with education is that these sites will be used by the same occupants for a longer time than many other types of sites.
"These guys own the buildings, and they need to get as much life out of them as they can possibly get, unlike corporate clients who move in for five or 10 years and then they're out of there," said Gales.
This reality necessitates working with the architect of a new building as early as possible to develop the infrastructure to support A-V systems over the long term. This means designing accessible cable paths, adequate power distribution and resolving any lighting or acoustics issues that may arise early on. Educational facilities also have their own requirements under the Americans with Disabilities Act and the state laws that need to be examined before beginning. Remember, if all aspects are not considered, then you may have to return and redesign half the system sometime in the future. Design accordingly.
In systems designed by Arup for long-term use, special care is taken to ensure that the majority of components will maintain their usefulness via changes in the system through either upgrades or flexibility of use.
"We look to products like those made by Extron Electronics to create a very robust core system," said Gales. "We have what we call core and edge technologies. Extron's products are core technologies in that they deal with signal processing and distribution, and those technologies should be able to sustain several generations of what we call the edge technologies, which are the input and output devices."
The result of the extra forethought in the educational arena will translate into a sustainable site, as well as a satisfied customer. The benefit of the latter is something everyone in the industry can appreciate.
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