Commercial Integrator May 2021 - 30

Distance Learning

Everybody is
going back to the
drawing board and
reevaluating their
budgets.
bought, " says Davis. " That flexibility, adaptability, creativity, and thinking about how
tools can be used over time.
" That relationship between the technology leaders and the people that provide
the software and hardware that helps them
out has been interesting over the last year, "
she says.
" The more personalized that you can
make a relationship, so that you can just
listen to the needs, the better, " says Davis.
" If they have somebody that they can go to
and count on for an answer to a problem
that is going to be key. "

Integrators are going to need to be partners more than providers for their education
clients. They are going to need to help tailor
unique, personalized solutions that fit different schools, departments, classrooms, and
even teachers. They are going to help schools
evolve curriculum by using technology.
Thanks to federal funding into schools
over the past year, the iron is hot and integrators should look to strike.
" The federal government has been very
generous this past year, " says Bosch. " The
influx of funding, specifically for schools, is
unprecedented. We've never seen this type
of influx of money that has been directly provided to both public and private schools.
" They're being very diligent about how
they're utilizing their investments, " he says.
" Everybody is going back to the drawing
board and reevaluating their budgets about
what is really needed for technology and
how they can get there, " says Davis. " We
will get to a point where we're planning on
a five-year basis, but the schools I talk to are
really just looking at next year. "
" They want to make sure that they're
building their classrooms and changing the
way that they do their refresh, " says Bosch.
" They're basically making sure that distance
learning is included in a lot of those classroom refreshes. "

Hypersign
After spending almost a year completely at home, we are now returning to the
classroom and offices with the same question on our minds: Where do we go from
here? We are neither normal nor fully quarantined...we are in the in-between. And
Hypersign has the solution that meets the needed flexibilities of the unknown.
The biggest challenge your customers face is where to place their investments
when we still feel uncertain of the future. Teachers need a solution to reach their students in the classroom and the students online, all at the same time, so technicalities
should be the least of their concerns. Teachers need to teach without the headache
and students need to learn without falling behind state standards.
With Hypersign's Arena Mini, we provide a flexible product without the scary
price-tag so that the hybrid world is manageable and affordable. The Arena Mini
allows the learner to focus completely on the host, which gives a truly personal feel.
The Arena Mini is portable, so depending on the nature of the learning environment, it's flexible to the school's needs. Allowing 27 remote attendees all at once,
the Arena Mini removes the feeling of being " another square " in an online meeting
and brings back the most desired connection all over again. The Arena Mini... it just
makes sense, right now and for the future of learning, whatever that may look like.

Commercial Integrator

CM2105 pp22-34 Distance Learning DD.indd 30

MAY 2021

Symetrix
We are quite amazed and humbled by
the talent, innovation, and creativity
that we have witnessed across our AV
integrators over the last year in utilizing
existing Symetrix installations to
easily adapt AV systems for schools and
education spaces to new norms. For example, we learned that folks were able
to use the scanning of QR codes and
the Symetrix Control Server to enable
touchless interaction with AV systems.
Another great project we learned
about involved a system that already
had a Symetrix DSP installed and with
the necessary functionality in place for
additional audio routing, relatively minor tweaks to the control screen made
the system adaptable to the evolving
facility usage patterns by easily combining spaces and routing audio from
anywhere on demand. Certain routing
options deployed by the Symetrix
Remote Event Scheduler also enabled
users to schedule changes in system
settings, such as audio switching of one
or more local microphones to Internet
streaming services. The adjustments to
the system allowed facility managers
to concentrate on more immediate
aspects of production and not worry
about recalling presets to start and stop
web stream audio broadcasts.
That's good news for integrators that can
help schools create the perfect system and
scale that system throughout the institution.
The money is there. The need is there. All
that is left is to find the right integration
partner to help them reach their goals.
Make sure you're calling on your education clients and letting them know you can
meet their distance learning needs. Make
sure you're listening to how they want to
a teach and creating a solution, not trying
to force them into a system that doesn't fit
how they want to teach.
If you can help educational institutions
navigate this, the largest disruption to traditional learning in American history, then
you'll have a client for a long time. CI
commercialintegrator.com

4/12/21 11:44 AM

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Commercial Integrator May 2021

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