Commercial Integrator May 2022 - 26

Hybrid Learning
What's the Price Tag?
As discussed, the learning-solutions market
is experiencing robust growth this year,
and that should continue in '23. However,
at a time of continuing economic uncertainty,
it's worthwhile to consider just how
large an investment education institutions
must make to achieve the kind of quality
that Maltese describes. From Askew's
perspective, a substantial monetary outlay
is not necessarily required. He elaborates,
saying, " A good design identifies the challenges
of the room itself. What a school
wants to accomplish in each specific room,
and having a reasonable expectation of
budget, [plays] a factor in having a successful
distance-learning environment. "
Vistacom's Boyer echoes that sentiment,
arguing that it's possible to deliver a rich
experience, while keeping the investment
to a minimum, by focusing on key areas like
audio and proper camera placement. Harking
back to the early days of the pandemic,
he continues, " Classrooms that were outfitted
with room audio systems that could
pick up the instructor and students, along
with cameras that could capture the space,
provided a more engaging experience
for the remote learners. " Here, again, we
see a throughline of the entire discussion
- namely, the criticality of microphone
selections and camera choices. Those technologies
likely won't bust the budget, but
they'll be difference-makers in facilitating
effective hybrid learning.
One wrinkle is that, too often, project
leaders think only about picking up the
instructor's voice and capturing their movements.
In Maltese's view, that kind of myopic
focus on the instructor can be ruinous.
He persuasively argues that such an approach
" ...only gets you 50% or 60% of the
classroom experience. " Maltese elaborates,
" [By] providing classroom cameras and
microphones to pick up the rest of the class
members' faces and questions, [it] offers a
tremendous amount of classroom experience. "
Thus, he argues, when integrators
approach " mixed-mode " hybrid-learning
applications where some students are
physically present and others remote, they
mustn't value-engineer the system into
PTZOptics on Using Technology
to Enhance Learning Experiences
Technology provides simple solutions to everyday problems. In 2020, there was
one very large, universal problem - COVID-19 - and tech played a pivotal role in
connecting people to one another. Providing quality education to remote students
was one of the biggest challenges faced during the pandemic, but video-delivery
advancements like auto-tracking and NDI have done more than provide a temporary
fix - they've changed the landscape entirely.
Hybrid learning is the future because of its accessibility and affordability, and lecture-capture
devices such as the PTZOptics SimplTrack Lite are the perfect example
of where we're headed in the education sphere. This camera's auto-tracking and
preset zone features enhance learning experiences by ensuring the lecturer and their
educational materials are delivered efficiently to both in-person and remote participants.
This automated, non-invasive way to deliver high-quality video is quickly
being embraced by educators for use during lectures, as well as for extracurricular
activities and events.
The SimplTrack Lite is also easy to integrate with any existing workflow, thanks to
a variety of output options, including NDI. With NDI, users can capture and control
cameras from anywhere, including both local and remote sites. These remote
production capabilities allow education institutions to centralize video production,
freeing up resources and allowing hybrid learning to scale.
At PTZOptics, we've seen an increased need for NDI-enabled products that
integrate into any video-delivery setup and strive to futureproof our solutions for the
classrooms of today and tomorrow.
26
Commercial Integrator MAY 2022
ineffectiveness. He explains, " ...[R]emote
participants must have elements of being in
the classroom to complete the experience. "
The Opportunity to Sell Services
Hybrid learning offers attractive opportunities
to sell services. Mike Abernathy, director
of business resources, NSCA, states
that he's already seeing such agreements
unfold. " This is an opportunity to provide
more than just hardware and look for the
recurring revenue, " he explains. " Many
vendors within the industry are now offering
solutions and services to monitor rooms
onsite and remote devices.... " He adds
that some of them even have financing built
right into the offering.
Andy Bourquin, director of professional
services with Radiant Technology, Inc., as
well as a member of the NSCA Emerging
Technologies Committee, states that prospects
for selling services into the higher-ed
vertical have improved considerably since
the pandemic. " It seemed as though our
higher-education customers were unprepared
to properly support these systems, "
he reveals, " and [they] were under exceptional
pressure to make decisions and get
things moving. " Thus, although higher-ed
was challenging terrain for selling managed
services prior to 2020, Bourquin now
says, " Over the last two years, we have
experienced an increase in managed-services
revenue from these customers, and
the types of services are fairly consistent. "
He offers an extensive summary of those
offerings, which include the configuration
of management software, client access to
Radiant Technology's online knowledge
base, annual preventative maintenance on
every system, same-business-day onsite
response to issues beyond remote repair
and access to " hot-swap " inventory.
Vistacom's Ferlino amplifies Bourquin's
comments, saying that historically,
corporate clients have embraced managed-services
offerings more robustly than
colleges and universities have. The reason,
he says, is that education institutions " ...
usually leverage site staff [and] part-time
student workers. " But various learning
institutions offer divergent opportunities,
and a well-rounded package of services can
be a real difference-maker. Ferlino states,
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Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Commercial Integrator May 2022