In today’s education environments, AV systems are essential tools for sharing information and keeping students engaged. Understanding the challenges associated with the transport of high-bandwidth audio and visual signals in classrooms is crucial to designing a system that is user-friendly, cost effective, and future-proof. This white paper covers three keys to AV system design for a positive user experience.
11 pages | File Type: Adobe PDF | Size: 1.6 MB
EXCERPT:
From AV Club to IT Managers
When audiovisual (AV) systems first appeared in classrooms in the mid-twentieth century, teachers and administrators could rely on members of the school AV club to get the system up and running, simply by setting up a film projector or plugging in a VCR.
Today, film strip machines and overhead projectors have been replaced by interactive whiteboards and document cameras. Twenty-first century classroom AV systems present a unique combination of challenges. They must accommodate a range of technologies, from older equipment to cutting-edge innovations. They need to be useable by a wide range of individuals, from teachers who are familiar with their classroom’s system to substitutes and administrative staff who may never have used the system before to students of varying ages and technical abilities. And they have to accommodate challenging education and school district technology budgets, with total system affordability that extends from the initial installation through the entire lifecycle of the system years down the road.
Teachers in classrooms from kindergarten to college require AV systems that allow them to extend HDMI®, VGA, and USB signals from their desks to output devices located throughout the classroom. To accomplish this, many school administrators lean toward installing complex, professional AV systems with multiple touchscreen inputs and controls. Though these systems are capable of meeting the technological needs of classroom AV equipment, using them effectively is often beyond the skill-set of teachers and AV club members alike, requiring professional installation, system set-up and maintenance by IT managers, and extensive training to operate.
