Page 9 - Campus Technology, March/April 2018

AV SMARTS dian schaffhauser
How a Video Boom Led to Better Campus Collaboration
When MOOCs generated a huge demand for video production at Princeton, the institution responded with organizational change, an AV upgrade and a new commitment to sharing campus resources.
REORGANIZATIONS CAN BE TOUGH on everybody involved. Work left behind. People’s emotions rubbed raw. New managers struggling to gain staff trust. But a restructuring within Princeton University (NJ) turned out to be a great example of how collaboration in higher education ought to work. And it all kicked off when the university decided to create its first massive open online courses (MOOCs).
MOOCs as Monkey Wrench
Back before many people had really heard of MOOCs, the Broadcast Center in Princeton’s Office of Information Technology (OIT) was already busy. On any given day, according to David Hopkins, senior manager of the team, the center might be delivering live television or radio interviews with Nobel Laureates or other faculty members for coverage on Good Morning America, the Today Show or some other global media outlet, making promotional videos, streaming and recording real-time interviews or campus events, and producing “job talks” — recorded lecture samples for people applying for faculty positions.
The advent of MOOCs threw a monkey wrench into those smooth operations. Suddenly,
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CAMPUS TECHNOLOGY | March/April 2018
Princeton’s 4K-capable video production studio is now
a shared resource that serves a variety of campus needs.
R Mendoza / Shutterstock.com