Page 24 - spaces4learning, January/February 2020

spaces4learning HIGHER ED TECHNOLOGY
3 WAYS AV CAN DRAW PEOPLE TO CAMPUS
Today’s audiovisual experiences reflect a digital world that tomorrow’s higher education students want to be part of.
By Dan Goldstein
SCHOOLS HAVE COME A LONG WAY FROM THE DAYS
of AV technicians pushing around carts with overhead projec- tors or VHS players and tube TVs. Today, the audiovisual tech- nology supporting modern pedagogy is integrated into learning spaces. And students and faculty are more likely than ever to experience towering video walls in student centers, high-bright- ness projectors lighting up lecture halls, and advanced visual- ization systems that enable immersive, interactive learning.
In fact, such technology has become an expectation. “Students come with an expectation that technology will be available to them,” said Craig Park, principal at technology consulting firm The Sextant Group, which has worked with universities to create new audiovisual experiences. Park, who has served the Society of College and University Planning (SCUP) in various capacities, recently joined a panel at the association’s EDspaces 2019 conference titled “Integrating the Digital with the Physical to Create the Campus of the Future” and moderated by AVIXA, the Audiovisual and Integrated Experience Association.
As the panel explained, prospective students live in a tech-rich, digital world, surrounded by audiovisual experi- ences. Whether it’s on their smartphones, home entertain- ment systems, or in public spaces like shopping centers and entertainment districts, the digital lives of tomorrow’s learners lead to preconceived notions of today’s campus. Colleges and universities, therefore, are adopting AV technologies to meet expectations and attract this generation of digital natives.
Video wall at North Carolina State University’s Hunt Library
Photo Courtesy of North Carolina State University
For an example encompassing a range of technologies, Park pointed to North Carolina State University. “North Caroli-
na State’s Hunt Library \[with AV designed by The Sextant Group\] is a good example of a university building that shows off different kinds of technology-enabled learning spaces
that any department can draw from and use,” he noted. The acclaimed Hunt Library, opened in 2012 and continuously re- fined, includes collaboration and visualization studios, media labs, a gaming video wall and more.
Following are three ways savvy institutions are using AV technology to catch students’ attention and create the visually immersive campus of the future.
1) Making a First and Lasting Impression
AV solutions don’t only facilitate the education process. They also serve to showcase a school’s ongoing commitment to innovation, something prospective students anticipate when visiting campuses. Many of these technologies work in the background, unseen by students and instructors. Others sit front and center, forming an integral part of a class lesson or campus experience.
Breakthroughs in display technology are among the most impactful ways that colleges are demonstrating their savviness. Now broadly available, super-sized, single-panel LCD displays with high brightness and resolution as well as fine-pitch LED tiles and video walls that can produce large, bright images
have become essential building blocks for learning spaces and campus-wide applications. Both technologies can be coupled with wired and wireless content-sharing software, and both are available with durable touchscreen overlays for full interactivity.
Recently, the University of Richmond finished its 56,000-square-foot, $26.5 million Queally Center, a wel-
come center designed to serve as a “front door” for prospective students, families and recruiters. AV experiences were central
to the Queally Center’s mission and design, said Doug West, as- sistant vice president for Telecommunications, Media Support,
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