Simply Connected

It’s the season for scaring, so what better time to share some spooky AV integration stories from the field. There’s no ghosts or ghouls involved, but if tangled cable runs, tight crawl spaces and bailing wire-secured projectors are your idea of a frightening time, look no further!

 

A Giant Spider’s Web or a Tangled Mess of Cables? Sometimes it’s Hard to Tell The Difference 

 It’s one of the most common spooky sights that AV professionals see out in the field – a gordian knot of cables that even a family of rats wouldn’t nest in (more on rat-related mishaps later).

Proper cable running and management are underrated parts of AV integration, so it’s easy to see why installers frequently run into hair-raising cable nightmares, like cables that start and end in places unseen. Or cables snaking like spaghetti, piled on the floor and without a single cable tie in sight. And that’s just the rack room. On the other end of the run, things can get even scarier, with cables punched through makeshift holes in the drywall or running along the floor in high traffic areas.

Most of the time, poor cable management is due to an inexperienced, rushed or just plain careless installer. If you’ve never done cable management before, it’s a lot harder than it looks. For experienced installers, though, there’s nothing spooky about arranging cables neatly.

How do they do it? By using a handful of tricks like the following:

* Planning where the cables will be routed before connecting anything.

* Color coding and labeling cables by function and destination.

* Bundling like cables together and securing them with ties.

* Running the cable out of the rack’s sides so technicians can access the hardware without cables getting in the way.

* Using cable management accessories like cable combs and bars.

In this case, the treat that comes after the tricks is a beautifully organized rack room.

They May Not Be Haunted, But Older Buildings Can Still Make an Installer’s Heart Pound 

If you’ve ever wondered why AV integrators ask so many building-related questions before starting a project, there’s a good reason for that. Even if you’ve worked in the same office building for decades, you’ve probably never crawled around in the ceiling, under the floor or behind the walls. Sound creepy? Slinking around in dark, tight spaces is just part of the job for AV installers. Hope you’re not claustrophobic.

Why do AV professionals hang out in crawl spaces? Mostly to figure out where the cable is going to be run, which is why you’ll get a lot of questions about facility access during the project’s initial planning phases.

And it’s no surprise that these old, musty spaces sometimes harbor wild animals, which are typically not happy to have visitors. We’ve heard stories, including one where a rat – it’s always rats – jumped out at a technician inspecting some hardware racks. We’re guessing those racks hadn’t been inspected in some time, giving the rat a chance to find a warm, cozy spot – perfect for staging a sneak attack. When you’re surveying crypt-like networking rooms in old buildings, it’s not uncommon to run into the occasional rodent ambush.

Every now and then, though, it’s the building itself that ambushes the installer. We’ve seen, for example, an entire drop ceiling collapse on one of our installation teams. Unsurprisingly, it was in an old school. Tasked with doing more with less, it’s often the case that school districts need to keep their old facilities around until they’re practically haunted. At least it feels that way for some AV installers.

No rats in the ceiling, though, which was a plus.

Nothing Scares an Integrator More Than “Creative” Installation Methods

For many AV integrators, what frightens them the most is their own imagination. For example,

Cameras are an integral part of the corporate and education technology experience in today’s world. While this is something most of us can agree on, the challenge becomes what type of camera and set up is best for each unique space’s technology needs? To make the most of camera views, microphone reach, and production capabilities, one of the smartest things a client can do to enhance the experience is work with a professional integrator.

What Types of Cameras Are Used Today for Audiovisual?

Decades ago, most people considered camera usage for audiovisual to be primarily camcorders, which eventually progressed to phones. Technically, these two types of cameras play into the broadcast news arena, but not so much in commercial AV.

In commercial AV, the following types of cameras are the most commonly used for audiovisual purposes:

* When it comes to audiovisual for education K-12, camcorders and phones tend not to be the primary go-to for technology. In this scenario, the main type of camera used is one that is installed and mounted on a wall, ceiling, or tripod as a fixed installation that does not move around.

* PTZ, or pan-tilt-zoom cameras, are sometimes used because of their ability to zoom in and back out, and also shift from left to right.

* All-in-one cameras have a sound bar camera and microphone. It can look similar to the sound bar that many of us have at home for our TVs.

* Document cameras are used to put a picture of a document onto a screen. These types of cameras are typically used in classrooms or courtrooms.

The bottom line is that a camera used in commercial AV today is one that offers multiple types of connectivity.

The Best Types of Cameras for Optimum Connectivity

When it comes to technology today, the two primary types of cameras used are:

* HDMI

* USB

HDMI cameras generally feature better methods of transporting data longer distances. Particularly if there is more than one camera in a given room or space, integrators prefer these cameras because it more easily transports data over long distances and it more seamlessly switches between multiple cameras.

USB cameras offer software driven features and flexibility that HDMI does not. If utilizing only a single camera or if a specific type of smart technology is needed for the space, integrators may recommend USB camera usage.

Because HDMI and USB cameras are used for different needs, it is not unusual for both technologies to be used. For example, if a space utilizes an HDMI camera, it may eventually be needed to convert to USB so that it can be used on a person’s laptop or be used on a video conferencing platform. So why use HDMI if you may have to convert it? The primary reason is versatility.

An integrator can break out HDMI into multiple signals. This allows one signal to be sent to USB devices for video conferencing and the overflow to be sent to the lobby or even another conference room. This capability only works for spaces that use multiple cameras.

The key to finding the best type of camera for optimum connectivity in your space is to work with a professional AV integrator to help you create the specific kind of experience you want, whether that be strictly for video conferencing or for a grander production scale.

Controlling a PTZ Camera to Offer Different Viewpoints Within a Space

PTZ cameras typically work off of a manufacturer remote to move it up, down, left, right, and preset or fixed positions. Sometimes it may be possible to do a wide angle shot of a room that captures the audience or participants and another camera that focuses on the presenter. If using an HDMI camera, these images can then be stitched together.

In addition to showing two different viewpoints at one time, HDMI cameras will allow an integrator to manipulate the sizes of the images to perhaps make the footage of the presenter la...

Learning is the focus of education, but how we all learn can be very different, and that is not a bad thing. One of our favorite professional resources for this topic is Dr. Lance Ford, who has a lengthy history in education, specifically in finding technology solutions that are valuable to the classroom. In addition to being a teacher for about twenty-nine years, Dr. Ford also acts as a ZoomRoom Educator, in which he works with educators who are exploring the Zoom platform or need assistance in tying it into the classroom to help students learn.

More importantly, Dr. Ford is excited about the value of learning when it is done in a way that reaches students where they are and inspires them to grow.

The Value of Learning

The goal of learning is to learn something new and help other people with that knowledge to, in turn, enable them to achieve what they want to do. This is the foundational concept of education. However, there are some challenges that should be addressed to facilitate learning, specifically:

* Impacting learners

* Individualizing learning

* Using flipped classrooms

* Understanding that time is boundless for the knowledge transfer process

By exploring what each of these areas means and how they can impact the education process, it can be possible to empower both teachers and students to create an environment tailor-made for learning.

Impacting Learners

In standard classrooms, the following situation happens in some shape or format:

* A bell rings, signaling the start of class (or for college classes, there is a certain day and time of the week for class)

* Students come to sit in the class

* The teacher begins sharing knowledge with them

* The student takes notes on the knowledge

* The student is able to regurgitate that knowledge back to the teacher via an assessment process

* A student’s understanding of a subject or topic is strongly based on the results of that test or assessment

During the pandemic, learners were impacted differently. Limited remote teaching methods that are quickly employed during an emergency situation, such as moving to learning online, can make it hard to individualize the learning process. Students had multiple challenges to pandemic learning, including:

* Various learning styles

* Unique ways of engaging in content

* Access to technology

* Limited ability to see nonverbal signs if they did not have video capabilities

Yet, because of the experience educators and students had during pandemic-related remote learning, it has yielded more tools that can be used in combination with other methods to individualize learning so that every student can benefit, even when in the classroom. For example, video communications that took place during that time allowed teachers and students to make their lives more relatable to each other as they interacted, adding an important relationship component that enhanced the overall learning experience.

Ways to Individualize Learning for Students When They Are All Unique

Ford believes in starting with the desired outcome and the educator working their way back to the student’s individual level. When an educator programs a student’s interests (or lack thereof) to cross-pollinate with other students to share their perspectives on things, a genuine learning experience can occur. It allows students to relate to each other (even if they are in different places in their education) in a way that might not necessarily happen with their teacher.

As far as students being in different places, educators can enhance the educational experience by taking into account where learners are when they get to the classroom. If students are able to learn from each other through cross-pollination as well as learning from the educator, it provides additional avenues for students to learn from.

Particularly in recent years, education technology has become an integral part of learning for students. Although some campuses adopted modern technology during the height of the pandemic mainly to facilitate virtual or remote education, the result is that it has enabled most schools today to have access to technology for use inside the classroom as students return to in-person learning.

The Biggest Technology Struggle for Schools Returning to In-Person Education After Virtual Learning

The goal of incorporating technology in the classroom should be to help teachers better educate students to have a brighter future.

At the beginning of the pandemic, many schools were in a state of educational triage in which once they obtained funds, they bought modern technology devices and then put them in the hands of students for use at home to supplement virtual learning. Once that was achieved and virtual learning continued, students settled into a bit of a routine with this remote technology.

However, when schools experienced the end of virtual learning and students returned to the classroom, many schools shunned the technology once used for virtual learning because few were sure how to incorporate those methods into the in-person classroom experience.

In reality, technology that was once used solely for virtual learning can also be used as a blended learning tool to enhance a student’s education. However, as much of the nation transitions into a new normal amidst the COVID pandemic, it is becoming clearer that educators have not been provided with the instruction they need to be able to effectively incorporate this technology into the in-person classroom.

Technology is needed in our schools, and if it is not being used properly it can be a struggle for educators, which leads to frustration for teachers and missed learning opportunities for students.

What Technology Looks Like in Education Today

In a roundabout way, the pandemic became a champion of using technology in a positive way. It enabled the education industry to continue teaching children when it was not possible to do so in person.

When used the right way and with the right instruction, technology can be an amazingly effective supplemental learning tool for remote, mobile, hybrid, and in-person learning.

Classrooms today tend to fall in one of the below categories:

* Repetitive technology-based classroom. These classrooms, whether it is due to lack of funds and/or knowledge of how to operate certain devices, tend to focus on repetitive learning via the same basic technology tools for students, such as online worksheets or learning games.

* Flipped classroom. These classrooms were highly advocated for before the pandemic, but not every school had the means or desire to create this type of learning environment, which incorporates mobile devices into the in-person classroom experience. Those that did pre-pandemic were largely successful at switching to virtual learning. Those that were not able to provide a flipped classroom pre-pandemic may now be able to thanks to the accessibility of technology that was used for virtual learning.

* Advanced classroom. These classrooms have increased access to creative experiences thanks to virtual reality platforms that allow them to experience learning in an entirely different way. As amazing as virtual reality is, this technology can be pricey and not within everyone’s school budget, and for that reason is not frequently used.

Essentially, educators are doing their best to balance normalcy with the constant forward motion of technology. It can be difficult to strike the right balance, especially if educators do not have the support they need in place, and it may look different from one campus to another.

Technological Trends in 2022

As an advocate for technology integration in the classroom,

When a company decides they are ready to take action in either establishing or upgrading technology, or even improving the existing infrastructure of an audiovisual system, it can make for a much smoother process if they understand the steps an AV integrator goes through, the questions they ask, and why they do what they do.

To assist companies that are planning to partner with an AV integrator, we have taken some of the most common scenarios and questions that come up on an almost daily basis and are sharing them now with you. This behind the scenes view of the process from the integrator’s point of view can be invaluable in helping clients understand more about what to expect in their own audiovisual journey with a provider.

The Top 2 Things to Know Before You Contact an AV Integrator

It may seem like reaching out to a professional AV integrator is just the tip of iceberg, and in many ways it is, but it does require two key pieces of information before you make contact with them:

* Shared vision – The term essentially means that the vision you communicate to the integrator should be shared among your company’s key leadership. If the IT lead calls and communicates a vision that is different from a chief operating officer’s which is also different from an executive’s, chances are that the final technology proposal will not be up to snuff for at least one or more individuals. Develop your company’s shared technology vision before you initiate contact with an AV integrator.

* Budget – Know your budget for the project. This does not mean that the entire budget will need to be used, but it does give integrators a starting point for knowing if certain technology is automatically off the table due to budget concerns.

With these two pieces of information established, it is time to contact a reputable AV integrator about getting your space connected.

What to Expect in Your Consultation with an AV Integrator

Typically, when a client wants to get their office boardroom, conference room, or classroom connected, they contact an AV integrator via phone or email. This is a way for the client to introduce themselves and learn more about the individual they will be working with. That introductory phone call should only be a gateway to an in-person meeting to discuss the vision for the project.

While a phone call, pictures of the space, or even a Zoom call can provide basic information, it is not conducive to collecting specific details of a space such as wall measurements and a three hundred sixty-degree view of the room. A phone or email conversation should not be a substitute for physically being in the space to get a feel for the dimensions and makeup of a room.

Face to face communication is always preferable when possible because it allows the project leader and the integrator to collaborate together. It allows the give and take between both parties in terms of a client identifying what they think might be needed and an integrator knowing if it is doable on the client’s budget.

Once an in-person meeting is set up between the integrator and client, the real work can begin and generally follows these steps:

* Conducting a needs analysis – This includes establishing what technology the client wants to incorporate and for what purposes, as this usually dictates which products will be needed specifically to help them achieve their goals.

* Noting the room’s physical makeup and dimensions – An AV integrator will likely bring laser tape measurers and other tools to help them measure the dimensions of the walls of the room, which will help with product placement. Even the height of the ceiling is key as it will dictate what kind of product can be mounted and how it will need to be done. Integrators will also write down the physical characteristics of the space such as if there is sheetrock, concrete, cinderblock, etc.