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Learning Spaces Technology Wish List:
Thoughts from the FLEXspace Community
By Rebecca V. Frazee of FLEXspace.org, with many thanks to those who shared their time and thoughtful input including Joseph Kennedy, Tom Worthington, Mike Magrey, Rodney Fillmore, Christian Sumabat, Susan Brower and Matthew Wilk.
To see the learning space examples featured in this column and hundreds more, login to FLEXspace.org and visit the Gallery “FEATURED IN HIGHER ED AV MAGAZINE”
Introduction
As the year comes to a close, we cast a small net to the FLEXspace community to find out what’s on their ‘tech wish list’ when it comes to outfitting campus learning spaces now and in the near future. We listened in on webinars and listservs, participated in conversations, and posted a short survey, gathering input from members with various roles including Instructional Designer, Lecturer, Director of Creative Media and Technology, Director of Digital Media Technology and Networking Services, Associate Director of Technical Services and Operations, Classroom Technical Services & Support Manager, Media Services Coordinator, and others from Concordia College, Australian National University, Chico State University, St. Catherine University, University of the Pacific, Loyola University New Orleans, and Rutgers University.
Technology ‘Must Have’ and ‘Nice to Haves’
We asked, what are the top three to five technology tools or gear that are on your wish list for your campus learning spaces this year? Here are the tech tools at the top of the list.
Touchless AV controls
Given the need for social distancing and hygienic safety, it’s no surprise that most respondents want touchless controls for microphones and cameras. This includes “proximity operated hands free microphones and cameras for student input,” which could use voice or movement triggers, as well as “agnostic and secure on premises AI for voice activated control. Moving away from Amazon or Siri software.” Of course, many campuses were already dabbling with hands free ‘touchless’ controls pre-COVID, but now this will probably be the next big buzzword and tech we’ll be looking at, according to several AV thought leaders.
High quality, consistent audio
As the saying goes, when prioritizing, audio comes before video. Indeed, high on the tech managers’ wishlist is high quality, well-suited microphones. Several suggest ceiling-mounted microphone arrays “best suited for each particular space,” “beam-forming array mics,” and “easy to install ceiling microphone arrays that can cover large areas” such as lecture halls or conference spaces. Of course, quality audio is a critical component of an effective hybrid learning environment. Susan Brower, Media Services Coordinator at Loyola University in New Orleans, shared, “Great sound is the hardest thing to achieve in web-conferencing spaces. We built 23 HyFlex rooms last summer with hanging mics throughout the room to pick up the students and the professor, plus a lapel mic for the professor, plus a personal mic input. But consistent good sound is hard to find!” And according to some, when it comes to technology classrooms, full room coverage with microphone arrays, “is typically the first thing that gets cut!”
PTZ Cameras.
High on the wish list were PTZ cameras and mics that track and follow the speaker(s), particularly to support a hyflex model.
Displays and confidence monitors.
Not far behind the audio and video on the wish list were various types of displays. Tech wishes included “AirMedia / wireless projection connectivity,” “affordable large scale (wall size) LED panels that incorporate built-in video conferencing camera technology,” document cameras, and “digital signage for library (and other shared) classrooms that display the daily schedule in each room,’ as well as confidence monitors for instructors teaching with students in person and online simultaneously (hybrid).
Cloud-based collaboration software.
A few respondents mentioned conference room collaboration tools, naming tools such as Intel Unite or Crestron NVX, or Google Jamboard, a system that allows users to share and edit content in real-time, whether they are in the room or in a remote location.
Centralized IP control (e.g. Crestron Fusion or similar).
These systems would allow staff to remotely manage campus learning spaces, for instance, to track lamp hours for upgrades and maintenance, to remotely cycle power in the room, and gain insight during remote troubleshooting to see what instructors are doing and if they’re patched into the correct control/switch. This could be quite useful for staff working off-campus, or even to provide swift support while maintaining social distancing on campus.
Future tech.
A few listed current technologies or solutions on the horizon. In addition to VR headsets and charging carts for selected rooms, Tom Worthington, honorary lecturer in computer science at the Australian National University wishes for a “telepresence robot for student input.” As a long term goal, Matthew Wilk, Associate Director, Technical Services & Operations Digital Classroom Services at Rutgers would like to see “hologram technology for remote instruction,” and thinks this could have a high impact on student engagement.
Improved Operations, Systems, and Support
In addition to the tech tools listed above, another desire centered on improving the larger ecosystem, including support from AV staff, integrators, manufacturers, and suppliers.
Interoperability and open technology ecosystems
The tech and AV campus community members with whom we spoke want seamlessly integrated systems that balance security with openness, efficiency with innovation. For instance, one classroom tech support manager said he would like to experiment with new tools, but feels restricted by the currently closed tech ecosystem. “There are many new and exciting technologies, but the manufacturer’s ecosystem is slow to innovate. The firewalls that keep you locked in make it difficult to experiment. It would be nice to throw a switch and say we are not going to stay but to a large extent this is common practice and it would be very hard and expensive to change. They all know this so I don’t see this changing.” Flexible ecosystems would not only allow for more agility and innovation in classroom designs and teaching practices but would also help campuses to simplify, which echoes a top concern reported in the Educause 2020 Top 10 IT Issues report.
Improved support from manufacturers and integrators
A few respondents would like to see more skilled AV staff, or “better-trained installation technicians that AV integrators send to our campus,” as well as improved support from manufacturers in warranties. One person shared frustration, “We just rolled out a new display technology from a major computer manufacturer. We are having some buggy problems and when we called tech support the person was literally reading off a script and was totally useless to us.” This person also would like to see warranties extended “for a year to reflect that most of our classrooms are just sitting during this pandemic,” and others have echoed this request.
Faculty Experimentation and Adoption of AV Tech
When we asked what else you’d like to see, a few of these AV tech and media specialists focused on encouraging faculty to experiment with and adopt new technologies in service of pedagogy. Rodney Fillmore feels that “it would be great to have a sandbox where we could put in technology for faculty to play with.” This is similar to the concept behind the learning research studios at San Diego State University, where faculty can test out new instructional strategies and technologies, along with various room configurations to support active learning. Matthew Wilk agrees and admits that it’s a challenge to encourage and support faculty to do things differently. “It is a hard balance to be mindful of the class while using technology. Often, faculty get mired in focusing primarily on one facet of teaching at a cost to other components. I would like to see a greater increase by some users to move outside of their comfort zones and embrace the available tools at their disposal. I am a proponent of pedagogy dictating technology, however, faculty can be more open to taking advantage of what maybe available.”
Funding
As with many if not most campuses, the pandemic and associated economic challenges are prompting significant reductions in resources that negatively impact the services and/or technology that we can provide to our faculty and students. We asked what would be ‘nice to have’ versus ‘must-have’ on the wish list. One respondent noted that all the things on his wish list were “nice-to-haves ’cause we can’t afford them!” Another respondent added to his wish list that “it would be “nice” to have access to a larger, federal pool of funding in addition to the CARES funds.”
What are Campuses Trying to Achieve?
We wanted to know what the driving forces are behind these tech managers’ wish lists. What are their current needs as well as future-facing priorities for campus learning environments?
Hybrid, Hybrid, Hybrid!
Not surprisingly, almost all respondents reported that they are seeking to provide some sort of hybrid, hyflex teaching model, “for extending learning options during COVID.” They want to create hybrid learning environments that are “less stressful” for instructors and “COVID19-safe for students to be in the classroom,” all “without breaking the bank.” Matthew Wilk, Associate Director of Technical Services and Operations at Rutgers also emphasized the importance of future-proofing, looking to the post-COVID world. “In our efforts to create more hyflex spaces in Rutgers’ general purpose classrooms on our New Brunswick, NJ campus, we also need to be mindful of the pedagogical needs when we come back to full on-premise classes in the future. Considerations for what part of the technology being used now needs to be extended for use post-pandemic.”
We’re All In This Together
What we learned by gathering opinions from this small, but insightful sampling of FLEXspace members is that we have much in common driving our needs, whether your role is focused on pedagogy, physical spaces, and facilities, or AV tech integration. We all are striving to create seamless, safe, and high-quality learning ecosystems for instructors and students that emphasize ease of use and fosters innovation, while leveraging existing standards on the way towards experimentation with new technologies. The bottom line is that we have much to learn from one another, and many lessons of trials and triumphs to share within a trusted community of colleagues. Reflecting on this past year, we are honored to have the opportunity to be part of this conversation, and to work with partners such as Higher Ed AV magazine and others to create a ‘central hub’ that fosters community and enables collaboration among practitioners, researchers, faculty, and industry partners. We encourage you to join, explore, and share your stories, examples, plans, and advice with colleagues through the FLEXspace.org portal. We look forward to serving the Higher Ed AV and learning space community in the new year and remaining connected through this monthly column, various webinars and conferences, and the first-ever inaugural FLEXspace Summit Summer 2021! And on a final positive note, Matthew Wilk of Rutgers University reminds us all to “Hang in there! Sunny times are ahead!”
REBECCA V. FRAZEE, EdD
Faculty, Learning Design & Technology Program
San Diego State University
Associate Director, FLEXspace.org
Rebecca teaches in the Learning Design and Technology program at San Diego State University and is the FLEXspace.org Manager. She enjoys experimenting with new technology tools and techniques to support active learning and team collaboration in higher ed and the workplace. Rebecca is a singer and songwriter and has been having fun with asynchronous ‘socially distanced’ recording projects this year. Contact Rebecca at rfrazee@sdsu.edu, and Twitter at @rebeccafrazee.
LISA STEPHENS, Ph.D.
Assistant Dean, Digital & Online Education
School of Engineering & Applied Sciences, The University at Buffalo
Project Director, FLEXspace.org
Lisa serves as Assistant Dean at the University at Buffalo School of Engineering and Applied Sciences leading the Office of Digital & Online Education, and also serves as Senior Strategist for Academic Innovation in the Office of the SUNY Provost. She enjoys an appointment in the UB Department of Communication as an Adjunct Associate Professor. Her SUNY portfolio includes leadership of FLEXspace.org™ and serves as the SUNY Partner Manager for Coursera.
The Flexible Learning Environments eXchange (FLEXspace.org) is an award winning community and open digital repository for higher ed that houses a growing collection of user-contributed content “by campuses for campuses,” with detailed examples of formal and informal learning spaces ranging from multimedia studios, makerspaces, computer labs, hybrid/flexible classrooms, and huddle spaces to large exhibit spaces, simulation labs and renovated lecture halls. FLEXspace was launched in 2012 as a collaboration between SUNY, the CSU Cal State University system, and Foothill-DeAnza Community College District and has since grown to include over 5000 members from 1400 campuses around the world, with PennState joining the partnership in 2019. FLEXspace won the Campus Technology Innovators Award in 2016, and the California Higher Education (CHEC) Collaborative Conference Focus on Efficiency Award in 2018.
FLEXspace users include practitioners, experts and decision makers in higher education, K-12, libraries, and museums who are focused on campus planning and facilities, learning technology, A/V systems integration, instructional design, teaching, and research. The FLEXspace portal provides a sophisticated suite of features that enables users to document and showcase their own campus learning spaces, share research, best practices and tools for planning,