Don’t tell me this is all for nothing?
An up-and-coming Irish songwriter, Dermot Kennedy has a song called “outnumbered” where it begins with the line “Don’t tell me this is all for nothing” and it really echoes a message of anxiety from 2020. What the future holds as we enter into 2021 with the first signs of a vaccination that may allow us to return to a “new norm”.
But what is the new norm? For everyone, it will have a different meaning. For me, it’s simply as Dermot sums up in his opening line to outnumbered. All of this, the changes in our lifestyle, the way we work now, and the way we provide solutions to our end-users. Even temporary solutions as we entered a virtual world. This can’t all be for nothing?
New year’s resolution and looking into summer 2021, we should all be using what I will call our Pro AV, ABC.
A stands for Accountability, B stands for Brexit, C for COVID-19, D is for Delivery, E could be expectations, F … well let’s not go there! F could be future, or it could be failure depending on which way we handle the first few months of 2021.
We all need to take accountability and contemplate the changes 2020 has made for all our lives. Yes, COVID-19 has been one unpredictable day after the next. In my previous articles for the Higher Ed AV Magazine, I’ve discussed how life-changing this pandemic has been for me and for my work-life balance. I have worked from home since March. I’ve been on campus less than 4 times since the start of this pandemic in Ireland. I’m supporting virtual calls every day. I see my children more which is time I will never get back at their young age. I love every moment of seeing them grow up. I value those moments even if my home is now my workplace.
All companies, private or public sector need to embrace these changes post Covid-19, this is the Accountability. We can’t go backward to overcrowded train commutes to work and rush hour traffic.
Since September 2020, I’ve seen parents stagger their work hours simply because they have doubled their school runs, where they may have a child in primary school starting at 8.50 am drop off time and another child in secondary who has been given a drop off time of 9.15 am. Why? Simply so there is not congestion of parents and children outside a school and we must maintain a safe social distance. If we did this during the pandemic why should it be regimental that your office hours are always 9 to 5?
For employers, they need to trust their employee to do their job. If we have successfully worked from home since March, why shouldn’t we be provided the option to work from home regularly in the future?
B is for Brexit. At the time of writing this article, there is huge uncertainty over Brexit and hard borders between the North and South of Ireland which may bring positives and negatives to University teachings. It will introduce challenges to AV professionals who may source equipment through UK suppliers.
For AV professionals based in Ireland, AVIXA’s UK and Ireland representations are all based in England, and even traveling to AV conferences like the Learning & Teaching Spaces Management Group (LTSMG) in 2021 could be interesting now that England will be out of the European Union.
For students from the North of Ireland who may wish to study in Dublin or other large Universities in the South of Ireland, this may bring new complex issues. Grant aid may be completely different for any students entering courses in Ireland post-Brexit. Who knows what agreement if any is struck in the first few months of 2021.
There will definitely be a need for a hybrid learning or conferencing approach. This shouldn’t be a negative impact on the way we work and train. This should be seen as an opportunity for all. We need to embrace this opportunity and look outside the box. Embrace new technology and make environments safe and user friendly whether it be home offices or on campus.
C is for COVID-19. Are we sick of talking about this pandemic?
March will mark one year of COVID-19 being present in Ireland. Although a vaccination may be present in Ireland at the beginning of the year it is up to every individual to continue to act safely when the majority population is vaccinated. We need to continue with this change of lifestyle where it suits everyone. Whether it is the employee working in AV, or the student who wants to get the best education and how we as AV professionals assist in the delivery of programs in our University settings.
I have already been informed that our second term January to May will be delivered in the same way as term 1 with online learning playing a major role in teaching students with very little on-campus teaching. This comes as no surprise as we predict another spike in cases post-Christmas.
As AV professionals we must ask ourselves whether the investment of AV resources, equipment, and hardware (e.g Zoom). Was this a short term solution or should we continue to use software that every faculty and student have become used to using since March 2020?
Do we continue with this virtual environment or do we go hybrid? Does the use of virtual environments create an ability to have more students (virtually) in programs and increase University revenue or is it a hindrance and less is more? Is less more beneficial for students and faculty?
I’m sure by the end of December both AV professionals, faculty, staff, and students were suffering from Zoom fatigue? How do we change this approach of not just death by PowerPoint but death by Video conference calls? How do we enhance the user experience?
This brings us to D – Delivery mixed with E – Expectations. Student’s expectations should be a safe campus environment where they will be provided the best educational experience for the fees which they are being charged. For staff, safety is the priority along with being provided the correct tools to deliver a valuable teaching experience in Higher Education?
For delivery we must remove the stigma of “This is the way we’ve always done it” and resistance to change. COVID-19 has made a change in all our lives. Temporary solutions to problems will more than likely become life-changing solutions.
First, for a safe delivery we must remove the risk of touch and promote a sense of delivery of lessons with Staff and Students being able to bring their own devices. Interaction with the lecture theatre or classroom and sharing content must be seamless. There are several solutions available for a BYOD environment whether this is Atlona, Barco, BenQ, Kramer, or Mersive to name a few.
I have personally been really impressed by Sennheiser’s range of ceiling microphones and their MobileConnect App. In fact, recently I was informed they are developing the MobileConnect App to allow students or attendees in the room environment to use the microphone on their mobile to talk back to the room for example in a Q&A scenario. I believe this will be a huge game-changer for any campus that integrates this system into their classroom environments. Immediately you remove the need for handheld microphones and the risk of touch and sanitizing equipment as each attendee is using their own phones not just to listen at a volume that is suitable to their hearing requirements. They will soon be able to interact with their class and ask questions in a large theatre using their own device.
Control of room technology needs to improve too. If we can limit the touches, it is better for all. Does this mean using voice controls? It can be tricky and I believe an area that is still in the development stages. Crestron is developing a range of motion sensor detection devices so when someone enters the room, the equipment powers on to a default setting.
For lecture capture. I believe if campus has been using Zoom/Teams/Google environments for online learning they continue into the future with what may have been a temporary solution is now becoming a more permanent solution. Or if there are concerns raised by faculty do some site visits to other campuses and see what other capture systems are available.
For the summer of 2021, we must plan for the future not fail in the future.
FAIL TO –PLAN – TO FAIL
Stay safe everyone, I hope 2021 brings you loads of success and opportunities!
Meet the Author
Justin Dawson CTS® is an Award Winning AV Professional employed in Higher Education in Ireland. He produces the All Things TechIE podcast available at www.AllThingsTech.IE . You can contact Justin on LinkedIn, Twitter and his official website.