Meet the AV Nostradamus
2022 has arrived whether we wanted it to or not. Now we get to spend some time predicting what might happen in the AV world in these next 12 months. I love being able to find and follow trends since trends over time seem to be what causes the most change and the change that will stick. We could be predicting all sorts of things from ports on equipment or types of displays or what will be showcased at the next ISE or InfoComm. I plan to hone in on a few trends that I believe are affecting the higher ed vertical to a fair degree. I will focus mostly on trends and habits that will help campuses stay connected in the fragmented world that we find ourselves in. I will begin to dive into what I see as new realities in three predictions that I think will come true!
First, I know this will not come as a surprise but I feel like I need to name it until we finally accept the reality. My prediction is that work from home is not going away or ever decreasing back to what it was before 2020. We need to live with this reality on our campuses and figure out what that means. We need to develop what we as AV people call standards for these offices in people’s homes and we also need to figure out how we are going to support them just as much as the person that has an office down the hall from us. Anything that we can do to help departments budget for these tech items will be of great help as well. Streamlining what we do in these cases will help us support them but also help bring these needs up to par with the rest of the services we provide.
Second, I predict that some form of hybrid will continue even after COVID has been controlled. We now have systems in place in most of our classrooms that will allow us to capture what is happening in these spaces to some degree. Administrations are aware of this and while not all these are perfect and some don’t meet all the video and audio needs that we could have we are able to bring in folks from afar into our spaces at some capacity. I know that this is only a step in the right direction but I think this hopefully can continue to be a training ground for improving what these rooms need even if it is only to record sessions. I am hoping, though, that at my school we can identify a couple of rooms where we could improve the tech such that if we do have programs that want to keep using hybrid at some level it can be done well and that it is easy to learn and run. I also think these gains that were made because of the pandemic will allow us to see value in areas like VR and AR. These technologies would allow for a chance to give students a better opportunity to learn with the virtual speaker present in more of a real-life capacity than Zoom can do at the moment. Any virtual interaction that we can have with objects that can help a student learn content will be something that we should keep paying attention to as well.
Last, I predict that more focus will be put on improving tech knowledge across the board for students and employees in higher ed. This has improved to some degree in the last three years but we are still behind the eight ball in terms of the people that are at least showing up on my campus. We need to find ways to strengthen these basics so that people are not falling behind in class or with the ability to use the tools that they need to teach courses. I hope that we can find ways to continue to have conversations with those that need help so that we can discuss what is possible and partner with them. It also seems that more is now required in terms of what you need to learn to run or attend a class so someone that is coming back to school or who has not taught in some time is at a disadvantage. This also puts a strain on the support structure since it often seems like a disproportionate amount of time is spent on just a few groups of people. Communicating this message to everyone that works with these people will help them specifically and the university as a whole. We should continue to find ways to train up and resource those that can benefit from training and work on identifying people as they are hired who can show a baseline knowledge of what is needed.
Nostradamus or not now is the time to set out a bold vision that improves what we offer to each of our learning communities. Our services continue to be in the spotlight so we are foolish if we don’t take advantage of this tremendous honor. Finding ways that we can do this with compassion and wisdom as we collaborate will be the key. All the best as we strive for new heights in this fresh year!