Blackboards and wall maps just don’t cut it these days. Today’s college students demand more sophisticated media in their classrooms. And the challenge for this University didn’t end there. Enrollment at the Long Island, N.Y., university had doubled over the last six years, leaving the school pressed for classroom space that served each and every student. They had to find a way to support its rapid growth without compromising classroom availability or the essential requirements for engaging the 21st-century student. It needed a dream classroom, one that somehow could handle a simple lecture one day and a sophisticated audio-visual presentation the next. And it needed a lot of them. To make things really interesting, they had to accomplish this as cost-efficiently as possible.

THE JVN APPROACH
JVN Systems knew exactly how to make the university's dream a reality. JVN quickly understood that the university’s classrooms demanded a flexible audio-visual system—robust and available when needed, and secure and out of the way when not. JVN’s engineers designed an audio-visual template for a hybrid classroom that could be quickly and cost-effectively installed by JVN’s team in any of the hundreds of class spaces. The system added the necessary audio and visual components, all easily operated by a single 12-button keypad. Primary components are housed in a JVN-designed equipment box mounted on a classroom wall. The result is a ready-to-go audio-visual system that easily folds out for presentations, and then locks securely and snugly against the wall when not in use. This seeming simplicity belies the complexity of each room’s audio-visual capabilities. JVN’s design made sure that each room’s system fully integrated with the IP network. This architecture allows the university to monitor, support and add functionality at no additional costs by leveraging its existing IT infrastructure. And this cost-efficient, just-what-the-client needs approach included one more JVN hallmark: ease of use. The hybrid classroom’s audio-visual system uses the same easy-to-operate interface in every room and was mastered quickly by the university's 240 instructors.

The Modern Classroom
More than a dozen classroom audio-visual systems were up and running in the first six months of JVN System's engagement with the school. The scalable template has quickly proven its value to the university. It can be rolled out as the school’s continued growth demands. It is also cost-effective, but doesn’t skimp on functionality because it correctly identifies the the services the university needs while adroitly leveraging systems already in place. The end result: A flexible, sophisticated classroom that serves the needs of an MTV generation of students.

The hybrid classroom in detail:
JVN created a streamlined audio-visual template that maximized each classroom’s audio-visual capabilities while minimizing costs. Each room includes a ceiling-mounted data projector, dropdown electric screen, speakers, and custom-built equipment box complete with video components, AUX sources and the system control panel. Here’s a look at the details:

4Video: Each room’s 2000 Lumen data projector is ceiling-mounted and thus out of the way during a regular lecture, but available when needed for a presentation. The 84-inch-diagonal electric screen automatically deploys when the system is turned or can be operated manually as needed. Video sources include a combo DVD/VHS player, a VGA input (with audio) for a laptop and an AUX video input for an additional video source.

4Audio: Audio is projected through two ceiling-mounted 8-ohm speakers that are positioned in each room for optimum audio quality. The speakers are powered by a 30-watt amplifier.

4System Control: The 12-button keypad is mounted in the equipment box and operates all essential audio-visual functions for each classroom. Everything from system volume to DVD playback to screen up/down to projector power is handled by the single, user-friendly control. Specially programmed features include automatically deploying the screen when the system is powered up and a built-in system delay to ensure that the data projector warms up correctly.

4IP Connectivity: A key to JVN’s audio-visual design for the hybrid classroom system is its inclusion on the university’s network. This streamlined programming approach allows the university's IT experts to manage each room’s system over an IP connection, without worrying about integration workarounds or regular room visits for maintenance and trouble-shooting. The system includes Crestron Electronics’ RoomView software, which allows IT staff to monitor a room’s audio-visual system over the network, checking such things as lamp life or whether system power has been left on, and allowing staff to precisely schedule when equipment should be powered on or off. Indeed, IT staff can operate all of a room’s audio-visual services remotely whenever needed. Because each data projector has its own operating system—viewable on the network—instructors can log into the system and drop presentations right on the projector’s desktop, where they are ready to play when class begins.