As more classrooms and business environments move to collaborative, open spaces, instructors and corporate leaders are looking for AV and videoconferencing systems that fit adaptive spaces that can be rearranged and reconfigured as needed.
Today, room combining often must meet the needs for HyFlex, or hybrid-flexible, learning too. HyFlex combines face-to-face instruction with real-time or post-session online access to offer participants the choice of various modes of engagement.
Houston-based HBCU Texas Southern University (TSU) has opened its marquis Library Learning Center featuring the latest in innovative and collaborative teaching and learning spaces. TEKVOX designed and supplied state-of-the-art AV technology for the library partnering with PCS Telecom, which handled the installation and integration. Earlier this year TEKVOX and PCS Telecom teamed on the upgrade of the Earl Carl Courtroom at TSU’s Thurgood Marshall School of Law.
The $43 million Library Learning Center has a distinctive angular design by Moody Nolan Architects. The 137,000-square-foot structure will serve as an intellectual hub for the university and the community at large. A soaring five-story atrium is at the heart of the building; the entire structure encompasses classrooms, book stacks, computer labs, study areas, offices, meeting and boardrooms, and gallery space. It also houses TSU’s faculty senate, Board of Regents IT department and alumni suite and serves as an honors college. [Read more…]
When it came time to renovate the Earl Carl Courtroom at Texas Southern University’s Thurgood Marshall School of Law, TSU selected a TEKVOX Drop-In A/V solution to provide students and teachers with advanced audio and video capabilities in an easy-to-use, powerful system.
“We have been working with TSU for quite some time replacing campus classroom systems with sophisticated distance learning solutions,” Jim Reinhart, CEO of TEKVOX said. “As the centerpiece of the law school, the faculty wanted to add distance learning capabilities to the Earl Carl Courtroom , too.”
Network cable designer and installer PCS Telecom, which had the courtroom’s renovation contract, partnered with TEKVOX to install the Drop-In A/V solution; replacing a complex legacy system that required significant staff input with a highly-automated, compact managed system that can be used with very little training.
TEKVOX Drop-In A/V solutions are highly automated, networked managed and factory-programmed. They are configured for easy integration and installation, reliability and simple maintenance. Within the standard Drop-Ins, application-specific configuration options include combining or dividing rooms at a touch, optimizing conference table installation, adding podium/credenza inputs and control to conference rooms, and making conference rooms and board rooms ready for complex audio and VTC integration.
TEKVOX developed the 32-slot flexible matrix system specifically for the Earl Carl Courtroom with numerous I/Os to handle the needs of faculty and students who take up positions throughout the space during instructional sessions. Multi-stream Ultra High Definition video recording offers a futureproof method of lecture capture in the courtroom and simplifies retention and playback compared to multiple recorder systems. The TEKVOX Drop-In solution cut the size of the equipment rack in half reducing six linear feet of gear to just three linear feet.
Despite its advanced features, the new system is marked by ease of use that faculty and students appreciate. “A single touchscreen display on the courtroom podium unifies control in one easy-to-operate interface,” Reinhart explains. “There’s no need for anyone to undergo complex training.”
He notes that the A/V install by PCS Telecom was the first of its kind performed by the network cable designer. “PCS successfully expanded its portfolio with this project for one of the most sophisticated classrooms in education,” says Reinhart.
When St. George Episcopal Church in San Antonio, Texas wanted to improve the worship experience for its parishoners, integrator Multimedia Specialties recommended an upgrade to a flexible, affordable TEKVOX Multi-Display Solution. [Read more…]