Meeting the University challenges at Brookes

Source: https://www.avinteractive.com/case-studies/meeting-university-challenges-brookes-10-12-2018/
Education providers need to deliver top-class teaching in
modern facilities if they are to attract fee-paying students. Steve Montgomery
reports on the refurbishment of the Clerici building on the Oxford Brookes
site.
Founded as the Oxford School of Art in a single room in the
centre of the city over 150 years ago, Oxford Brookes University, as it is now
known, has merged with other learning institutions and grown extensively over
the years. It has progressed from scattered rooms across Oxford to one, larger
college in Headington, recognised today as one of the UK’s leading modern universities;
with around 18,000 students, 2,800 staff and an excellent reputation built on
strong links to local industrial and commercial organisations.
The university delivers the highest level of education,
resulting in an employment level of students completing their courses at a
respectable 95 per cent. The university embarked on a £220 million, 10-year
investment plan in 2015 in order to maintain the quality of its teaching and
research facilities.
£22 million of that investment budget was committed to an
extensive redevelopment of the Clerici building which had been partially empty
after the library moved to the John Henry Brookes building over five years ago
whilst the remaining space was used for staff offices.
Teaching
facilities and digital signage
The redevelopment plan included the creation of 68 teaching
and meeting rooms and rebuilding of the main hall; the Sir Kenneth Wheare Hall
for use in teaching and to host some of the most significant events in the
university calendar, including the annual graduation ceremonies.
The AV team had already developed teaching rooms for other
buildings across campus and had a good idea of what they required: “We wanted
the new teaching spaces to align with those in other university teaching spaces
to provide consistency to users and simplify their operation,” explained Olly
Pickett, AV manager. “Three types of system configuration were defined to meet
the different sized teaching spaces in Clerici. In addition, we needed to
furnish the main hall so that it can serve multiple uses.”
The university already had a site-wide, centrally managed
digital signage system from Onelan that provides information on student
activities and special messaging around the university. This was to be extended
into the new building with the addition of 13 new displays.
Specification
and tender process
The AV team developed a requirement specification based on
their standard room designs and generated an outline list of preferred
components. Like many other institutions, the university has a focus on
collaborative learning and BYOD philosophy. Pickett: “Students are expected to
use their own personal devices to prepare work prior to presentation in the
central screen in each room. Provision for quick and secure connection into the
university AV setups is very important. The ability to enter into video
communication with external parties is also a key requirement.”
In common with other large-scale projects, the
specification was put out to tender to preferred suppliers. The responses were
then reviewed on price-performance expectations and the ability for bidders to
comply with the original list of requirements and offer further design ideas.
Shortlisted integrators were then invited to offer their
solutions and make proposals to improve and enhance the solutions they offered.
Andy Read, sales and marketing director of winning bidder Reflex, reflects on
the process: “We responded to the outline specification and provided picture
schematics to help the AV team at Oxford Brookes visualise our proposals. The
main hall was where we could really apply our creative skill. The university
had deeply considered how it wanted to use the space in the future and the type
of events that would be held there. The architects devised a way of splitting it
into two rooms with a partition that folds up into the ceiling with moveable
raked seating that fits flat against a wall when not in use. We created an AV
solution that was equally as flexible; to support the wide range of events
envisaged and to be sufficiently flexible to adapt to any new role in the
future.”
Scope
of technology
The digital signage system was extended by the additional
display screens that are connected to the pre-existing Onelan content
management system (CMS). Fresh content is regularly created and uploaded by the
central communication team and proves to be popular and useful to staff,
students and visitors. Facilities managers within the Clerici building can
access specific zones to provide pertinent local information. “It is an effective
solution that is managed as a single channel,” says Pickett. “This enables the
screens to show mixed content from central comms and local content managers in
an attractive layout.”
To make the most efficient use of space in the meeting
rooms, control and BYOD interface equipment is located in Teammate Wallzone
wall mounted lecterns. An Extron MLC 100 Plus control panel provides intuitive
switching of sources on to the large format display screen.
The focus in the teaching rooms was on collaborative
learning, based around 70in CTouch interactive displays. “This enabled us to
minimise costs as the display itself is used to switch inputs, removing the
need for a traditional external switcher,” explained Pickett. “The minimal form
factor of the TeamMate hub lectern we use helps us to maximise room capacity.
It has interior space for a local PC, Lumens PC193 document camera and
facilities for BYOD and provides a neat and efficient solution that is easy to
use by both lecturers and students alike.”
To achieve the required flexibility and dual-room layout in
the Sir Kenneth Wheare Hall, the AV system was split into two separate systems,
one for each individual area, with the ability to be combined into one system
whenever the hall is opened into a single space, such as for the prestigious
degree award ceremonies.
Two lecterns have been installed in the separate halves of
the hall. Local switching in each lectern is provided by an Extron DXP 84. Each
lectern has a Sharp interactive touch screen, Extron Pro 720 control panel, and
Kramer Via Connect for BYOD device connection. The theatre was also wired with
floor boxes and wall plates so that film crews can bring in equipment for
broadcasting graduation day and other events without trailing cables.
All source inputs, including camera feeds for lecture
capture are also fed into an Extron XTP CrossPoint 1600 in the control room.
The selected outputs are then fed to a 20,000 lumen Epson EB-L1750U laser
projector in one space and dual Epson EB-G7400U projectors with motorised
screens in the other. In addition, each area has four radio mics, dual lectern
mics and a number of floor boxes. These are processed by an Extron DMP 128 AT
DSP and Yamaha TF1 Digital Mixer. An Ampetronic Low Spill induction loop was
also installed.
Lectures are regularly captured and made available to
students for later review. The hall has a fixed lecture capture PTZ camera,
combined with Sonic Foundry MediaSite system. Lectures can then be shared using
Moddle or streamed live via the internet.
Engineers in the control room overlooking the hall control
the setup and operation of the whole system using an Extron Pro 720 touch panel
and Yamaha TF1 Digital Mixer. This is pre-configured with typical and
commonly-used system configuration setups to make it a quick and easy task to
change the operation of the audio visual equipment to match the space’s AV
requirement.
The Social Learning lecture theatre uses a double-width
Teammate Educator lectern, with a Sharp interactive touch screen. Again, an
Extron Pro 720 control panel provides operator control and Kramer Via connects
students’ BYOD devices wirelessly. Switching and audio distribution are dealt
with using an Extron DXP 84 Matrix Switcher and Extron DMP 128 DSP. The room
also has a PTZ camera for lecture capture.
Centralised
AV user support
One of the most beneficial advantages of equipment
standardisation is in providing user support. “The use of the same technology
throughout campus enables us to centrally support and manage everything. We use
Extron equipment for control and switching, the AV team is Extron Pro trained
so can easily make changes as and when required and manage everything through
the Global Viewer software,” says Pickett. “We use this along with our Service
Management toolset, Service-Now. An incident record is created when a data
projector or filter reaches 10 per cent life, so we can provide maintenance and
replacement when the space isn’t in use. We also watch for devices that go
offline, an incident record is created and our Service Desk team can then
investigate and fix. Global viewer gives the Service Desk the ability to
remotely support teaching rooms, increasing our ability to solve incidents at
point of contact.”
Smooth
installation process
The contractor for the building interior fit-out,
McLaughlin and Harvey, worked in close harmony with Reflex during the
refurbishment programme. “The building work ran six months late which required
flexible working by Reflex and at times was rather stressful. The Reflex team
was outstanding throughout the process and ensured its equipment was installed
and commissioned in a timely manner, often in quite difficult circumstances,”
said Pickett.
“Other than minor equipment changes as new models were
released by manufacturers, there were minimal changes throughout the project
from an AV point of view, which indicates that the original specification and
design work was sufficiently detailed and thorough to meet the original
objectives.”
An
outstanding success
The primary objective of the refurbishment was to expand
the number of teaching spaces, in line with the campus development strategy.
The additional teaching rooms and addition of larger lecture theatres, enables
more dynamic timetabling. Of particular note is the Sir Kenneth Wheare Hall
which is a showcase for the university and regularly used for a mixed variety
of large prestigious university events.
The transformed spaces on Oxford Brookes’ Campus have been recognised by the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS), receiving a Highly Commended award in the Design through Innovation category of the RICS Awards 2018. The accolade honours the use of outstanding innovation in designing a successful project. The judging panel found that the redevelopment: “demonstrates clear evidence of creativity and innovative design.”
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