Issue link: http://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/62215
"AV cannot be an afterthought. Multimedia is an integral part of the instructional environment, like the markerboard." —Gerry Ewing, Stetson University Not an Afterthought Audiovisual technicians emphasize that educators should think of AV first, not last, when planning a major redesign or new construction. James Westbrook of A Visual Image in Irving, Texas, served as the consultant for the installation of state-of-the-art AV equipment in 150 classrooms at Texas Christian University in Fort Worth, including 30 rooms at TCU's Neeley School of Business. Westbrook notes that when schools hire an AV technician-consultant too late in the game, they often end up spending more money than they originally planned. "AV has traditionally been an oversight in both higher education and commercial business. If AV isn't taken into account from the beginning, electricians may have to rezone lights in the classroom or redo conduits after the fact," says Westbrook. "A business school can save time and money in the long run by hiring an experienced AV systems integrator as a design consultant in the initial planning stages. A systems The Metrics of Audiovisual Technology Information addressed to the design of the 21st-century classroom is still a bit scattered, says Gerry Ewing, director of instructional services at Stetson University. Therefore, he compiled a 21-page list of criteria for design of the modern multimedia classroom. The list represents an assemblage of pertinent information culled from other schools' past experi- ences, data from classroom consultants, and presentations at venues such as InfoComm. The following guidelines are adapted from Ewing's document titled "Classroom Technology: Design Criteria and Considerations": height or farther than six times the height of the screen. ■ A screen should be mounted high enough for students in the back row to see its bottom, typically four feet from the floor. 44 BizEd NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2003 height should be one-sixth or one-seventh the distance to the room's back row. But those same documents recommend that the information on the screen be no more than six words across and six rows down. "When was the last time you saw a professor do that?" he asks. Ewing recommends that screens should be at least one-fifth as high as the distance from the screen to the last row of seats. A rule of thumb is that no one should be closer than two times the image Screens ■ Many sources that Ewing found recommend that screen knows this all too well. Although it eventually turned to an audiovisual consultant for help, it did so after the Knight Center had already been constructed, which caused difficul- ties. Most prominently, says Brian Bannister, associate dean of finance and administration, the initial design did not include enough space to accommodate the vast range of audiovisual equipment needed or the office space required for the staff who would oversee its operation. "The room where the command center is now was sup- integrator works directly with the architect to coordinate the electrical system and structural requirements in the design." The Olin School of Business at Washington University posed to be a storage room," says Bannister. "When the audiovisual consultant came, he told us he needed a place for 'the rack.' We mistakenly thought the AV rack could be placed in a closet. We were totally taken by surprise when we saw how much equipment was involved." Not only did the Knight Center lose its storage room, but closets throughout ■ Screens today are slightly rectangular, in a ratio of 3.0 (height) to 4.0 (width). Because of the use of DVD and HDTV, however, screens that are 30 percent wider will be necessary in the future. ■ Ideally, the vertical viewing angle should be about 90 degrees. To assure that those seated at the front sides of any room can properly see the projected image, the maximum horizontal viewing angle should not exceed 110 degrees. Video/Data Projectors ■ Multimedia projectors are permanently mounted to the ceiling. Calculate 2.2 times the width of the screen to approximate the distance between the screen and the lens of the video projector. speakers, amplifiers and processing, and microphones. The system should be designed for continuous operation and include feed- back suppression, not just for speakers at the podium but also for presenters who roam the auditorium using wireless microphones. ■ Facilities seating 150 people or more should include a mon - aural single-source sound reinforcement system to be used to reproduce speech and general background audio from auxiliary Sound ■Major sound system components should include a mixer, loud- sources such as multimedia computers, CD players, or televisions. ■ For U.S. schools, the Americans with Disabilities Act requires assistive listening devices for at least 4 percent of the seats, with a minimum of two seats equipped. These requirements may differ from country to country.