Leeds University – Multimode Project

Context of the Pilot:

For the purposes of the project hybrid teaching describes the delivery of content in a teaching room to both in-room and remote students simultaneously whilst supporting audio and video interaction between all participants. This interaction may also be extended to include break-out activities between in-room and remote participants.

The intention of the pilot is to provide as similar an experience as possible to both remote and in-room students. This means that all students will be able to see, hear and exchange information with each other effectively during the teaching session and to bring remote students virtually into the campus classroom.

The pilot includes a range of different types of teaching rooms such as:
• tiered lecture theatres
• flat floor teaching rooms
• small seminar rooms
• collaborative teaching spaces.

The pilot will provide a range of enhanced video and audio capability within each of the rooms which have been designed to enable staff and students to evaluate a range of alternative video and audio options.

The hybrid teaching pilots are being planned and managed in close partnership and collaboration with academic staff. These finding will influence the strategy for future roll-out of these facilities, helping to underpin the university’s digital and on-line learning agenda.

The appointed supplier will collaborate with the University to deliver an Audio-Visual solution in each of the selected pilot rooms to bring the remote students virtually into the campus classroom.

Single Source, Design and Developing Solutions

After a vigorous tendering process we were awarded a single source agreement with the University of Leeds to collaborate with the University and help develop their multimode campus wide (hybrid) program.

Universal AV were tasked with developing the existing estate to maintain an excellence of teaching for both the remote and in room student. The University’s vision was that whether you were in the classroom or joining remotely, you had the same opportunity to be seen and heard, contributing to an effective seminar or lecture.

Phase one was a pilot scheme of 13 spaces across campus. They represented a sample of different teaching spaces from small seminar rooms to lecture theatres each architecturally and aesthetically different, with different methods of teaching. Essentially, they wanted to retain as much of the existing equipment as possible and upgrade with a camera solution, repeater displays, audio and any necessary distribution and switching to ensure seamless integration with Microsoft Teams.

While all rooms had existing lecterns, they needed assessing to see if there would be space for additional equipment, and if so, would any additional ventilation be needed. If room and ventilation was a problem, could we position an auxiliary cabinet?

The aim of the pilot was to use our expertise to assess different technologies that fundamentally performed the same with the ambition to develop standards. For instance for voice enhancement we trialed`, Sennheiser, QSC, Shure, Audio Technica and Bi- Amp, all recognised as quality manufacturers of professional audio products.

We worked with our key manufacturers to attend site and demonstrate products so that we could assess suitability for each space, often loan equipment was left for evaluation.

Due to the many different spaces all unique in respect to size, shape and construction it became apparent early on in the design phase that flexibility was key and that no one solution would suit all spaces. We assessed a multitude of products as to suitability and aligned different products from various manufacturers to provide the most cost-effective solution that would meet the criteria and specification of the University whilst working in each room dynamic.

Working in Differing Spaces

During the pilot, it was evident that the best overall solution wasn’t a one size fits all and several solutions were installed across the pilot. Products installed were:
• Aver camera as this had the inbuilt tracking required
• Q-Sys cameras were also used in varying spaces as well as the Ecosystem
• Sennheiser ceiling mounted microphone
• Presenter choice of platforms available
• Crestron UC Flex MTR

Installation

These rooms were delivered in term time, which meant the rooms were taken from central time tabling. Attention to detail when producing project plans and planning with time tabling way vital. We highlighted the length of time to complete each one, ensured that we had visibility of lead times and prepared a Gantt chart that the AV team used to engage with timetabling.

The intention was to assess the different products upon reliability, quality, functionality, ease of integration in challenging spaces, ease of use, student engagement and of course value for money. Feedback was sought from the AV team, the academic staff and us. This was appraised and enabled the University to develop room standards and plan phase 2.

Familiarity

Whilst working on the project it became clear that there needed to be a balance between finding the right solution for the space, whilst maintaining a level of “familiarity” across the teaching estate. For instance, the academic wants to have the same user experience in a lecture theatre as they would in a small teaching space, despite different equipment being used. Therefore, whilst the cameras and microphones will differ in a lecture theatre to a small meeting room, the user interface, often represented by a touchscreen control panel, will remain the same. By building in “familiarity” in to the system designs, Universal AV were able to ensure early adoption by all users. This benefited Leeds University by ensuring their investment was well received and worthwhile.

The use of “Pilot” rooms allowed equipment to be used “in anger” and for all stakeholders to have a say in the solutions. This was crucial to ensure early adoption of the technology across all the users. Working in partnership with regular communication on a project of this scale and complexity was at the heart of the projects success.