• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

My TechDecisions

  • Best of Tech Decisions
  • Topics
    • Video
    • Audio
    • Mobility
    • Unified Communications
    • IT Infrastructure
    • Network Security
    • Physical Security
    • Facility
    • Compliance
  • RFP Resources
  • Resources
  • Podcasts
  • Subscribe
  • Project of the Week
  • About Us
    SEARCH
IT Infrastructure, Managed Service, Mobility, Unified Communications

How Networked AV Will Help Support Hybrid Learning at USC

The University of Southern California was already planning a major AV technology upgrade that could support hybrid learning before the COVID-19 pandemic.

August 3, 2020 Zachary Comeau Leave a Comment

The coronavirus forced millions of students worldwide to leave their campus or school building this spring, and we aren’t really sure what the education model will look like come September. Educators had to scramble to find some solutions to patch together a decent remote learning model, but the situation now calls for a more in-depth plan leveraging AV and IT technologies.

However, the University of Southern California was already planning a massive technology upgrade that would allow for remote connectivity and hybrid learning even before the coronavirus pandemic hit.  Using networked AV and Audinate’s Dante, Joe Way and the audiovisual and IT staff at the university created a scalable, flexible system to support those hybrid environments.

In a My TechDecisions and Commercial Integrator webinar, the university’s director of learning environments detailed the endless possibilities of the $2 million system that he brought to the Los Angeles campus.

According to Way, he joined the university’s tech team in August with the goal of creating a highly available and intuitive teaching and learning technology experience for the campus community through sustainable, accessible and safe user-centered environments.

Along with a new team of AV professionals and student workers and a heavy reliance on Dante, Way created a sustainable, collaborative IP-based, software-defined AV/IT solution that features a simplified user interface, redesigned AV wall boxes and an overhauled control and monitoring center.

Dante is featured throughout the system, according to Way.

“From start to finish, the entire system runs Dante audio point to point,” Way says.

That created a networked AV system that allows AV signals to be sent from anywhere to anywhere.

“Not just across campus, but across the globe,” Way says.

Read Next: Audinate Wins Emmy Award for Audio-over-IP Innovation

How networked AV and Dante can solve the COVID-19 education crisis

The U.S. is about a month away from sending students back to class, yet there is still no clear picture of what that will look like. Fully remote, fully on-premises and hybrid learning environments are all possibilities, but COVID-19 has proven to be unpredictable.

However, if USC’s campus were to shut down completely or embrace a hybrid learning model in which some students learn on campus and others learn remote, they’ll be ready. In March when students left the campus due to the pandemic, Way’s office began receiving questions on how the school would be able to support remote learning.

That began a spate of meetings, panic and anxieties to overcome an unprecedented educational challenge.

“I said, ‘We’ve already solved this, actually,’” Way remembers saying. “We already had the plan to do this.”

What began as a project to overhaul the AV in 226 rooms grew to a 318-room project featuring 1,008 Dante nodes and the Dante Domain Manager.

The system was already designed to allow educators to use videoconferencing to connect with a field expert to present to students. Now, it will allow the audio and video to be captured and sent to overflow rooms to accommodate social distancing since the number of students in rooms will be limited.

That same content can be sent to anywhere in the world if students wish to remain of campus, Way said.

“It’s amazing how these use cases seem to grow every day,” Way says.

If you enjoyed this article and want to receive more valuable industry content like this, click here to sign up for our digital newsletters!

Tagged With: Audinate, AV-over-IP, Dante, USC

Related Content:

  • Rearview shot of two young designers giving each other a fist bump in an office, on display is Crestron desk scheduling device Crestron Introduces Desk Q and Desk Touch Scheduling…
  • OptixAV RMM Solution Solutionz OPTIXAV RMM Platform for AV Environments Now…
  • Shure MVX2U Shure Unveils MVX2U Digital Audio Interface XLR to…
  • Mockup of Korbyt Anywhere with Zoom integration. Korbyt Anywhere Now Available on Zoom App Marketplace

Free downloadable guide you may like:

  • Download TechDecisions' Blueprint Series report on Security Awareness now!Blueprint Series: Why Your Security Awareness Program is Probably Falling Short

    Learn about the evolution of phishing attacks and best practices for security awareness programs to ensure your organization is properly prepared to defend against them in this report from TechDecisions' Blueprint Series.

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Get the FREE Tech Decisions eNewsletter

Sign up Today!

Latest Downloads

Download TechDecisions' Blueprint Series report on Security Awareness now!
Blueprint Series: Why Your Security Awareness Program is Probably Falling Short

Learn about the evolution of phishing attacks and best practices for security awareness programs to ensure your organization is properly prepared t...

Workplace Collaboration Tools for Corporate Spaces
Workplace Collaboration Tools for Corporate Spaces

From lobbies and shared spaces to conference rooms and multipurpose facilities, you need high-performing AV technology to effectively share informa...

ChatGPT, generative AI, enterprise, workplace
Blueprint Series: ChatGPT and Generative AI in the Workplace

This latest release of the TechDecisions Blueprint Series explores the new phenomenon of tools such as ChatGPT and how IT leaders should go about d...

View All Downloads

Would you like your latest project featured on TechDecisions as Project of the Week?

Apply Today!
Sharp Microsoft Collaboration HQ Logo

Learn More About the
Windows Collaboration Display

More from Our Sister Publications

Get the latest news about AV integrators and Security installers from our sister publications:

Commercial IntegratorSecurity Sales

AV-iQ

Footer

TechDecisions

  • Home
  • Welcome to TechDecisions
  • Subscribe to the Newsletter
  • Contact Us
  • Advertise with Us
  • Comment Guidelines
  • RSS Feeds
  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Linkedin

Free Technology Guides

FREE Downloadable resources from TechDecisions provide timely insight into the issues that IT, A/V, and Security end-users, managers, and decision makers are facing in commercial, corporate, education, institutional, and other vertical markets

View all Guides
TD Project of the Week

Get your latest project featured on TechDecisions Project of the Week. Submit your work once and it will be eligible for all upcoming weeks.

Enter Today!
Emerald Logo
ABOUTCAREERSAUTHORIZED SERVICE PROVIDERSDO NOT SELL MY PERSONAL INFORMATIONTERMS OF USEPRIVACY POLICY

© 2023 Emerald X, LLC. All rights reserved.