A couple months ago, I wrote about the various problems that arise when people choose not to use microphones during large meetings or classes. In particular, I was discussing the negative impacts this choice has on people who have some type of hearing issue or hearing loss. I wrote about my belief that all rooms […]

If you are paying attention to the higher education world, you have noticed a pattern over the past few years. Since 2016, over 70 colleges have either merged or closed (the majority of them closing). While most would not call it a crisis quite yet, everyone in higher ed is paying attention and working to […]

This year at ISE, AVIXA will present a conference called, “What’s Next In Higher Ed.” AVIXA has presented unique sessions like this for the higher ed attendees of ISE for a couple of years, but this year looks like the best one AVIXA has presented yet. It has several well known educational technologists and will […]

We recently had a email thread at my institution discussing whether people should use microphones as a standard at all meetings. The discussion started as a result of people having a hard time hearing during faculty meetings. Interestingly, this discussion took a different direction that previous ones had. It was focused on accessibility and how […]

Back in September, I wrote an article called AVaaS: It Just Does Not Make Sense. I had begun to think about AVaaS in preparation for a panel discussion I was taking part in during my time at CCUMC. My biggest complaint in the article was that each item that I have read or researched on […]

Throughout my entire career, I have been an advocate of using technology to help educate. When I was in college, training to be a teacher, I began thinking about this and then my first job out of college was helping teachers integrate and use tech in the classroom. That was a long time ago and […]

Over the past several years my job has evolved more and more into the IT world. This has given me an interesting opportunity to see how vendors act differently between the AV and IT areas. This hit home recently as I began to talk with value-added resellers that want to do business with my college. […]

If you have been paying any attention to the video conferencing world over the last several months, you have undoubtedly witnessed the incredible growth of the software-based Zoom video conferencing platform. We have been using Zoom for several years at my institution and we continue to be impressed with it. The new features however, are […]

This month at CCUMC, I will be discussing how Bates College began to turn around its service operations by using data, metrics, SLAs and dashboards. This is not an earth shattering new business tool, but it is something that I think many organizations still don’t use quite enough or don’t use it in the right […]

Despite our industry’s change from box sales to services, I still see some integrators who don’t seem to understand how a service must deliver value to a customer. As I wrote about last month, I see some who still look at what can deliver money to the firm, independent of value to the customer. With […]

Next month, I have the opportunity to be part of an amazing panel at CCUMC on AVaaS. Being part of this panel has made me think more about the service and do some research on it. I don’t want to spoil the entire panel here, after all, I know that we will have a huge […]

Last month, I wrote about how I don’t want to see another whiteboard advertised as THE solution for the classroom of the future. I stand by that, I still don’t like them, but I think I may have not been clear about one thing, the concept behind what they are trying to do makes sense. […]

This publication has recently been using the hashtag #AVisLIFE. The first few times I saw it, I thought it was neat, if a bit nerdy. After all, my family still thinks that AV means I set the timers on VCRs and wheel televisions around campus. However, recently I began reflecting on my time in the […]

At my institution, we began putting our AV systems on the network over a dozen years ago. The advantages were simply amazing. In fact, we take so many of these for granted today, we forget some of them. For example, when was the last time you thought about how amazing it is that you can […]

I think that InfoComm 2018 may have been the signal to me that I have started to turn from a technology dreamer into a practical user of technology. This transition was realized as I toured around looking at the continual assortments of “collaborative” or digital whiteboards. For years and years I have been searching for […]

In May, Bates College announced that we would be building a new science building over the next couple of years. Many of us on campus have been working on this project for over a year. As the building promises to be an amazing addition to the college, it also presented an interesting change as I […]

Any good MBA student from the last decade can tell you about design thinking. It seemed to be one of the buzzwords of the business world for several years. But more than just in engineering and product design, it has started to leak into all areas of business. It can help determine strategy, it can […]

Something that always fascinates me is how new technology creeps into our lives without even noticing. Several years ago, Google put out Google Cardboard. It was an impressive piece of technology, considering it was free to most people. Slowly, other virtual reality devices have come out, but in my opinion none have really hit the […]

Every winter into late spring, I anxiously await for the arrival of summer — and not just because I live in a cold, snow-filled environment for seven months out of the year. I am anxious for it because at that time of the year summer seems so appealing. The students (and most of the faculty) […]

Last month for rAVe Ed, I wrote an article about school safety. I was inspired by the Parkland students, who suffered a horrible tragedy and decided to do something to make sure others did not have to suffer a similar tragedy. I specifically avoided talking politics and law. I think there is a place for […]

Recently, Extron has become more public about its Global Scripter programming features. I believe that this new path that Extron is taking is going to be a major change for the AV industry. The biggest piece of news is that the Global Scripter uses Python as its base for programming. The potential that this opens […]

Earlier this year I had to attend a funeral. While it was obviously a sad event, it was also not unexpected and people were more interested in remembering the person’s life than mourning the death. The funeral took place at a funeral home I had never been to previously, Jones, Rich and Barnes in Portland, […]

In rAVe Ed, we read about technologies that help teachers reach their students in new and improved ways. On occasion, we have written about how technologies in schools can also improve the safety of schools. In light of the recent violence in Florida and regular violence in schools in this country, I think we, as […]

As the world moves further and further into a technology-enabled and -dependent world, serious questions arise about personal and institutional privacy. Recently, news headlines have revealed that a seemingly innocuous bit of data could have far reaching and deadly side effects. Over the past several years, the U.S. Army has issued fitness trackers to its […]

The beginning of the year is a time for people to look at previous predictions and score their success, along with making new predictions for the year ahead. I have spent some time over the past few weeks thinking about what is to come in the new year with technology. What really struck me, however, […]

Integrated Systems Europe will take place this year from Feb. 6-9, in Amsterdam. Many of us in the United States view this show as “Europe’s InfoComm.” While the show takes place in Europe, it’s a viable show for people throughout the world. If you sell to education in any way, or work in education, you […]

In my last column, I wrote about how virtual reality will offer amazing opportunities for integrators working in higher ed. A few days after I finished, I read an article that made me think about how augmented reality will change the basic functions of our industry. The article is titled “Why Every Organization Needs an […]

Every time we build a new building or renovate a new space, we need to address the age old questions of AV in classrooms. Why does the screen need to block the blackboard? Does there need to be a podium in the room? Does there need to be a rack in the room? Is there […]

In an October 28th, 2017 article in the New York Times, “Virtual Reality Gets Naughty,” Alyson Krueger writes about the pornography industry’s deep dive into virtual reality. Despite what you may feel about the ethical issues with the pornography industry, the article is a fascinating read. In particular, it is interesting because of how far […]

Like so many other people, I have read about the Harvey Weinstein scandal over the past several weeks with disgust. As the story grew and the #MeToo campaign went viral, I forced myself to listen to statements from women around the country and to read their messages. I say “forced” because it is not easy […]

Active learning has been on the rise in American college classrooms over the past several years. In general, active learning usually takes place in a classroom that is designed for more group work and discussion and less lecturing from the front of the room. There are dozens of varieties of active learning, and most furniture […]

Fifteen years ago when I took my first job in the AV world (as a tech manager at a college) I remember people asking me things like, “So does this mean you program VCRs?” or “You’re taking a job pushing TV carts around?” In those very early years, yes, we actually did push around some […]