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Versatility, simplicity and flexibility key as AUEA leads the way with digital signage, IPTV and video streaming

php35KYsSPMBased in Birmingham in the West Midlands, Aston University Engineering Academy (AUEA) was opened in 2012 to provide vocational learning for up to 600 students from the age of 14 to 19.

Located in a modern, new-build premises and backed by high profile partners including Aston University and the Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics Network, AUEA aimed to provide a cutting edge environment for students to learn, ensuring all technology implemented added positively to either the environment or to the student learning experience.

AUEA’s Vice-Principal, Daniel Locke-Wheaton, has been heavily involved with choosing the Academy’s technology partners; “When we opened we had a fantastic opportunity to invest in our future; we had backing from our corporate partners and a clean slate to work with. To ensure our Academy was an attractive one we knew we needed to provide our students with a modern and impressive environment to study, learn and grow in.

“As part of this project we decided to invest in a digital signage system which we saw as a vital way of communicating to our students, entertaining them in between lessons and injecting life into communal areas.”

Extensive research and site visits

AUEA researched the market, assessing a number of products, but were most impressed by what they saw during a visit to Staffordshire University; Tripleplay.

“It was an incredibly simple to use solution, it was a business quality system and had all of the features and functions we believed we needed. When we spoke to the team at Staffordshire University we knew we had found our solution,” continued Daniel Locke-Wheaton.

Tripleplay’s features include; the ability to zone and group content, create scheduled and ad-hoc playlists, flexible and easily expandable deployment, simple web based management interface, rights-based aggregated administration.

Zoning and Grouping of content in particular was hugely important as the Academy’s students are separated into four ‘colleges’, Shilling, Lanchester, Hounsfield and Whittle, with each requiring its own communications messaging.

Digital asset management, media portal and the flipped classroom

It wasn’t only the TripleSign Digital Signage solution that caught AUEA’s eye, the integrated TripleChoice Media Portal and Digital Asset Management system was a huge advantage for Tripleplay.

“We have a lot of staff who operate a ‘flipped classroom’ model and as an institution we use a phenomenal number of video files both in and out of the classroom. When we found out that the Tripleplay system could also provide a full asset management and video streaming service too it really opened our eyes to the possibilities we could realise with our chosen solution.”

In the past the Academy had distributed video files from a central server, a messy system which resulted in a number of duplicated items, vast use of memory and storage and limited search ability.

Daniel Locke-Wheaton continued; “Aside from the fact we can now centrally manage this content, add Meta tags for search and create our own content libraries, a key element of the impact of this solution has been the Bookmarking feature.

“We try not to use video items of over 2-3 minutes as the modern student expects short, sharp and snappy content. Unfortunately, many of our video files are very long and it can take a lot of manually searching to find the section you wish to show. Using the Bookmarking feature this preparation can be done in advance of a lesson and accessed in seconds when delivering a lesson; we believe this alone will make a huge difference to the learning experience.”

Solution helps keep social balance

The Tripleplay solution plays an important role in Academy life, with digital signage screens in particular being integrated into the everyday working of life at AUEA. Screens are used to show special events, student lunch menus, promote initiatives and achievement and to enforce mobile device use restrictions.

“We have a system whereby we actively encourage the use of technology for learning and so access to mobile devices is essential for our students. However, we also know the importance of social interaction and creating a disciplined, professional environment,” added Daniel Locke-Wheaton.

“To help achieve this we have created a ‘traffic light’ system, which we use the digital signage screens to enforce, so students understand if and when they can use their technology. Green allows full access, amber limited to technology for work and when the light shows red they know they cannot use any technology devices.”

Special events such as the Paralympic Games, Winter Olympics and Remembrance Day celebrations have been broadcast using the TripleSign Digital Signage and TripleTV IPTV platform, helping engage students in occasions they may otherwise never be exposed to.

Daniel Locke-Wheaton concluded; “Technology plays a huge part in the modern world and young people more than anybody else have grown up expecting their environment to include it. As a forward thinking academy we have implemented technologies we believe enhance our offering and service to our people and Tripleplay has been a huge part of that.”

About Tripleplay:
Tripleplay Services is a specialist digital television, signage and video streaming software provider offering products and services designed to meet the needs of enterprise customers including corporate users, education, retailers, hospitality, stadia and residential premises. Our customers are able to deliver television, on-demand video services and digital signage over IP using our open standards products which are designed for viewing on PCs / MAC and flat screen displays.

Tripleplay has offices in the UK, Spain, USA and Australia and a global partner network allowing it to provide local customer support to its extensive worldwide customer base.
www.tripleplay-services.com

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