Barco introduces Collaborative Learning Platform empowering interactivity and BYOD in classrooms and campuses at Educause 2015

October 28, 2015 - Press Releases,

Rancho Cordova, Calif. USA – 27 October, 2015 – Barco, a global innovator in collaboration technology, is helping schools and universities evolve from teacher-centric classrooms into rich, interactive learning spaces where students participate more dynamically in both classrooms and via remote locations using their own devices (BYOD). Barco brings its solution to the Educause 2015 Annual Conference from October 27-30 in Indianapolis, Indiana.

Collaborative learning is sweeping the academic landscape with increasing numbers of schools creating environments designed to provide a more active, engaging experience for everyone in the classroom. In order to deliver the on-campus experience to remote students and teachers, Barco developed its Collaborative Learning Platform. The connectivity, information exchange and interactivity options enable academic institutions to tailor their educational approach to generations of students who have grown up with mobile technology. Teachers also receive a new palette of tools to create new delivery models for their preferred teaching methods.

Fueling innovative learning environments
The Barco Collaborative Learning Platform, on display at Educause this week, supports both teachers and students by providing interactivity tools and simplifying information exchange. Students and teachers can bring any personal device (BYOD) in the room and connect to the system via the campus WiFi.

The modular set-up of Barco’s Collaborative Learning Platform makes it ideal for any educational setting, either a single classroom, a campus-wide platform, or a multi-site learning environment. The platform can be used to boost the level of collaboration in traditional classrooms, virtually “merge” local and remote classrooms into a single collaborative learning space, facilitate student workgroup pods, and drive completely virtual, worldwide classrooms. Students can interact with the teacher using their tablets or smartphones, the teacher can issue a poll or a quiz to get feedback, remote students can pose a question by virtual hand-raising. The possibilities are virtually limitless.

Teachers enjoy a higher level of flexibility and control

The Collaborative Learning Platform is a completely modular system, consisting of a number of building blocks. A software platform is the core of the system, featuring a flexible, easy-to-use browser interface that allows teachers to manage lectures and students to interact with the lesson. A touchscreen-enabled web interface gives teachers complete control over what is shown on the central screen. Display nodes containing ClickShare wireless collaboration and presentation technology connect all sources and allow teachers to select the required content and create the optimal layout. For less complex environments, the conventional ClickShare setup is the system of choice.
Designed for all stakeholders
“With our Collaborative Learning Platform, we created a system that meets the aspirations of students, teachers and facility managers,” comments Amir Saadiq, Business Development Manager Higher Education for Barco. “Students want the comfort, freedom and flexibility that BYOD offers. Teachers want to make their lectures more interactive, and want to engage both classroom and remote audiences. And, facility managers like the total integration of the system into the campus networks and EduRoam as well as the ability for campus-wide integration with minimal equipment. This makes the system perfectly suited for both small campuses and large universities.”

See it live!
Visit Barco in Booth #1350 to experience the new Collaborative Learning Platform when you attend Educause October 28-30 in Indianapolis, Indiana.