I was recently attending a conference of higher ed technology support people and was enlightened by a discussion that occurred. Several of the people in the meeting discussed some changes they had made in their classrooms over the past several years. In particular, many of them had eliminated the “dedicated computer” from their classroom designs. Honestly, I was a bit shocked by this. My first reaction was that a desktop computer costs about $800, a minimal amount when considering the cost of installing a full classroom. The group continued to discuss what they were using in place of these computers. They were using a variety of products from AirMedia to Solstice and Cynaps, along with hard-wired connections.

As I was processing this, another attendee asked the question that always needs to be asked but often is forgotten: “What problem are you trying to solve?” The answers to this question started to make me think differently, even as varied as they were. Some people indicated that, because of the pandemic, they now issue a laptop to all faculty. Therefore, no faculty member could say they did not have a laptop to bring to class. Some others pointed out that now that faculty had laptops, they had become much more connected to these laptops. That is to say they would rather bring their laptop to class (as they could prepare for class with it) to have their documents, bookmarks and more always in hand.

In this case, many of their faculty thought it was easier to use the laptop. Others pointed out the cost. Sure, the desktop only costs about $800, but these machines do come with support costs. If you have dozens to possibly hundreds of classrooms, you need to consider the upgrades, imaging and licensing of keeping those computers running. Finally, because many schools are split between Mac and Windows platforms, they were either forced to place both computers in a classroom or put Macs in all the classrooms with a dual boot setup. In the end, they were all trying to save money. But, most of them were doing it because the computer was truly no longer needed, as opposed to forcing changes on users, in order to save the money.

What did I learn, and what do I think integrators can learn from the above anecdote? Lesson one is that opening ourselves to discussions with others and learning about what others are doing is how we grow, change and continue to improve learning environments. This reminds us of how much we have missed the ability to do this over the past few years. Getting back to in-person conferences where we can network and connect with colleagues will give us a great opportunity to better understand the long-term impacts of the pandemic. A second lesson is that it also allows us to think about how every situation is different. At my institution, we also are split between Windows and Mac, maybe even leaning a bit towards Macs. However, years ago, we decided that all classroom computers would be PCs. Only in a handful of classrooms in our arts building do we have Macs in our podiums. We also have wireless presentation systems, but very few people use them. If someone does use a laptop, they connect via HDMI. However, many of the schools taking part in this call had very robust usage of the wireless tools.

Having talked with the AV team at my institution, they are sure our faculty would revolt if we removed computers from podiums. They also felt it would simply be shifting the cost. Rather than spending money on computers, we would be spending money on support and training for people to bring their own computers. Also, they pointed out they would have to do a lot of work in supporting visitors, students and more who did not have a laptop with them. So, if a vendor came to our school pushing a product and telling us we could pay for it by removing computers, they would not get very far because they would not be listening to our specific needs. Yet, down the road at a sister school, the same exact products and solutions would make perfect sense. Integrators and vendors can learn from this: although we are all colleges and universities, we can also be very different.

This story also tells us about the importance of data, the value of collecting it and making decisions based on that information. In our case, our data shows that 90% of the usage in our classrooms is dedicated computers. As previously mentioned, we buy Windows computers at about $800 each and have very few Macs. The majority of our software licenses are site licenses, so there is no additional cost for the classroom computers. The management and imaging tools we use are also site-licensed. Therefore, a decision to move away from dedicated computers would have a major impact on our users without a compelling annual cost saving. However, if you work with a school that uses a dual boot Mac, the price of the computer, along with the support of the computer, raises the cost. If that same school is also below 75% of dedicated computers usage, they may be running into a situation where other options become attractive.

I continue to look forward to being able to meet people in person again and learn from others, and I hope integrators are ready for the same. In a two-hour session, I learned lessons and was reminded of lessons I had learned but may have forgotten. Think of what we will be walking away with after three to four days of an in-person conference.