In the IT world the phrase “technical debt” is a well-known phrase and it is used effectively to describe problems and why they are so difficult (expensive) to fix. The term first came about in 1992 and was coined by Ward Cunningham. Cunningham was particularly referring to software coding, and that is a common way […]

For years, I have been the poster child for standards in classrooms. I have made this argument for a very long time at my school and through talks and at conferences. The arguments for standardization are powerful and plentiful. The ability for staff to only need to be focused on a certain family of products […]

In higher education, we spend a lot of time thinking about the technology that goes into classrooms. In my blog from last month, I wrote about what the perfect classroom would look like. I focused on technology and how technology can make our classrooms work better. Yet — everyone who works as a technology manager […]

By Chris Pennell Futuresource Consulting There’s no doubt that the higher education sector has experienced a difficult period over the last 18 to 24 months. Profound and far-reaching changes have been applied in an effort to respond to the challenges of COVID-19 and enable students to continue to learn remotely. In the wake of the […]

Each year, thousands of AV professionals gather together for InfoComm in either Las Vegas or Orlando. The show can feel like a giant reunion for your AV family, with networking events galore, new products to explore and classes to attend. #AVtweeps will proudly tell you how many years they’ve attended the show. But what about […]

By Claire Kerrison Futuresource Consulting The outbreak of COVID-19 forced higher education campuses across the world to adopt distance learning overnight. “The education technology industry has been one of the few to witness growth as a direct result of COVID-19,” said Claire Kerrison, senior market analyst, Futuresource Consulting. “This is reflected in the Futuresource Higher […]

During End User Day of LAVNCH WEEK 3.0 in February (in partnership with HETMA), I enjoyed listening to end users speak about AV security. It was particularly interesting to me since I had just written a blog on how the SolarWinds hack should serve as a lesson to the AV industry. I was tweeting a […]

In the beginning of April and again in May, I wrote updates about the state of higher education for integrators, who may be wondering what their business model would look like for the rest of the year. Paradoxically, it seems like a lot has changed since then, and nothing has changed at all. We are […]

Dear Zoom, We began using Zoom three years ago as a corporate replacement for Skype. The technical staff and our faculty and staff absolutely loved it. Slowly, we acquired more and more licenses. Then in March of 2020, COVID hit, and Zoom went from an essential tool to a business-critical application. And that is when […]

By Chris Bull Futuresource Consulting Throughout 2020, esports has been one of the most notable champions amid stay-at-home orders and social distancing policies. The industry has thrived, but it has certainly changed course from its pre-COVID trajectory, and even more so for its application in K-12 and higher education. When we talk about esports and […]

Over the past several weeks, the higher ed world has become more widely acquainted with the term “HyFlex.” For some, it’s a vague word that leads to more confusion than clarity. Let’s take an opportunity to think about it and what type of AV installs and equipment would support a HyFlex classroom. Interestingly enough, this […]

It’s June of 2020, and colleges and universities have finished their crazy spring semesters. Most are pivoting, rooted in planning for the fall semester of 2020. A few themes seem to be emerging that will begin to shape what this next school year looks like, and therefore how the AV market will play a role. […]

A month ago, I wrote a blog about how financing at higher education institutions works. In that blog, I wrote about how most places, for various reasons, were going to have some tough budget decisions to make due to COVID-19. In the current environment we live in, things change day-to-day. So, I wanted to take […]

Management guru Peter Drucker is often quoted as saying, “If you can’t measure it, you can’t improve it.” I have long believed in this philosophy and work with my teams to make sure we are setting goals and measuring our success. While I think Drucker was right, he lived and worked in a much different […]

THIS IS A PROMOTED POST FROM CASIO  While the classroom has changed, so has the projector. Lamp-based projectors of yesteryear have downsides: They’re bulky. They’re expensive. After only 2,000 to 3,000 hours, they’re at half the brightness. They need constant maintenance. They run hot. Then there’s the issue of mercury; the lamps in projectors leak […]

On Monday, rAVe co-founder, Gary Kayye, will address the 1,000+ registered attendees of 2019 UB Tech Conference, the top conference for higher education leaders, technology gurus and tech professionals. His topic? It’s sort-of about how the ubiquitous “network” is changing everything on campus — specifically, how we can leverage the always-connected network to teach to […]

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 […]

Hitachi America expanded its Collegiate Series line with the addition of two new 3LCD laser projectors. Both the LP-EU5002 and the LP-EW5002 are spec’d at 5,000 ANSI lumens and are WUXGA 1920×1200 to WXGA 1280×800, respectively. These maintenance-free operation projectors have 20,000 hours light source life and up to 50,000 hours with Long Life 2 […]

rAVe Founder Gary Kayye opened up the 2018 UBTech Conference to a full house of about 800 in the Mirage Resort in Las Vegas yesterday. UBTech is an annual technology conference aimed at higher education leaders. Gary’s message was all about the journey that led him to design what he hopes is the perfect collaborative […]

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 […]

Every year the largest AV trade show in the United States provides more “things to see” and this year’s show in Las Vegas is no exception as it promises to be a great one – make sure you follow those well-known rules of attending the show in terms of comfortable shoes, clothing, hydration, scheduling booth visits […]

As I ponder each day’s occurrences in the audio visual industry, the one thing that has come to mind lately with all of the articles and blogs I read, as well as podcasts that I listen to, is whether the industry really has an understanding of where it actually is in terms of that so-called […]

Audio visual technologies offer endless possibilities by transforming the way students learn and interact.  This is the main reason why we continue to read about more and more universities installing AV technologies in their facilities and all throughout campus.  The design standards of campus buildings have absolutely evolved since I was in college, and it […]

In my first Convergent TechWeek I included a story that caught my eye that week about higher education and telepresence robots: Telepresence Robots Enable Oral Roberts University Students to Tour Campus, Take Classes, and Participate in Graduation from Anywhere in the World Tulsa, Okla., August 26, 2015 — Carousel Industries, a leader in unified communications, managed services, […]

Thanks to my colleague Brett Tipton for his contribution to today’s blog post. Brett is a writer, teacher, and public speaker. He brings a great in-the-trenches perspective to the topic of higher education, how well it prepares students for the real world of corporate America, and how corporations themselves — and IT departments, in particular — […]

The lofty halls and ivory towers of academia have been a cornerstone in the sustainability movement and continue to be a beacon for those looking to become learned students of sustainability. We see this in a rise in curricula, degree programs and students matriculating into careers in sustainability in a range of disciplines from business, […]