Roundtable education: Why educators face an av juggling act

A breakdown in communication between lecturers, av managers and manufacturers about what av technology can do is alienating users and distancing budget holders.' The observation comes from Omid Shiraji, IT service manager at City University, and it's as good a summation as any of the tough balancing act faced by av professionals working in education.

The situation is compounded by issues as wide-ranging as the inevitable forthcoming government budget cuts, student dissatisfaction with the level of technology available to them when they reach higher education, lack of accessibility when it comes installation, right through to standardisation.

All of these concerns were on the agenda at the latest roundtable discussion hosted by AV, and sponsored by Bosch and Biamp.

Delivery is key

Central to the debate is the 'user experience' as Paul Palmer, test architect at Becta, puts it. Universities are being put under increasing pressure from students - accustomed to a school classroom that has benefitted from av upgades funded by government under initiatives such as Building Schools for the Future - to deliver a similar level of technology in higher education. As at least two of the panelists testify, that pressure is very real with some students demanding their money back because they feel they aren't being provided with the facilities they deserve.

It is not just students who are dissatisfied; lecturers seem to be similarly disgruntled, says James Rutherford, media and learning support site manager at the University of the Arts (which includes the London College of Fashion). The university comprises six colleges spread across six sites. Rutherford is in the middle of a quick-turnaround relocation project. He says: 'I carried out a focus group among students and lecturers and the two things that came out of asking them about their teaching environment was more space, and more technology.

'Our vice-rector has acknowledged we need to get back to our core business - teaching students. But although our new fit-out has a generous budget for the offices, as of November, it was still unclear whether there's a budget to replace our old PCs or av kit,' he says. Rutherford is not alone in finding it problematic to get budget holders to understand not just the importance of av, but also of ensuring it is properly supported.

Erik Windrich, av manager at Kingsbury High School, services two sites taking care of 101 projectors, 30 interactive whiteboards and three performance spaces in two halls. 'It's an explosion in terms of av and my post was created in 2004 to manage and coordinate all that as a result of the Becta initiative. But five years on, it's still a struggle to get management to appreciate I need more staff to work the sites.'

The anticipated forthcoming government budget cuts are set to exacerbate the issue by putting even more pressure on university heads to wring revenue from year-round use of sites and thereby creating access issues for integrators.

'In July-September this year, we did £3.25m of university installations, but it was painful trying to get into rooms,' says Roland Dreesden, managing director at av integrator Reflex. A knock-on effect of this is that integrators are seen just as installers, rather than authorities in their field who could add valuable consultancy elements to fit-outs.

When it comes to purchasing, a way of minimising impact would be to take advantage of 'aggregation procurements, so schools and colleges aren't buying on their own and forming consortiums for purchases,' suggests Steve Creed, head of technical evaluation at Becta. But for smaller integrators, this raises its own set of problems. 'Turnover stipulations with consortia like the London Universities Purchasing Consortium preclude smaller, more local companies, which can often offer higher levels of service. The companies that benefit are those with large turnovers, that are financially well backed but not necessarily the best,' says Nick Lumley, operations director at CDEC.

David Riddle, media services manager at Goldsmiths, concurs: 'There's still no guarantee that a company within the consortium won't go bust. The Learning & Teaching Spaces Managers Group is seeing issues regarding companies in consortiums. Leeds University is an example, because it follows the procurement plan so religiously there are no opportunities for small local companies. From Goldsmith's point of view, there are companies we deal with where I say this is the best value, and my estates and finance departments will talk it over; they wont object, "they are not on the approved list".'

For City's Shiraji, the finance issue goes deeper: 'Everyone around this table is undoubtedly suffering budgetary pressure, but what's the fundamental reason? Universities still need to provide facilities to teach our students. Is it not a case of having the strategic foresight to understand that technology in the rooms enhances teaching provision, and therefore understanding that this is where critical investment should go? You shouldn't pinch the purse when it comes to technology in the room because that's what our students ultimately benefit from.'

Lessons learned

City is a few years into a large project to standardise and upgrade the majority of its learning spaces. There have been lessons learned about getting buy in from lecturers to the technology installed and how they can benefit from it. 'The problems we now face are getting the university as a whole to understand that the estates strategy drives everything when it comes to space and the technology that goes into it. Having standarised our equipment, we need to build on that; what sort of enabling technology can we put in, and how can we get lecturers to change and develop how they teach using the equipment?'

While lecturers and professors have a big influence on budget holders, says Dreesden, not all of them want standardisation. 'I went to see Oxford University recently and was told that if I mentioned standardisation in front of a lecturer I'd be thrown off the campus. They all want to do their own thing.'

That may well be the case - even Shiraji concedes that delivering flexible teaching spaces entails some sort of bespoke element, thereby making standardisation nigh on impossible - but there's no question about the lack of focus on the end user. Dreesden admits: 'We don't really understand how the lecturer teaches, or uses equipment. We understand what the technology does, where it has to go in a room, but not really how the learning space has to look and work.'

And while Tony Wright, ICT and av team leader at University of Greenwich, observes that 'more manufacturers are starting to visit campus with product demos,' Mike Allinson, UCL's av services manager, says he's often left thinking that although the kit is 'nice, there has been no thought given to the end user.' Allinson is in the process of rolling out and refurbishing the majority of its teaching spaces (270 in total), standardising as much kit as possible so teaching staff can move from room to room. 'I know what's out there when it comes to technology. Teaching staff don't, and they need to to give them an idea of what they could do. I'd rather they came to me and said this is what I want in my teaching space and leave it to us as technicians to find effective ways of doing that.'

Putting students first

Which brings us back to the breakdown in communication. Shiraji has the last word: 'Having everyone from the vice-chancellor down understand that we need to put the students at the forefront of what we do, to give them the best lecturers and the best environment in which to learn in is invaluable in diverting money, and creating value, into the classroom.'

Ultimately, the end game for av is to deliver the technology and most appropriate support for the best price. And that means understanding the needs of all stakeholders.

THE PANEL
- Nick Lumley, operations director, CDEC
- David Riddle, media services manager, Goldsmiths
- Mike Baptista, av manager, School of Oriental and African Studies
- Paul Palmer, test architect, Becta
- Tony Wright, ICT and av team leader, University of Greenwich
- Erik Windrich, av manager, Kingsbury High School
- James Rutherford, media and learning support site manager, university
of the arts (London College of Fashion)
- Paul Ward, head of sales, communications solution, Bosch (sponsor)
- Mike Allinson, av services manager, UCL
- Roland Dreesden, md, Reflex
- Omid Shiraji, IT service manager, City University
- Steve Creed, head of technical evaluation, Becta