The 21st-century classrooms are overwhelmed by all kinds of new technologies: projectors, computers, electronic whiteboards, interactive flat panels, speakers, power amplifiers, wireless microphones… With more and more equipment coming into the classroom, it’s been a great headache for teachers to use each device smoothly. Statistics show that at least 20% of all classes have gone through unexpected pauses due to technology issues. For the IT and AV professionals that support these learning spaces, it has become their greatest fear, since the IT admin is most likely to take the blame for such disasters.
The key to classroom central control
The most effective way to minimize AV support calls is to simplify the room’s user interface to the point where even Grandma could operate the equipment. With Q-NEX Networked Media Processor in the classroom, the teacher can easily power on all the devices (lights, air-con, classroom TV, interactive display, projector, and electronic screen) by simply one touch on the desktop control panel, or tapping his ID card. Besides local control, the IT admin can also set scheduled tasks through a web-based Q-NEX Console or App to power on/off devices for all the classrooms.
As the center of the classroom control system, Q-NEX NMP is an all-in-one product integrated with a LAN switch, power control module, AV matrix switch, digital amplifier, wireless mic system, IR control module, and AV decoder. It is able to reduce cabling, save rack space, and minimize the number of disparate boxes that make up the solution.
Some tips for the control panel
A user-friendly control panel shall have an intuitive design and simple operation. Also, you need to make the user experience consistent from room to room. Make sure your touch panel can combine several actions into a single push of a button. For example, you could power on all the devices with just one touch on the power button.
Remotely manage, maintain, and troubleshoot
For large campuses with several teaching buildings and classrooms, it’s important to find a way to remotely manage and maintain the AV assets, otherwise, the IT team is busy running from room to room and fighting with endless technical issues that nowhere to track the record. With centralized management, the IT admins can spend more time improving performance and less time-solving crises.
For Q-NEX solution, provides a cloud-based platform Q-NEX Console for remote management:
All the device statuses will be presented in the Console, so that the IT admin can have a bird’s eye view of all the classroom devices within the campus, saving their time and energy of running around to check each device.
Remote control of the device is available, as well as scheduled tasks to turn on/off each device, in order to reduce energy costs.
When there’s something wrong with the classroom device, the teacher can easily report the technical issue to the Console for the IT admin to notice, and a related repair log will be uploaded as well to track the maintenance progress.
Upgrading the school’s AV infrastructure is a big decision to make. Technology should not be a burden but a helpful asset to educators. The best way to derive the most value from your smart classroom is to make them reliable, easy to use, and easy to support.
Here are some other articles that we think might interest you:
AV Solution Providers: Your Partner in Audiovisual Excellence
Embrace the Future of Audiovisual Control with Q-NEX Console
Distributed AV Control: A Revolution in Audiovisual Technology
