In this article, which is the fourth in a series of articles by Infocomm about classroom design standards in higher education, Infocomm talks about classroom equipment preferences. The first article talks about industry standards. The second article talks about campus infrastructure standards. The third article talks about classroom design standards.
This material is loosely based on the AV/IT Infrastructure Guidelines for Higher Education. While these guidelines do not cover classroom standards specifically, they do cover many of the aspects that must be addressed in the design and construction of teaching spaces.
In this article Infocomm talks about classroom equipment preferences, where they spell out the specific makes and models of equipment campuses may want. They also emphasise that they have to ask certain questions when they talk about classroom equipment preferences and BEFORE they install this equipment. Some of these questions are:
Would different equipment affect the user experience?
Is user or staff training based on particular equipment?
Has anyone received manufacturer training?
Does the campus stock parts?
Does any group on campus have an installed base of some particular equipment?
Some key observations from this article:
“If the desired equipment is specified early enough in the process, and is not a throwback to another era, there is often little legitimate case to be made for changes.”
“When writing a set of campus standards, begin with a wide perspective and work down into greater detail. Begin with industry standards, familiarizing yourself with them and other industry recommended practices.”
“Next, move on to where systems interface with the building. These would include the portion of infrastructure systems like power, conduit, data, lighting, HVAC, even plumbing. (Bathrooms next to classrooms may be convenient, but often a noise issue.) This would also include physical aspects like clearance for lifts, maybe hard points for projector posts or monitors.”
“Look at a set of standards as a living document that needs to be revised periodically. Give your standards a clear revision date and make sure they don’t get too old. Outdated standards are as bad as — or worse — than no standards at all.”
You now know all about the different classroom design standards. For more information about classroom equipment preferences, view “Classroom Standards IV: The Equipment!”. This concludes our four-part series on classroom design standards.
For more information on how to design and install classroom equipment, contact Actis at 022-30808080 or at contact@actis.co.in.
(Content courtesy: www.infocomm.org and Image courtesy: www.iitb.ac.in)