As hybrid learning continues to become a more prominent and popular form of education, Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) Dubai recently determined that it needed an easy-to-use AV solution that would deliver the highest AV technologies to ensure that remotely-located students were as engaged as those in the classrooms.
Meeting the Requirements
According to RIT Dubai, the key to a successful installation was finding a solution that allowed both the lecturer and students to focus on the lecturers’ content without worrying about the underlying technology.
“It was imperative that all of our students, regardless of their location, could clearly see and hear the lecturer,” said Khalil Darwish, director of IT for RIT Dubai. The university stated that this led them to considering AV conferencing solutions by ClearOne in order to meet the requirements.
The university further revealed that Alpha Data, the system integrator for this project, designed a ‘mock’ classroom in RIT’s old campus with the ClearOne solution as a demo concept of the solution. “The demo enabled us to take a hands-on approach and we were extremely impressed with the ease of use of ClearOne’s solution, and the exceptional levels of audio and video quality it delivered,” said Darwish.
The Installation at RIT Dubai
Alpha Data installed a complete ClearOne solution that included a COLLABORATE® Versa Pro 50 kit, COLLABORATE® Versa Lite™ CT, CONVERGE® Pro 2 48VT advanced microphone auto mixer, LS6CT ceiling speakers, along with a BMA 360 ceiling tile beamforming mic array and UNITE® 150 PTZ camera.
According to the company, besides the high-quality technology, another influential factor in choosing ClearOne was that many of the solutions’ components could be ordered locally. This convenience thus allowed Alpha Data to meet RIT Dubai’s requirements to complete the installation within the given timeframe.
Image courtesy of ClearOne
“The fact that its products were available locally provided a real competitive edge for ClearOne,” explained Darwish. “ClearOne’s distribution and logistics teams worked very closely with us to deliver solutions to meet our very tight timeline. This reflects the high levels of support and maintenance which it delivers,” he added.
Results of the AV Solution
The AV solution has become a vital tool in enabling RIT Dubai to successfully conduct various educational programs outside of lectures, including seminars and presentations.
“We recommend ClearOne to our clients because it offers a complete AV conferencing solution from a single vendor and can deliver a range of solutions from tabletop plug & play systems to professional configurable high-end audio solutions,” emphasized Jinesh Shah, team lead, ELV & AV, for Alpha Data. “Plus, from a systems integrator’s perspective, ClearOne’s system architecture enables us to deploy solutions for our customers, including RIT Dubai, quickly and easily.”
Darwish concluded, “The superior quality of its audio and video has meant that in a teaching environment all of our learners are completely immersed in their lectures. This is of critical importance for our remote students.”
According to ClearOne, although its solution is primarily used in a learning environment, it is now being deployed to facilitate general business meetings for the institution as well, thus making it a success story for ClearOne and RIT Dubai.
