The territory of AV and systems experts has grown in recent years. Whereas in the past they might have focused more on large spaces, along with routine technical support, now they are strategic partners across a variety of learning environments in higher education. The 2025 EDUCAUSE Teaching and Learning Horizon Report found that around the world, institutions are hoping to benefit from new generations of accessible, efficient and effective technology.
AV Integrators To Play Critical Role in Higher Ed
AV and systems professionals will be vital players in that opportunity because of their ability to design inclusive, engaging and results-driven learning experiences. The expansion of their role empowers AV and systems integrators to help higher ed institutions fully leverage the benefits of hybrid education, including greater flexibility, accessibility, student engagement and enhanced learning outcomes, while minimizing challenges for all stakeholders.
In fact, nearly half of colleges and universities are actively transforming their learning spaces in a flexible way to support learning everywhere due to student and faculty preferences that are pushing institutional modernization.
In the years ahead, AV and systems integrators will continue to play a critical role in institutional success. To meet that responsibility, leaders in the AV and system integration field are focusing on specific priorities and technology trends that are shaping the future of higher education.
Responsibilities, Trends and Priorities
Today’s AV and systems experts are responsible for designing new learning environments, upgrading existing ones, diagnosing issues and implementing solutions that support a high-quality hybrid teaching and learning experience. Beyond strategic direction, their teams are pivotal in the hands-on implementation and installation of these solutions.
Higher ed institution administrators rely on AV and systems integrators and experts for insights on the latest tools and technologies, including their impact on engagement, teaching modalities and seamless integration into existing ecosystems. These experts are crucial for scalable solution implementation, conducting necessary testing and ensuring proper functionality through direct faculty collaboration.
They continuously gather feedback to improve AV systems based on student and faculty needs. They also provide faculty with the skills to optimize AV tools, ensuring adoption, ROI, and positive learning and teaching outcomes. Taken together, these responsibilities point directly to the features and trends that are redefining how AV and systems leaders build and maintain today’s higher ed environments.
Ease of installation
Many institutions have varied infrastructure that creates bottlenecks in tech rollouts. Something as simple as installing new power outlets in an older building can become a years-long project. Smart design can reduce the number of components, cables and installation requirements of an AV solution. Additionally, interoperability makes solutions more scalable over time.
A scalable solution takes less time from AV teams up front and requires fewer updates for learning spaces. Single cable power and devices that can operate away from a dedicated power source are among the features helping campuses deploy technology more efficiently.
Ease of Use
If a solution is hard to use, it leads to more help tickets from faculty, more training needed during rollouts and whenever new faculty arrive, and often results in tech swaps in the future when adoption from faculty lags. Elegant, plug-and-play solutions allow faculty and students to have high-quality hybrid teaching and learning experiences without spending a lot of time learning how it works. This promotes adoption and collaboration, which means better ROI and deeper engagement.
Flexibility and Compatibility
The ability for a system to adapt to diverse courses, varied room configurations, and multiple teaching modalities — while seamlessly integrating with existing technology — reduces the need for excessive equipment in individual spaces.
Compatibility ensures faculty can continue relying on the tools and platforms they know, minimizing the need for extensive training. Standardized solutions create a consistent technology experience across campus, simplifying adoption and enhancing ease of use for both instructors and students.
Affordability, Reliability, Durability and Support
An affordable solution is more scalable. A reliable and durable solution, designed specifically for the higher ed environment, is less likely to need repair or replacement, decreasing overall cost of ownership. Robust support makes fixes and updates quicker and easier, protects investments and eases AV teams’ responsibility to manage tech across campus.
Essential Technologies for Today’s Hybrid Classrooms
AV integrators know that the effectiveness of a hybrid classroom depends not only on how solutions are installed and supported but also on the technologies themselves. A handful of core categories are proving especially influential in higher education today:
Videoconferencing
Essential for hybrid learning, it improves comprehension and ensures student engagement regardless of location. Ensuring remote students can rely on a high-quality VC experience is a top priority for AV integrators. With 25% of college students experiencing videoconferencing fatigue, advanced technologies that can boost engagement by shrinking the gap between in-person and remote learning are increasingly essential.
Control and Visual Systems
Balancing automation and manual control simplifies interactions, reducing cognitive burden while keeping technology intuitive. Smart systems can adapt based on who is in the space, but manual controls like preset camera views ensure accessibility and ease of use. Many systems prioritize speakers but button-based controls allow instructors to ensure all students can see the correct content. Choosing the right control system means a better experience and fewer help tickets down the road.
Audio
Varied microphone technologies allow balanced audio across a variety of spaces, allowing for audio pickup at significant ranges and improving the quality of what is captured. Well-designed audio systems ensure that remote learners can clearly hear both the instructor and in-class discussions, whether the sound originates from the lecture podium or the back row.
Management
Remote management software allows AV and systems experts to run diagnostics, push updates and monitor device health from a centralized location. This improves response times (and therefore the teaching and learning experience) while saving time and energy that can be put toward designing new spaces or consulting with administrators.
Adding systems that gather insights on room utilization and energy use enables smarter workspace automations that reduce costs and improve efficiency across campus. For example, these systems can automatically shut off devices or focus HVAC on rooms with high usage while conserving energy in low-use areas.
Closing the Gaps
One of the persistent challenges integrators point to is the difficulty of equipping small to mid-sized classrooms, typically designed for 20 to 50 students. Smaller solutions often lack the reach and performance needed, while enterprise-scale options can be unnecessarily complex and expensive. Purpose-built tools, such as a USB PTZ video solution, demonstrate how AV and systems integrators are beginning to address this gap with solutions that balance power, simplicity and scalability.
AV integration is a cornerstone of higher education’s future, and the jurisdiction of AV experts is expanding. They are no longer responsible only for large lecture halls and auditoriums; now, they have to shape and manage spaces that cater to various learning modalities. By combining strategic insight with technical expertise, integrators create learning environments that are flexible, inclusive and effective. Their role in shaping the success of hybrid learning today cannot be overstated.
As higher ed campuses continue to modernize, AV and systems integrators will remain champions of modern learning, ensuring that every space, regardless of size or learning modality, delivers on the promise of technology-enabled education that is consistent and easy for instructors to use.
Jay Lyons is product manager, education portfolio at Logitech.
