SIAST Parkway campus
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SIAST Parkway lecture theatre
simulation room with demonstration monitors
Kramer RC-8iR user-friendly system control
The SIAST Nursing program has almost completed the move back to the Parkway campus location. The program moved from the Parkway Campus when the Wascana Campus was created and many of the separate SIAST locations were consolidated at the Wascana Campus. With the sustained growth of the SIAST programs the logical decision was to move the nursing program back to the Parkway building to free up space at Wascana. The two buildings are a ten minute walk from each other and the Parkway building was available.
Ron Montgomery, Audio Visual Technician, detailed a three phase AV system integration strategy to include technological tools for the lecture theatre, labs and classrooms. "We wanted to make it look like the technology was invisible, less intimidating. Inland AV made some recommendations to the proposed system and it has surpassed my expectations."
The theatre, Simulation lab and nine classrooms were updated first. The theatre AV system included a projector and 16’ projection screen, and complete audio system that are all designed to be user friendly.
The Simulation lab included five LCD monitors allowing students to view a demonstration of the skills they are learning. The five monitors receive their signal from a bank of DVD, VHS players and computers. A matrix switcher manages the routing of the different inputs to the desired destination monitor. The matrix switcher enables one video to be displayed in one or all of the rooms while other videos or computer signals can be run on other monitors simultaneously. The Sim lab entrance includes a CCTV camera that alerts staff when students arrive.
A Kramer RC-8iR control system was included in every room to patch in a computer and guest laptop and allows for user-friendly operation of the system. The Kramer controller is a wall plate with eight basic function buttons that are easy to understand and operate. While the operation is simple there is sophisticated programming that enables many functions to happen at the touch of a single button. This simple looking wall plate can be programmed to control audio and video components as well as lighting and projection screens. The RC-8iR also includes two RS-232 ports and one RS-485 port as well as two infrared ports complete with IR learning functions. Include the fact that the system can be controlled from any internet location through the Ethernet port and it is easy to see why the RC-8iR is a surprisingly powerful communications tool. See the RC-8iR photograph on the side of this page.
The next twelve classrooms were outfitted with identical AV systems with the addition of a document camera in the larger Anatomy and Physiology classroom. An instructor can be comfortable no matter which classroom they are teaching in. Each room has a video/data projector, guest laptop connection, screen and a complete audio system that includes wireless microphones in the larger classrooms. Once again the Kramer controller is used to patch in laptops and switch the DVD and VHS players.
The third phase of integration will start soon and will include the new Epson Brightlink interactive projector.
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