Free University of Bozen-Bolzano: hybrid teaching and AV infrastructure remote global supervision

The Free University of Bozen-Bolzano, founded in 1997, is located in one of the most attractive European regions, at the crossroads between German and Italian economic and cultural world. Trilingualism in teaching and research, the high degree of internationalization and the excellent equipment of the structures are the characteristics that contribute to an excellent positioning in national and international rankings.

The university has three Campuses located in Bolzano, Bressanone and Brunico and five Faculties with a high percentage of teachers (35%) and students (17%) from abroad who study, teach and do research in the fields of science. economic, natural, engineering, social, education, design and arts. Around 4,100 students are enrolled in more than 30 undergraduate and postgraduate courses.

The standardization of the user experience and the implementation of a centralized management and monitoring system are the cornerstones of the project that saw 3P Technologies respond to the need for technological updating of about 100 classrooms, in the various locations, and for the complete renovation of the lecture hall of Bressanone.

The primary objective of the project was to implement a centralized active management and monitoring system for Audio / Video solutions that would meet the customer’s needs not only in operational terms but also with a view to a saving policy with respect to the resources necessary for system maintenance and taking advantage of automations such as the scheduled shutdown of non-critical equipment and room lighting.

At the same time, it proved crucial to make the user experience, both for the teaching staff and the students, extremely “user friendly” by replicating the same hardware in each environment, appropriately scaled according to need. The challenge consisted in integrating extremely complex solutions from a technical point of view by equipping them with a single control standard with an intuitive and easy-to-use interface, which can be activated in different scenarios in “one touch” mode.

Each environment has also been conceived in a “Plug and Play” perspective, thus allowing the use of various types of devices depending on the user’s preference from a BYOD perspective, both for the sharing of content and for the use of the same.

Thanks to the aforementioned system, it was possible to implement a Hybrid Didactics model using a Videoconference system that was suitable for managing teaching both in person and remotely. This made it possible to cope with the ongoing health emergency also allowing the discussion of degree theses and the taking of oral exams remotely.

The solutions adopted range from videoconferencing, with devices dedicated to the Microsoft Teams ecosystem, to advanced audio, with contactless ceiling beamforming microphone solutions, designed to provide teachers and students with the best usability and maximum intelligibility of speech, in total safety. .

Videoconferencing is possible not only externally but also between Campus and different classrooms in the same location allowing, among other things, the maintenance of an adequate distance.

The Hybrid Teaching model is certainly destined to become a standard for university institutions and it is equally certain that it constitutes an absolute added value for the quality of teaching and training experience in general.

For this project we collaborated with Crestron, Epson, Lenovo and Shure