Colleges are investing in projector technology that not only saves money over the long run, but provides a more engaging learning experience.
[1]It doesn’t take a university’s resident budgetary whiz to know that long-term technology cost savings trumps in-the-moment savings, especially when those long-haul savings bring a cutting-edge technology and proven reliability to campus.
That’s why Robb Mann’s proposal to bring Sony’s 3LCD laser projector to the University of North Carolina Wilmington was a straightforward pitch. Invest in this first-of-its-kind technology today, Mann told university officials, and you’ll realize year-over-year savings while improving the teaching and learning experience.
“Anyone with a good grasp of finance can wrap their head around this,” said Mann, manager of classroom operations and special events at UNC Wilmington since 2003. “It’s simple math, really, especially when you trust the technology so much.”
Mann’s proposal to purchase Sony 3LCD laser projectors, complete with a host of environmentally friendly features and upwards of 20,000 hours of maintenance-free operation, was a resounding success.
Already, Mann said, the school has realized cost savings not only with the projectors’ efficient features, but also with the reduced need to maintenance that has freed audio-video experts on campus to focus their efforts elsewhere.
As important as cost savings has become on college campuses, Mann said it was the classroom and lecture hall impact that served as the most persuasive reason to bring the projectors to the 13,000-student campus.
“This is something that directly affects students, and that made it relatively easy to make a really compelling argument,” he said. “You don’t want the newest and greatest just because it’s the newest and greatest. … You want it because it will make a difference in the way educators teach and students learn that material. That’s what we have here. This model really is a generational leap in educational technology.”
The A/V advantages in having the laser projectors on campus are numerous. A/V staffers used to change the filters on the traditional projectors every 1,000 hours – and sometimes more frequently than that. The laser projector requires a filter change every 20,000 hours.
Cost of projector operation plummeted thanks in large part to no longer having to replace projector bulbs, a pricey proposition that is often required more frequently as a traditional projector ages. Mann said UNC Wilmington A/V workers had to replace the bulbs on some lamp projectors seven times before the machine simply stopped working.
In fact, for the long-term cost of two lamp projectors – which create a far inferior image to their laser counterparts – the university is now able to buy and maintain three Sony 3LCD projectors, Mann said.
Educators at UNC Wilmington have also noticed a marked difference in the new generation of projectors. They’ve noted that instead of taking 40 seconds to start – like the lamp projectors – the new laser versions are up and running in less than six seconds.
A difference of around 30 seconds might not seem like much, Mann said, but when you’re in a classroom or lecture hall full of restless college students, waiting for a lamp projector to warm up can seem like an eternity.
The laser projectors’ reliability also means A/V staffers aren’t summoned to classrooms and asked to fix a faulty projector while dozens – or even hundreds – of college students sit waiting for their lecture to continue.
“Trust me,” Mann said. “That’s a big plus from our side of things. We’ve seen a lot of hours saved thanks to not being called in to fix all these projector issues as they crop up.”
The stakes are raised in A/V technology
With rising campus technology budgets over much of the past quarter century has come added pressure to invest in reliable products that will give an institution a high return on investment – something that has become even more important as budgets have stagnated for much of the past six years.
Jeff Rutenbeck, dean of American University’s School of Communications, said making sound decisions in campus technology investment has proven difficult in what he calls the “Wild West” of ed-tech products that was pervasive in the early-and-mid-2000s. “It felt like a free for all,” he added.
Rutenbeck said he exited that Wild West when he discovered the reliability and high quality of Sony A/V equipment, particularly projectors that offered excellent cost savings and low cost of ownership.
“Putting up money up front for a proven technology is a pretty easy decision when you really trust a product and know that it will deliver for you,” he said. “People understand this train is not slowing down, and the right technology investment can make a big difference both now and in the future.”
Campus IT officials and those who study the funding of educational technology have said that the nature of improving technology has changed quite dramatically in economically challenging times.
The top challenges facing campus technology leaders today “are no longer about IT,” Casey Green, founding director of The Campus Computing Project, told attendees of the EDUCAUSE conference in Anaheim, Calif., last year.
Instead, the top challenges for campus technology leaders include supporting faculty and students, and communicating technology’s effectiveness to presidents and provosts.
The technology itself is “the easy part” of campus IT leaders’ jobs, Green said.
“Technology is almost linear by comparison” to all of the other demands that campus IT leaders face, such as managing people, policies, priorities, and egos, Green added.
“My take on this,” Green said, “is that [campus technology leaders] have not done a good job of communicating the effectiveness” of initiatives meant to bolster technology and improve and teaching and learning experience across campus.
Trying to guess what will come next in A/V – or any campus technology – isn’t worth the time, effort or risk, he said.
“There’s no real way to future proof anything, but it’s important to stay relevant. That’s what we’re doing with these projectors,” Rutenbeck said. “Sony delivers on the long term viability. It’s about keeping things on the forefront.”
Sony’s laser projectors have helped the university bring vibrant color and images to American’s new $26 million School of Communications, which has turned into showcase of sorts for the vibrant, sharp images created by the Sony high-definition projectors.
“It’s stunning, really,” he said. “It’s become a defining feature of our new communications home. It’s become the talk of the town.”