Some classrooms at the MU Faculty of Arts have undergone modernisation of AV equipment this year after ten years of operation. New equipment has been installed in 12 classrooms - these are the next classrooms to be equipped for hybrid teaching. These are classrooms A21, B2.21, B2.24, B2.32, B2.33, B2.34, B2.41, B2.42, B2.43, B2.44, B2.51, B2.52.
- The main benefits for hybrid learning include:
- A microphone array that allows sound to be picked up throughout the room (so the voice of the lecturer can be transmitted to the online space, along with questions from the students present).
- At the same time, it remains possible to capture very high quality audio for recording purposes using a lapel microphone (applies to dual-projection classrooms).
- Cameras with the possibility of tracking the lecturer. When the AV equipment is switched on, there is an active camera at the back of the classroom that captures the area in front of the whiteboard. When the TRACKING button on the control panel (on the table) is pressed, the camera detects the outline of the figure and starts tracking it (however, for proper operation it is necessary that only one person is in front of the board at the time the button is pressed).
- There is a second camera on the front wall, which is directed at the students and also has the function of tracking the presenter. However, it works in a slightly different way than the first camera. When the TRACKING button is pressed, the camera, with the help of the microphone array, starts to capture the person who speaks for at least 3 seconds (we are still tuning this function for more reliability).
- The cameras can be switched between each other on the control panel.
- The classrooms now have preview displays, functioning as an extended computer desktop. They can be used to display