Higher Ed AV Podcast

I'm not really sure why I agreed to this, but the parody Twitter account @itsjoesjoe takes over the show to turn the tables and interview me. There's really no rhyme or reason to any of the questions, but here are some shenanigans with my two staff members, Jimmie Singleton and Lex Peters, who enjoy finding ways to drive me crazy.You can connect with ItsJoesJoe on Twitter at @itsjoesjoe. You can connect with Jimmie Singleton on Twitter at @jimy_singleton and on LinkedIn. You can connect with Lex Peters on Twitter at @niceonelex and on LinkedIn. Find out more about Joe Way on all social media @josiahway and LinkedIn. Learn more about the University of Southern California on Twitter at @USC and online at https://www.usc.edu.

Justin Curtin from the Cal State University Office of the Chancellor joins the show, discussing how to support and serve as a resource for 23 campuses spread across California. As IT Support and Multimedia Specialist with a programming background allows for the Chancellor’s Office to continually be ahead of the curve. We talk about the CSU COVID-19 response, the demographic difference in campuses versus administrative support, and oh, he’s also a USC Trojan.Connect with Justin Curtin on Twitter at @USCurtin and Instagram at @USCurtin. Learn more about the Cal State University Office of the Chancellor, at https://www2.calstate.edu/csu-system/chancellor or on Twitter at @CalState.

We welcome a true Higher Ed AV Rockstar to the show. Chris Dechter, Principal Learning Space Engineer, from Indiana University, Bloomington, and I discuss what we are doing on our campuses in light of COVID-19 and what changes we will be making moving forward. Oh, and what is an AV Superfriend?!? Connect with Chris Dechter via email at cdechter@iu.edu or on LinkedIn. Learn more about Indiana University, Bloomington, at https://www.indiana.edu or on Twitter at @IUBloomington.

It's been a long couple weeks! 28 of us serving the higher ed vertical took a couple hours to just relax and reflect over a beverage of choice while discussing how COVID-19 is impacting our institutions. Take a listen to our conversation and see who joined me for a live podcast recording over a virtual happy hour.

On Monday, March 16, 2020, the Higher Education Technology Managers Alliance (HETMA.org) hosted a Virtual Flash Conference to discuss the impact of COVID-19 on our universities. We had great SMEs, Raul Burriel from Oregon State University and Gabe Moronta from Zoom Video Communications, along with our steering committee members, Joe Way from the University of Southern California, BC Hatchett from Vanderbilt University, Mike Pedersen from Iowa State University, Donovan Monday from West Virginia University, Josh Kaufman from Tufts University, and Jim Wellings from Utah State University.Take a listen. And stay safe!

Our student workers are the core of everything we do. They make the day-to-day happen, and they are why we do what we do.After my first seven months on staff, I sit down with my three USC ITS Senior Lead student workers Atsina Corrington (Junior, Game Design), Salome Yosef (Junior, Aerospace Engineering, and Fernando Jauregui (Junior, Business and Psychology). We discuss our daily operations, USC’s digital transformation reorganization, how to navigate changing habits and staff, developing the team, and even coronavirus (recorded a week before we knew we’ve be closing down completely).Connect with Atsi, Salome, and Fernando through the USC ITS Learning Environments at: https://itservices.usc.edu/spaces. Learn more about the University of Southern California on Twitter at @USC and online at https://www.usc.edu.

Not many schools can stake claim to having a hospitality building equipped with a pro shop and professional chef’s kitchen, a library with a maker space, podcast and video production studios, and a Dolby Atmos theatre. Of course, most schools aren’t located in the entertainment capital of the world. Frank Alaimo, Senior Audiovisual Systems Specialist, at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, joins the show to discuss these one-of-kind installations. Hear how the team designs, supports, and oversees these high-profile projects while also managing day-to-day operations. Frank and I also reminisce about the 2019 NW/MET hosted at UNLV.Connect with Frank Alaimo on LinkedIn. Learn more about the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) on Twitter at @UNLV and online at: https://www.unlv.edu.

Kevin Jahnke is the Manager of Classroom Services at the University of Wisconsin—Milwaukee and has been with UWM for over 20 years in progressively responsible roles in addition to completion of both BA and MLIS degrees through UWM. In his current position he is responsible for technology oversight of 170 General Assignment Classrooms, 7 full time staff and 15 students. This position requires a combination of planning, purchasing, programming, and design as well as leadership responsibility for the team. Kevin is affiliated with CCUMC, UBTech and InfoComm (AVIXA) as a member of the Technology Manager’s Council as well as the UW-System Educational Media Technology Council and UW-System IT Management Council. Additionally, Kevin has completed the InfoComm (AVIXA) CTS and Crestron DMC-E certifications and attends industry events, workshops and conferences regularly.As for projects one of the bigger things that’s happening right now at UW-Milwaukee is a Shared Services initiative. This is a multi-year project that is transitioning local IT support to align with the central group. Kevin has mostly been involved in the classroom/meeting room support side of things and recently been taking on digital signage as a campus service. This project has significantly increased our foot print across campus and to offsite satellite locations as well as expanded out staff.On the more technical side we have several building and larger AV initiatives underway.25-30 small classroom updates this yearMost will be Crestron AV Framework Lubar Entrepreneurship and Welcome CenterSmall building with an AV system that acts as a matrix throughout the buildingConnected Systems Institute – Partnership with Microsoft and Rockwell AutomationClassroom space with camera/micMultiple Microsoft Surface Pros being installedThis is a new technology on campusPlanning for a new Active Learning Room Use by Theatre DeptMultiple Crestron Air MediasCameras/micsKevin was recently interviewed for a couple of UBTECH articles on accessibility and AVaaS (my favorite topic!). Check out the article here: https://universitybusiness.com/3-models-for-enhancing-the-tech-aspects-of-accessibility and https://universitybusiness.com/considering-avaas-7-things-you-need-to-know/.Connect with Kevin Jahnke on Twitter at @kjjahnke and on LinkedIn. Learn more about the University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee on Twitter at @UWM online at https://www.uwm.edu.

What happens when you're the IT person and all of a sudden in charge of the AV department? What is the transition like? What do you need to know and how do you find the right resources? Ben Lewis, AV Manager at the University of Oklahoma, discusses his transition from the IT side to the AV management side at OU. We talk about where resources can be found, building industry relationships, and transferable skills. I also surprise Ben with a cameo appearance by Lexi Peters from Episode 4.

ISE 2020 has come to a close. What were the takeaways? Did it live up to the hype and did Coronavirus or the weather truly impact the feel? I discuss the show with Adam Harvey, Stephen Bell, and James Scutt from the University of Hertfordshire. We cover the products that stood out to us, the issues facing the show, their award winning service team, and a synopsis of the LTSMG conference.Learn more about ISE on Twitter at @ISE_Show and online at https://www.ISEeurope.org.Connect with Adam Harvey on Twitter at @AdmHrv and on LinkedIn, Stephen Bell on Twitter at @StephenBellAV and on LinkedIn, and James Scutt on Twitter at @JAScutt1 and on LinkedIn. Learn more about the University of Hertfordshire on Twitter at @UniOfHerts and online at https://www.herts.ac.uk.

ISE 2020 is off the a crazy start! I am excited to kick off the conversation with two incredible women in AV, Amy Redfearn from Involve VC & AV Jam UK and Alesia Hendley (aka The Smooth Factor) from Access Networks. We talk about the major issues facing the show including CoronaVirus, travel weather, and trends in AV. The ladies offer their top three predictions for this year’s show. Oh, and Jason Ward and Noel Kennedy from AV Jam make a special cameo.Huge THANK YOU to Harman for use of their podcast studio. Connect with Harman on Twitter at @Harman_Pro. And learn more about them online at https://pro.harman.com. Be sure to check out the LyraAKG mic and their new AV management systems.

I love when I get a chance to chat with some of our incredible #AVTweeps! This week, I welcome on Jon Bannan, Associate Director of Media & Technology Support Services at The College of New Jersey, located in Ewing, NJ, where he has been for over 22 years.Jon started out working for a private IT support firm. Fast forward a couple of years, a marriage and his first child on the way and Jon made the jump into the higher ed world when the opportunity arose. When Jon started, the College had 0 technology enabled spaces installed on campus and all classroom technology was delivered by a team of 30 student workers. Since 1999, the College has implemented over 300+ tech enabled spaces and the number increases weekly.The current A/V team is made up of 5 full time staff and 12 student technicians which are responsible for A/V design and project management of new construction/renovations, daily support of all campus spaces, academic, administrative, athletic, student spaces, annual A/V refreshes, etc. The team is also responsible for providing event A/V support for all campus and non-campus events. The team has brought the majority of integration/installation in house partnering with our campus Facilities team which has resulted in a significant cost savings and an improved end product for our end users.Recently, the team completed an full A/V refresh of the School of Education which consisted of 35 spaces i.e. classrooms, huddle spaces, conference rooms, multi-purpose spaces, etc. using the in house A/V and Facilities team. Each classroom refresh consisted of a lamp less laser classroom projector, lamp less laser interactive projector & whiteboard, Crestron control processors, user interfaces, Wolfvision document cameras, etc. This refresh allowed TCNJ to reduce the different system interconnects from 9 to 2 which has provided an improved user experience for our faculty.On the personal side, Jon is an avid coffee lover, huge lover of BBQ and playing with his smoker. He often spends most his free time either providing freelance monitor engineering services for production companies and artists, mixing and training church A/V teams and building / renovating some sort of project for his wife.Connect with Jon Bannan on Twitter at @JonBannan and on LinkedIn. Learn more about The College of New Jersey on Twitter at @TCJN and online at https://www.tcnj.edu.

While giving the keynote at the Northwest Managers of Educational Technology (NW/MET) Conference last year, the event quickly became my favorite regional AV event. This year’s conference is being held at Whitman College in Walla Walla, WA, April 22-24, 2020. Jon Loney, Manager of Instructional Multimedia Services (IMS) joins the show to discuss this year’s conference by giving us a preview of the sessions and social events planned. We also discuss AV on campus and Jon’s role at Whitman College. Oh, find out the significance of “wine,” “onion,” “wheat,” and “apples.”Learn more about the Northwest Managers of Educational Technology (NW/MET) and register online at https://www.nwmet.org. Follow NW/MET on Twitter at @NWMET, Facebook, and Instagram.Connect with Jon Loney by email at loneyjs@whitman.edu and on LinkedIn. Learn more about Whitman College on Twitter at @WhitmanCollege and online at https://www.whitman.edu.

Technology on campuses is always evolving. The longer you’re around, the more change you see. No one knows that better than Willie Franklin, Senior Technology Specialist at Otterbein University in Westerville, OH. We discuss the changes throughout time, his current and previous roles, and campus projects including digital signage, active learning classrooms, servicing live events, and networked video. Oh, and Willie even turns the table and starts asking me questions! Willie’s events DJ’ing skills come to play!Connect with Willie Franklin by email at wfranklin@otterbein.edu. Learn more about Otterbein University on Twitter at @Otterbein and online at https://www.otterbein.edu.

AV in higher ed is more than just making sure our classrooms are functional, there is a human factor as well. How should we communicate with our teams, run meetings, deal with generational differences, and even have the hard conversations of performance management and disciplinary actions. Kathy Dooley joins the show to discuss.