Touchscreen manufacturer CTouch has built a virtual classroom at its HQ premises in Eindhoven in collaboration with Barco and Kinly.
The facility makes it possible for companies to organise interactive trainings and classes with co-workers, students or partners from all over the world. The virtual training room will also be used by CTouch to provide collaboration sessions and technical product trainings to its network of resellers and touchscreen users.
“At this moment, there are only a couple of these training facilities in The Netherlands”, says CEO Remmelt van der Woude. “The latest one is built here at our CTouch office in Eindhoven. What makes our virtual training room unique, is that we’ve been able to integrate our touchscreens in it. This adds an extra dimension to an interactive training, since everybody in the session is able to see what’s happening on the touchscreen, in real-time.”
“As a result of the Covid-19 outbreak, we see an increased demand from our customers - in education, government and companies for blended learning”, says Robert Blaas, marketing director, Kinly Benelux. “However, what is missing in many of the solutions for blended learning are interactivity and engagement. Matters that are important in training and lectures. Together with Barco and CTouch, we have built a solution for remote education and training where interactivity and engagement are paramount. We believe that solutions such as the virtual classroom should not only be used today as an emergency solution, but should also contribute to the innovation of education and training.”
The virtual classroom is equipped with Barco’s integrated weConnect system, and seven wall mounted 55-in Christie UHD551-L LCD displays with 4K native resolution. The attendees can observe the session from three different angles, by manually choosing between the front view Logitech MeetUp camera, from the top view Panasonic AW-HE60 camera or from a side angle provided by another AW-HE60 camera.
It is possible to build a virtual classroom starting from 6 to 112 participants that all are visible via the displays on the wall, so that the presenter can make actual eye contact. The virtual training room at CTouch has a capacity of up to 24 visible participants. A data overlay gives possibilities to add various ways of participation, such as raised hands, polls or quizzes in order to have maximum engagement.