Schools have to spend money carefully, which means AV has to do more for less. Paul Milligan finds out from suppliers what teachers really want from technology.
If you are on the lookout for cutting-edge AV tech, schools are probably not at the top of anyone’s list. For schools it’s very much a case of form and function. There are clear reasons for this, budgets are always very tight, some of the end users are very small children, which brings with it a raft of safety, durability and usability issues, and the majority of the main user base (teachers) has shown a reluctance to technology in the past. That’s not to say that money isn’t being spent, because it is. According to a report (by ResearchandMarkets.com) the global digital classroom market size reached US$139 billion (€128bn) in 2023. The market is projected to reach $344bn (€317bn) by 2032, with a growth rate of 10% during 2023-2032. It attributes this growth to an increasing number of schools, rising sales of smart devices, and the growing number of educational apps, which offer potential for the proAV market in at least the first two examples.
We gathered a group of system integrators and manufacturers to assess the current state of classroom technology, to find out what has changed and why, and if the same historic barriers to adoption still exist.
Has the technology that schools have been asking for changed in the last five years? In the standard classroom setup not much of the physical hardware has changed, generally, schools are mostly using the interactive display and have been for some time, says Matthew Dunne, sales director from systems integrator Strive AV. “What has changed is the capabilities of what the software can do, which now includes remote management, so you have the ability to push updates, apps, messages, or even alerts out to the screen. The ability to screenshare easily has also changed, it used to be a bit clunky, now you can screen share content directly to the board from Android or Apple, often with multiple devices at the same time. Most interactive touchscreens also have multiple sign in capabilities, so you can go from one room to another with ease, and sign into OneDrive or Google anytime you want.”
The screens are now expected to do far more than they used to adds Drew Rogers, head of interactive displays at Samsung Electronics. “We’ve seen a requirement for the displays to have lots of built-in functionality. The screen was made interactive by connecting your laptop that had some kind of interactive software built into it, now, there’s a demand to be able to access files and functionality directly through the screen itself.”
There are more devices between the students and the teacher says Dr Sarah Henkelmann-Hillebrand, pan-European market development manager, Epson. “We are coming to a situation where we have a student-led learning environment in the school from a technology perspective.”
All schools are under enormous budgetary pressure says Chris Deeley, the managing director of integrator Elementary Technology, “and sadly because of that, technology has suffered. If schools are buying a touchscreen, they’re not necessarily looking at best value, they’re looking at best price. That’s definitely changed.”
When push comes to shove what is it that schools really want from AV technology? Ease of use is always top or very high on the list, but is there a desire for flexibility to move within a classroom or even from classroom to classroom? Or with budgets so tight is reliability the main purchasing criteria? It absolutely has to be easy to use says Henkelmann-Hillebrand, “In the best case without needing any technical training, and it has to be flexible because we have seen changes in terms of individualisation in the classroom and a heterogenic (students with mixed abilities) group of students in all the classrooms. For that we need flexible ICT, large visualisation (tools) and furniture.”
It’s got to be reliable and affordable says Ashley Helm, head of customer success at interactive display manufacturer Clevertouch. Consistency is another key part of understanding what teachers want he adds, “There’s got to be a standardised approach to what teachers deliver in a classroom environment. In a high school teachers want to know when they go into a classroom they’re able to deliver the same type of lessons, regardless of the technology that’s in there.”
“It can’t be complicated, it can’t fail, it has to be reliable,” explains Deeley. Upgradability is very important too adds Dunne, “Schools want the technology to be relevant and last as long as it can, and touchscreen manufacturers are working hard to allow schools to achieve that by offering free software remote upgrades.” What you have to remember is the screen isn’t just a screen anymore says Rogers, “It’s a teaching aid for the teacher. When they’re evaluating the product, they’re not looking at the standard AV specifications, they’re considering how easy it is for them to use, that they’re going to be able to easily get the classroom started at the beginning of the day without having to worry about the screen working.”
Are handheld devices on the rise in classrooms? Strive AV has seen an increase says Dunne, and one side effect is that because the devices can send content to the screens schools are trying to save money by buying standard displays. “We think they should have the choice of both, especially because there’s not a huge difference now in price between an interactive display and a large format display.” When the pandemic hit, lots of schools invested in mobile devices to help students keep on learning, “But not always the right ones,” says Deeley. “There are huge amounts of devices out there, but how well they’re being used is debatable.”
So if there are doubts about the suitability of mobile devices in classrooms, does this leave the interactive display as the lead technology in most classrooms? Don’t expect a sea change soon in how technology is set up in most classrooms says Helm, “While iPads and devices have the ability to move around the classroom, there will always be a need, unless education changes dramatically in how its delivered, for interactive panels, and they are going to remain the dominant force.”
Has anything changed in the size of interactive displays schools are asking for? Like the wider flat panel market, as the price of larger screens falls, sales rise. “It used to be the 65-in, but I would say 80% of our businesses is 75-in screens now, purely because the costs have come down. We no longer do a 55-in panel because the market just wasn’t there,” says Helm.
If interactive displays are regarded as the dominant school tech, where does that leave projection, does it still have a place in schools? If so, in what format? “They definitely have a place, but I think it’s in more specialist applications like halls and immersive rooms, not in classrooms,” says Deeley. “If a school wants a very large image, an interactive UST laser projector with touch is still a much more affordable option than having an 86- or a 98-in screen,” explains Dunne.
Immersive classrooms have started to pop up around EMEA, and Henkelmann-Hillebrand believes it will be one of the next big education technology trends. “From an educational point of view, it’s important to have that group spirit with teachers together with students without wearing glasses, so you can see the students’ faces.” However, there could be a familiar barrier to slow the adoption of immersive classrooms says Dunne, and that’s the availability of content. “It gives the wow factor, it’s great, the problem is the software. It’s great putting three blended projectors in but a lot of schools think that includes a lot of software and it doesn’t, you have to go through a third party (which Epson does provide). Three years ago, we thought we would see more of this, but I haven’t seen a huge amount yet.”
When the very first interactive whiteboards hit the market back at the turn of the century, for most schools it was simply a choice of two platforms; Smart or Promethean. Those two companies are still active in the market, especially on the software side, but the might of Google and Microsoft have moved into pole position. “Over the last five years it’s grown to become a much more mixed solution. You’ll get schools that don’t want to use any software and are happy to use PowerPoint, Word, Excel, along with internet access. And then you’ve got the schools that are purely Google and deliver everything via Google Sheets, Google Docs. Teachers have to be much more adaptable to what they used to be, so they’re a lot less tied to specific software now,” says Helm.
We’ve seen a big move to interoperability in the corporate market, and it seems education is following suit, as this from Rogers illustrates. “It used to be that schools had to use proprietary software, these days there’s a big trend towards schools adopting common platforms. That is being driven by the need to share across platforms.”
How is audio handled in classrooms, is it primarily just via the interactive display, or is there an opportunity to sell audio products into schools? Things have improved says Dunne. “Five years ago, we would’ve quoted for an affordable soundbar as a standard option, or a higher spec unit if it was a large room. However, manufacturers
have improved their speakers, making them front facing, and have upped the wattage to nearly double what it was then. A few manufacturers have even built-in sound bars, so we’re seeing less schools take up the soundbar option.” It can be an uphill battle to get schools to buy audio products says Deeley. “We think audio is really not looked at enough. We like voice reinforcement in schools, where the teacher is using a microphone so the whole classroom can hear at the same level, but trying to get schools to invest in that technology is really, really difficult.”
One traditional block to technology adoption in schools was dated infrastructure, but that seems to be far less of a problem now for two reasons; products are being created to operate standalone, and where WiFi access is needed, schools have invested money into more robust networks since the pandemic hit and it because crucial to teaching. “As schools want to start to utilise mobile devices in classroom environments, the pull on the network is much more involved,” says Helm. To help with this Clevertouch has enabled its interactive displays with their own hotspot if teachers want to connect directly to the screens. “As a manufacturer we have to be aware not every school will have the best infrastructure, there’s got to be ways around it,” adds Helm.
Another issue, which happens everywhere AV is sold but seems particularly evident is schools, is asking their suppliers why the (pro-AV) screen they are being sold is 40 or 50% more than one of the same size they have found on Amazon. Does this still happen? “Yes, you can buy a consumer TV from Amazon,but we let the schools know that we have a dedicated helpdesk department, so if they do purchase directly off the internet they’re also going to have to sort out any faulty products themselves.” Buyer beware says Dunne, “It maybe something minor we can sort over the phone, but they’re never going to get someone from Amazon to fix it over the phone.”
Finally, the issue of training has always been a tricky one in schools. Some teachers like technology and others don’t, and that affects how much training they receive, and how much functionality they’ll get out of the kit installed. “It amazes me how much of a discrepancy there is between teachers, I don’t think we’ll ever get away from it. We are seeing younger teachers coming through that have used these products in school and university, so they’re much more familiar with it. For teachers aged 40 or 50+, this type of technology can still hold a fear factor for them, even using an iPad,” says Helm. Elementary is keen to provide training to education clients, both online and in person says Deeley, because it offers a wider picture than training sometimes offered by brands. “We don’t like the manufacturers necessarily doing all the training, for the basics it’s absolutely fine. We like to look at how you use it in a classroom environment to improve the pedagogy, rather than how to turn it on.”
Again, budgets is a sticking point when it comes to training, adds Deeley. “Schools are not big fans of investing in training. If you say to a head teacher, what budget have you got? They’ll say €20k, how much of that is for training? They’ll say none, because they expect us to do it [for free].”
It’s clear that modern teaching needs technology, it helps to create engagement in lessons, alongside a host of other benefits. The tricky part is supplying something that incurs a substantial one-off cost when schools need money to fix leaking roofs etc. Something all the people we spoke to had in common was that whether it was an installer or a manufacturer, they were acutely aware they have to listen to each school to find how they teach and what they really need technology to do for them, and to make sure the budget stretches as far as it can. In short, our industry needs to be educated by the educators to enable us to provide the best outcome for all parties.