Universiti Malaysia Pahang (UMP) adopts outcome-based education (OBE) as their method of teaching. As a teaching philosophy, OBE puts students at its center. Students are given the freedom to choose what and how to learn. To accomplish OBE, UMP created a student-centered learning (SCL) environment that focuses on resources available to the students, such as ICT and mobile devices. The challenges in implementing SCL are in building the infrastructure, facility and environment. In a typical lecture-type classroom automation, UMP has had to allocate additional manpower to help manage equipment (projector, projection screen, audio system, switcher etc.) in more than 300 classrooms, and avoid theft and loss of the equipment. Due to space limitations, UMP has resorted to combining classrooms to accommodate a larger number of students. Hence, the need for innovative and durable video sharing and switching solutions. UMP wanted to implement a campus-wide technical help desk to ensure that users get the appropriate level of support while providing an active equipment status monitoring system. This requirement was critical, as UMP operates in two campuses, which are 60 kilometers apart.
AMX’s Remote Monitoring System (RMS) and NOVARA have helped UMP achieve classroom automation. More than 300 classrooms in UMP have had NOVARA 3008 keypads installed, allowing users to easily control multiple AV devices with just a single touch. Connectivity and mobility are crucial in implementing SCL. With AMX’s matrix switcher, students can present from their own laptops and project what is on their mobile devices to the display screen.
In a lecture classroom, NOVARA 3008 has helped professors easily operate AV equipment by switching the projector on/off, selecting input and manipulating the projection screen. For cost savings, the rooms leverage one matrix switcher for two classrooms. They use Resource Management Suite to monitor the system and generate reports on the power status, input status, lamp hours. It also helps track the filter hours of equipment, helping the ICT team maintain equipment and receive immediate notification when a device goes offline.
“With this system in place, the ICT team has improved their response times in managing both campuses. This reduces the amount of lost productivity while waiting for the equipment to function. At the same, UMP has managed to reduce the maintenance cost, and it helps them plan for future expenditures, such as parts replacement and total replacement. In addition, the Scheduler enables them to preset rooms for the start and end of events, and extend the projector lifespan.” – Roslan Awang Abdul Rahman, Deputy Director
