York college chooses EMP-1715

As the largest education provider in the region, the college offers a full range of A-Levels and vocational courses, Higher Education and Lifelong learning. The wide range of academic and vocational courses include Health & Beauty, Catering and Motor Vehicle Maintenance & Repair, which means it is an appealing choice for local students looking to further their education in a vast array of subjects.

Whilst the courses at the college are a major attraction, York College also offers the very best in facilities. Each of the four floors accommodates a ‘curriculum hub’; a workspace created specifically to facilitate and foster studying and designed to inspire students and tutors to take advantage of one-to-one communication outside of lesson times.

After two years of building work and much anticipation from the local community, York College opened its doors to the public on 12th September 2007. The new £60 million college has provided a massive boost to Further & Higher Education in York and the surrounding area.
 

With high expectations for the college to offer the very best in facilities and ICT equipment, York College sought out an effective AV solution which would provide imaging in the varied teaching rooms and also offer central management of the whole fleet.

Due to previous problems with maintenance, the college realised the importance of comprehensive software with the ability to remotely control the vast network of projectors needed for the college.

Martin Harmer, Information & Learning Technology (ILT) Manager said, “We bought the Epson projectors because they offered a central monitoring system. At the previous college we only had around 40 projectors, but it was a nightmare for the AV technician to maintain them. It was vital and a key part of our tender requirement that we could centrally manage a fleet of this size”

With very specific criteria in mind, the college put the contract out for tender to various resellers to find a solution that met all their needs. Reseller, RM, won the contract for the college’s ICT requirements.
 

Despite access to other projector brands that use monitoring software, RM recognised the advantage Epson’s EasyMP software had over competitors and its ability to meet the strict criteria set by the college and therefore suggested the Epson EMP-1715 projector.

York College was impressed by the functionality offered by Epson’s EasyMP software and the fact that it is built into projectors from mid-range upwards, not just on top of the range models.
180 EMP-1715s were installed throughout the college in classrooms and vocational workshops, during the construction period in the summer of 2007.

York College is considered an ‘Authorised Self Maintainer’, meaning staff have been trained on projector maintenance and fault diagnosis and have ‘swap-out’ units on site. Therefore, in the event of a problem, it can be resolved swiftly with minimum disruption to teaching. Azhar Iqbal (IT Operations Manager) recognises how useful it is to have this support in place.
 

Each teacher in the college has a tablet PC to connect to the projectors, which paired with Epson’s EasyMP wireless connection, gives them the freedom to present from anywhere in the classroom, rather than traditionally from the front. This has proved to be extremely effective in less traditional teaching environments. For example, in the Motor Vehicle Maintenance and Repair area, where the teaching style is much more practical, the projectors are use to display exploded diagrams of parts such as gearboxes. As a result, students are able to actively participate and interact, and teachers have access to a wider range of teaching materials.

Epson’s EasyMP software has made maintenance of the fleet a hassle-free experience for the ILT team and technicians. The software indicates when the projector is getting hot, showing that filters need to be cleaned and highlights lamp hours used, acting as a reminder to ensure that spare lamps are available, ultimately helping the maintenance team anticipate any future problems before they occur. In the event of a problem, EasyMP allows remote diagnostics, meaning projectors can be powered on or off remotely, negating the need for AV technicians to physically resolve the issue.

“The temperature warning means we know when a filter needs cleaning, saving time on doing physical checks.” said Martin Harmer

All projectors are pre-programmed to automatically turn off at 21:30 each evening to help preserve lamp life and save power and time where, previously, a member of staff would have to individually shut down all 180 projectors installed around the building. The assurance that every projector is switched off when not in use overnight also helps minimise the impact of the equipment on the environment.

Another function that has proven useful is EasyMP’s ability to execute the same functions from a central point as the individual projector’s remote controls. In the past, mischievous students have been known to change settings via the remote, such as the language, forcing an AV technician to visit the classroom to reset the projector manually.The success at York College has meant that other education authorities in the country look to it as a distinguished example of a new build facility. As a result, the college is setting up an ‘open day’ to allow others to view the facilities on offer and seek advice