Broadcast Pix helps Ball State with distance learning
Dec 20, 2010 8:00 AM
Director/media technician Tommy Fix (right) and student audio assistant Mary Whitaker at the Broadcast Pix Slate video production systems in one of the school’s new distance learning control rooms.
Ball State University, a doctoral institution in Muncie, IN, has upgraded its three distance learning classroom studios to digital operation and installed Broadcast Pix Slate fully integrated video production systems.
The last of three large classrooms housed in the Ball Communication Building were renovated and new AV equipment installed this summer. Each includes seating for 24 students and is connected to the two other rooms and a central control room area.
Among the three classrooms, the university averages 65 hours of live production each week, according to Michael Dalton, distance learning media manager. Dalton’s staff of four full-time directors also helps produce recruiting webinars for Ball State’s undergraduate and graduate degree programs.
Typically, a single director controls an entire production, with the help of a student audio assistant. Each renovated distance learning classroom is equipped with four Sony BCR-300 robotic video cameras, which are controlled through the Slate. Two cameras are positioned in the back of the classroom, with another in the front and the fourth suspended from the ceiling and used as a document camera.
With the Slate system’s Fluent Clip Store, video clips are easily accessed during productions, while its built-in Inscriber CG is used to slate each production.
Audio is mixed through a Yamaha O2R V2 audio mixer, which is controlled through the Broadcast Pix Slate automatically during video clip playback. Dalton said each room is also equipped with both a PC and Mac, so PowerPoint or other data presentations can be used as sources for the Slate switcher, though instructors can also use their own laptops if needed. Classes are produced in standard definition, streamed live using Adobe Connect Web conferencing software, and archived online.
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