Challenge

Leeds University Business School wanted to create a world-class specialist space that would meet the needs of all students in the Esther Simpson Building. This included equipping teaching and learning environments with state-of-the-art technology.

Tamsin Barrow, Facilities Manager in discussing the Esther Simpson building of Leeds University, stated, “We are a Business School, so we need to be at the forefront of teaching and research. This building was designed a few years ago and we needed to make sure the technology would still be relevant by the time it was built.”

Previously, the Business School was laid out so that teaching rooms were traditionally front-of-class style with a smaller collaboration room. To enhance teacher and student experiences, the school wanted to expand on this collaborative space with the new Esther Simpson building.

The Esther Simpson building, the ‘heart’ of the Business School, needed digitally rich teaching rooms to allow for internal and external participation, as well as an engagement space to facilitate both student and staff collaboration. Technology innovation would provide opportunities for the University to diversify how it delivers content through in-person instruction and hybrid learning programs. In addition, the technologically robust space would serve as a flagship for events, highlighting the unique student opportunities at Leeds and its specialized teaching facilities.

Key Solution

Universal AV was contracted as consultants to identify the audio-visual solutions to be implemented. As part of this process, campuswide teaching standards and the collaborative teaching rooms already pioneered by the Business School were considered. This allowed for the consideration of solutions that would innovate while still being flexible for any future adjustments. These solutions included stateof- the-art UX Pro displays by Clevertouch® Technologies. The UX Pro is a powerful and feature-rich display that truly transforms any space for increased and improved interactivity and collaboration.
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Features of the UX Pro that help make it a robust educational technology solution include:

• Super Glide Touch technology for a fluid writing experience and Infinity Whiteboarding so users never run out of space during class discussions and collaborative meetings.
• 45W Max Power for room-filling sound.
• Syncing with Cloud Accounts so that users can access Google Drive, OneDrive, and Dropbox at any time, as needed.
• Instant Over-the-Air Updates for seamless software and hardware updates, bug fixes, and delivery of new features.

The UX Pro interactive displays (55”, 65”, 75”, and 86” - 54 displays in all) were installed in several education spaces including a 100- seat interactive room and Seminar Rooms. The UX Pro displays can be used by students for collaboration, and to showcase work for the class, enhancing discussions and overall engagement.

In addition, UX Pro displays were installed in the Gareth Jones Student Boardroom. This will enable students to host group meetings, practice their communication, presentation, and persuasion skills and simulate the setting of a corporate boardroom.

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Benefits

The goal of the Business School’s digital refresh was to support teachers and students as they work to sharpen their skills for the corporate world. The innovative technology fully roots them in the digital environment that has become increasingly prevalent today. We expect to hear nothing but marvelous updates from Leeds University Business School.
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