Hybrid teaching with maximum quality and flexibility – Shure MXA910 Ceiling Array Microphones at Northern Business School

Customer Profile

Northern Business School (NBS) was founded in 2007 as a nonprofit organization by the companies and business associations from the Hamburg metropolitan region. The state-recognized institution of higher education now enrolls more than 1,200 students at its three locations in Hamburg. A teaching model based on small groups, up-to-date teaching methods, a modern learning environment and innovative research are the foundations upon which NBS stands. Needless to say, this includes state-of-the-art technology for students and teachers. In 2020, NBS was one of the first universities in Germany to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic by equipping almost all lecture halls with media technology for hybrid teaching.

Challenge

The primary goal was to be able to react flexibly to the developments and restrictions during the pandemic. This included remote learning via video conferencing as well as a hybrid model, where students attend lectures and seminars both on-site and remotely. The new technology allows courses to take place as naturally as possible, despite the distance. Teachers expressed the wish to be able to continue to move freely around the room during lectures, to switch between different media and to interact with students on-site and remotely.  

In addition, the system had to ensure that remote participants would not experience any disadvantages especially caused by acoustic or technical difficulties. The goal was to achieve a consistently high quality of sound, regardless of whether the lecturer was speaking from the lectern or moving around the room during the lecture, or a student is speaking from the back row of the class. The system had to be quick to integrate and easy to use for teachers and students.

Solution

Mediasystem GmbH was responsible for the planning and installation of the new system. Mediasystem relied on Shure MXA910 Microflex® Advance™ Ceiling Array Microphones for pristine and good quality audio. The systems covers the entire lecture hall and ensures a consistently high quality audio for students at home and on-site participants alike. Regardless of the position of the lecturer or the participants in the room. Thanks to Automatic Echo Cancelling (AEC) technology, room echoes and background noise are eliminated simultaneously.

Advantages

In addition to delivering pristine audio quality, the MXA910 blends into the room and is not intrusive. This allows teachers and students to concentrate on the lecture and avoid unneccessary distractions. Microsoft Teams is used as the central teaching platform at NBS. The MXA910 impresses with its Microsoft Teams certification and rounds off the system as an easy-to-use, flexible and high-quality solution – not just in times of a global pandemic, but also by future proofing the hall for hybrid learning.