case study

Buildinga Hybrid Future
One college’s quest for secure
active-learning at scale
Prepared by Wainhouse forNext Generation
Collaboration
As organizations, universities, and colleges across theglobe transition back to in-person activities, IT teams
are tasked with deploying technology that provides
equity while maintaining continuity. This is no easytask as disparate personal software tools adopted
over the last two years are being used in classrooms
and lecture halls, most of which don’t meet themodern requirements for connectivity, content sharing, and collaboration capabilities for presenters andattendees. To address these new in-room requirements while preparing for the uncertainty of tomorrow,institutions are undertaking a refresh of in-room
technology to enable great experiences regardless oflocation.
To better understand the challenges IT teams arefacing, we recently sat down with the decision makers
at Palm Beach State College to understand theselection process and success metrics behind hybrid
active-learning environments. The college, located inPalm Beach County, Florida, features five campuseswith numerous lecture halls and classroom buildings,
plus PBSC Online, all servicing a large commuter
population. With a long-term goal to enable all rooms
with hybrid learning functionality, the team at Palm
Beach State College has deployed almost twohundred ScreenBeam 1100P devices for wirelesscasting and collaboration.

Considerations for Success
Palm Beach State College’s Director of Client Support Services, David Edris, Ph.D., started our conversation bysharing the evolution of content sharing across the college. His account starts prior to the pandemic, when thecollege didn’t have a universal wireless casting or collaboration solution. Professors and lecturers were using
HDMI® cables to connect to a display in the room, and while there was some demand for better casting function-ality, it wasn’t considered top-of-mind.
Around the time of the pandemic, the college started testing hybrid learning solutions to solve remote learning
challenges. According to both Dr. Edris and his colleague, Control Systems Programmer Jhanak Thapaliya,
through on-campus testing, security and management at scale became primary considerations in the decision-making process.

© 2023 ScreenBeam|02

“You don’t want someone not in
the classroom connecting to thedisplay and sharing inappropriatecontent, so security was
a top concern.”
Director of Client Support Services
Dr. David Edris
Palm Beach State College
While exploring a variety of approaches, the college
learned how crucial it is to require PIN authentication
for connecting to in-room displays for content
sharing. If a display can be identified and accessedby anyone on the same network, it increases thepropensity for pranks and hijacking. In addition, thisapproach to content sharing reduces accountability,
as the connected user doesn’t need to be in the room.
In addition to PIN authentication, testing also surfaced
an in-room requirement for multi-platform support.
Without a solution supporting all device types, somespaces get equipped with Microsoft Miracast, whileothers receive Apple AirPlay or Google Chromecast.
As the college discovered, a patchwork approachbased on specific requests of professors or lecturers
lacks both the security and centralized management
to ensure accountability and reliability.
While attempting to satisfy the various in-room
requirements uncovered during testing, centralized
management at scale quickly became a priority. Dr.
Edris shared how a single management platform withremote centralized control for monitoring, updating,and maintenance was included as a requirement forany potential in-room solutions. With the pandemic at
the center of the conversation, the ability to remotely
monitor and manage all rooms and devices was tablestakes for the technology team.
Once Dr. Edris, Mr. Thapaliya, and the Palm Beach
State College team established evaluation criteria, thelist was shared with technology partners to identify
solutions for consideration. It was at this time that theScreenBeam 1100P was recommended to the teamas it addressed all three priorities: security, access,and scale. After testing on the main campus in Lake
Worth, ScreenBeam became the clear choice for acollegewide deployment.

Measuring Success
The team at Palm Beach State College determined
what was necessary for success, then applied thosepriorities to considered solutions, with the result beinga long-term strategy for hybrid enablement. In themonths since, rooms across the college have been
updated to include projectors, cameras, microphones, speakers, and ScreenBeam’s wirelesssharing solutions. While this may sound like a lot ofchange in a short timeframe, the solutions selectedwork together, making it easy for professors, presenters, and lecturers to build an active-learning environment. Furthermore, the deployed solutions are all
remotely monitored to ensure connectivity and, whenneeded, provide technical assistance in a timely
manner.

for Palm Beach State College as it transitions to
supporting hybrid learning. To date, the feedback on
the new technology has been positive, and the schoolis using the studios to prepare the next features forcollegewide release.

Future Success“Of all the solutions being
deployed, the ScreenBeam
devices had been the easiestto provision and manage”
Control Systems Programmer
Jhanak Thapaliya
Palm Beach State CollegeMr. Thapaliya shared his thoughts on the deployment
process, saying it was a clear sign of success fromhis perspective. He shared that of all the solutions
being deployed, the ScreenBeam devices have been
the easiest to provision and manage. When an issuepresented itself in the first days of the rollout, ScreenBeam stepped in with a quick resolution. At the timeof publication, almost two hundred ScreenBeam
1100P devices have been installed, provisioned, anddeployed for use at Palm Beach State College overthe past year.
A smooth installation is essential, but benefits can’tbe recognized until people use the product, and Dr.
Edris addressed methods the college is implementing
to track adoption and satisfaction. The largest feedback loop for the technology team is a yearly surveythat features responses from everyone on every
campus. While this method of surveying creates adelay in reporting, it benefits from a high level ofparticipation.
Aside from the standard survey, the college features
multiple active-learning studios which are testing
conferencing capabilities for hybrid classes. Withinthese active-learning studios are additional surveys
and feedback loops, serving to identify the best path

In addition to the needs of today, investments made intechnology need to address a wide range of hybrid
use cases and applications that may be needed
tomorrow. To prepare for the uncertainty of tomorrow,organizations and institutions must provide technology that adapts to emergent circumstances withoutcompromising the experience of the participants. To
do this, Palm Beach State College has ongoing
testing of multi-platform support and BYOM (BringYour Own Meeting) capabilities.
According to Mr. Thapaliya, the college plans tocontinue rolling out the advanced features of theScreenBeam 1100P for the foreseeable future, making
sure not to create too much change at once. Notably,
the team plans to pair the ScreenBeam USB Pro
Switch with the 1100P device in rooms that have
Microsoft Teams Rooms deployed for hybrid lectures.
Working in tandem, the Microsoft Teams Room andScreenBeam will provide flexibility to professors,presenters, and participants. The user will experience
the best of Teams Rooms with the ease of BYOM
when needed.
The two-pronged approach of the 1100P with optional
USB Pro Switch (conferencing enabled) reduces
training without increasing the time for deployment ormanagement – a rare win/win for IT management andend-users. In addition, the ScreenBeam 1100P isn’t
just a solution for today, but rather a deployment togrow with. Organizations crafting a long-term hybrid
strategy for meeting spaces will benefit from conferencing capabilities that can be enabled to support
both BYOM and room systems.
The benefits of the ScreenBeam solution go beyond
the few critical features outlined. To better understandwhat sets ScreenBeam apart from other solutions,
we’ll be checking back in with Mr. Thapaliya and Dr.
Edris on the success of the adoption. In addition, we’ll
be exploring other recent deployments to detailspecific considerations and examples of hybrid atscale. To learn more about hybrid meeting spaces,
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