Kindai University, Japan

Auto Tracking and Preset Features that Make Camerapersons Unnecessary

The pan–tilt–zoom (PTZ) camera can not only auto track the teacher in class, but also automatically switch to a preset area with the push of one button on the remote, allowing the content on the blackboard or the presentation screen to be filmed as well.

Online Teaching as Easy as Face-To-Face Interaction

As the online course is conducted in the same manner as an ordinary class, the teacher does not need to make extra preparations. Online teaching becomes just as easy as face-to-face interaction.

Only Requires One Camera per Room to Conduct Online Teaching

The PTZ camera does not require any sophisticated deployment or configuration. Place the camera in the classroom and hook it up with your PC, and you are good to go for your online teaching.

Satellite Courses Diminished Due to Human Resources Challenges

At the Correspondence Division, in addition to online-submission of reports and virtual exams, you could also enroll or audit various “school courses” online, including “online courses”, “video-on-demand courses” and “satellite courses”, all of which provide real-time delivery of actual on-campus teaching content. Our provision and sharing of online courses have long predated the Covid pandemic. In 2017, we initiated the satellite courses project so that students living in distant regions could also receive education. However, we ran into a number of practical problems at the outset. For example, we used ordinary DV camcorder and peripheral devices to film and share the courses. This meant a cameraperson would have to stay on the scene because each filming would require the manual adjustment of changing the camera angles and switching the focuses. However, with filming lasting from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., the need of an on-scene cameraperson was far from ideal in terms of both labor allocation and cost control. This made steady cooperation with camerapersons very difficult. As such, the number of satellite courses was limited.

Transition to Online Teaching Due to COVID19 Pandemic

In 2020, due to the spread of the Covid virus, we had to transition from face-to-face teaching to online teaching. On top of the long-term labor cost issue, teachers now faced increased preparation burden brought about by PowerPoint slide-sharing via Zoom or similar software, which is something we wanted to solve. In addition, as PowerPoint skills varied among teachers, those who were able to deliver high-quality face-to-face teaching may be less proficient in teaching virtually. Consequentially, the transition was not as smooth as expected.

Immediate Decision on Using the AVer PTC310U

When I first came across the AVer PTC310U displayed at an exposition, I intuitively felt that “this is the one!” and decided to introduce it at the university. These cameras that came out in July 2021 were then put into use at the admission orientation meeting held in late July. The admission orientation was carried out in a hybrid manner, with concurrent face-to-face presentation and online sharing. As the presentation was conducted on-site with some participants present, the presenter could make real-time interactions with the participants, which was relatively easy to manage. In addition, AVer provided detailed explanations on the settings and configurations of the PTZ camera. The settings were quite simple, and the connection and configuration were a piece of cake. The camera delivered good results at the admission orientation and received positive feedbacks from the users. Therefore, the Correspondence Division decided to introduce the camera into the flexible courses of graduating seminars that were scheduled to initiate in September 2021.

Plans to Expand Video-On-Demand Courses in the Humanities Departments with Correspondence Division’s Experience

The Kindai University strives to digitalize its courses with the “Kindai-DX” project. Specifically, the project aims to transform Kindai’s interdisciplinary courses of the humanities departments into video-on-demand courses. The Correspondence Division has been steadily pushing this project forward. If an individual teaches a face-to-face class with the PTC310U, the course could be accessed online in a real-time manner. As a part of the efforts to implement the “Kindai-DX” project, we are enthusiastically using the PTC310U.

In online courses of the Correspondence Division, it is the teachers themselves that operate the camera installed at the center of the classroom with the remote. Prior to the deployment of the PTC310U cameras, a cameraperson had to stay on scene to film the entirety of the course. At present, however, the teachers can teach online courses independently, thus lowering the costs for providing online courses in general. In addition, thanks to features such as AI auto tracking and preset focus-switch, materials for an ordinary course could be used seamlessly for online teaching with no extra preparation required, which reduces the teacher’s burden of preparation.