Consistently ranked as one of the best business schools in the world, London Business School enrols over 2,200 degree students from 109 countries each year.
In 2018, London Business School approached TeamMate at Integrated Systems Europe in Amsterdam with a view of creating a pilot space for an upcoming project. The University wanted to create and develop a teaching space that it would be flexible as possible to cater for varying teaching styles. Following a series of meetings with London Business School, integrator GV Multimedia and TeamMate, it was made clear on the universities vision to create a truly world-class collaborative learning environment.
London Business School wanted 6 seat collaborative workstations that could store student laptops in the center when not in use, in addition to secure rack storage of any AV/IT technologies. The table also had to be flexible to enable it to be manoeuvred and redeployed depending on how the space was used. There would also be a requirement for two separate mobile media cabinets that would hold dual screens so workstations in the center of the room could share content with the group. Finally, a lectern was required for the main control system and visualiser document camera.
TeamMate’s design engineering team worked closely with GV Multimedia and the University to come up with realistic concepts and layouts of the space. Thoughts and views were fed back to TeamMate to fine tune the design before putting forward prototype units for the pilot room.
Towards the end of 2018, TeamMate manufactured and installed 16 custom WorksZone Workstations based on the clients brief. Each table had been designed to incorporate 6 Dell Laptops in specially designed pouches to allow for seamless removal when needed. The connectivity and power for each laptop then was directed onto a storage shelf located inside the lockable TechWell of the workstations. Each TechWell had a total of 26U 19″ rack storage for all power units and WolfVision Cynap collaboration systems. The tables were fully mobile and had a folding worktop which could be operated by removing two locking pins at each end. A key advantage of this was being able to store multiple units together in the designated area if the room was needed for another application. The true flexible nature of the design was fundamental in the project’s success.
Another key feature of the installation was having all the surfaces on the worktops writable; these enabled users to draw and share ideas using white board pens across the space. In addition, academics and lecturers were also faced with the problem of needing to identify each table separately. As London Business School is a world leading institution with global reach, TeamMate designed a sign for each workstation with the names of 16 different cities from across the world to make each table identifiable.
Since the project was completed, feedback from the use of the room has been very positive. Users can now work individually on their own laptops or collectively by sharing their work with the group on the dual mounted screens at the end of the table. In addition, the lecturer can also push content from the TeamMate Educator 2 Desk at the front of classroom to all the screens or pick on individual workstations to share their work to the class. All of this is enabled using the WolfVision Cynap, VZ-8neo+ document camera and vSolution Matrix software.
Each workstation was designed with the attention to detail expected from every TeamMate product. For example, the selection of materials used in the laptop sleeves were chosen to reduce overheating. The central connectivity module was also carefully designed to incorporate all 6 laptops in addition to facilitate the power and cable management needed to ensure users could pull them out seamlessly.
As for the main lecturers’ desk; an Educator 2 Desk was selected with a gloss white worktop to enable users to use wipeable pens for use with the document camera system. The desk was again fitted with lockable castors to keep in with the flexible functionality of the room.
“The faculty are overjoyed by the success of the individual sessions. The students in the past have delivered a lecture that then had to break out into smaller rooms all over campus. They appreciate it massively because the group stays together for the whole period of the session. The feedback we have had is that the students love it, they want another room, they want two more rooms, they want three rooms like this because their learning is so focused when they are in here and get so much out of it.”
Michele Asbury, Associate Director of Learning Innovation and Design
London Business School
“TeamMate have produced a superb piece of furniture for the Collaborative Learning Classroom, that makes the room super flexible. The laptops can be tucked away for BYOD but can be pulled out when required by students. This has taken away the need for separate laptop storage and our IT engineers don’t need to set the room up in advance if our laptops are needed for a session. All of the equipment powering the tables is protected from spillages and is easily accessible for engineers.”
Wayne Buttigieg, Head of Infrastructure and Media Services
London Business School
