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Making Your School Safer and More Inclusive

By | Uncategorized | No Comments

It’s back to school time, and that means new school supplies, new clothes, new routines (and maybe a bit more quiet around the house). Parents will be dropping their children off at school, hoping that they will be learning in a physically and emotionally safe, and caring environment. It’s time for your school to start planning everything from field trips to new equipment and regulations. School budgets can be tight so it’s important to have affordable tech solutions that are easy to install and maintain. A wireless streaming device can have multiple uses for schools saving them money, time and perhaps even lives. 

Here are three ways an education audio streaming system could improve your school.

ACTIVE DANGER DRILLS

Parents and children have a right to expect that they are safe in school. Unfortunately, school safety has become an increasingly dominant factor in our educational institutions, and along with fire drills, schools now hold “active danger” drills

In an active danger drill, there can be a lot of noise and teachers need to hear what the issue is (fire, tornado, a crime, etc.) and get instructions. As part of any emergency procedure, it is of utmost importance that the administration and first responders are able to communicate directly and quietly with teachers. 

Of course, one way to do this is through text message, but this can become an organizational hassle as many carriers limit the amount of phone numbers that can be included in one text. A faster and clearer way to communicate with teachers and staff is by streaming local audio over WiFi directly to their smart device. This way, all teachers are alerted at one time and can receive real-time instructions about the situation. 

FIELD TRIPS

While streaming audio may, hopefully, never be used in an emergency, it has further safety use on field trips. Using a personal PA system for teachers, students can be communicated with during travel or any time. Students wandering off or lagging behind can hear instructions about where to find the group. And if the group is inside a museum, library, or other quiet zone, this type of communication keeps the field trip from being distracting to others.

STUDENTS WITH HEARING LOSS

Each year many schools test students for hearing loss. Children may be born with hearing loss or it may develop from infection, disease or injury. Those children diagnosed with hearing loss need accommodations and assistance in hearing teachers, computer, and video lessons. For some children, being placed in the front row of the classroom may be enough to enable them to overcome minor hearing loss for learning. 

However, for others, an audio streaming assistive listening device would be helpful. Streaming audio can be offered to any child via iPad, computer or cell phone – thus overcoming extraneous distractions and noise – to enable the student to hear the teacher or recorded lessons. Not only that, it can also be less embarrassing for the student than wearing a hearing aid.

There are even more creative ways an audio streaming solution could improve your school. If you’re interested in learning more, contact us today! 

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How to Enhance College Tours for Gen Z

By | Education, Tour Guides | No Comments

Every summer, many colleges and universities experience an influx of potential students who want to know what makes one institution stand out from the rest. Leaving home for college is an exciting step toward adulthood which involves many stressful unknowns, and even the most confident student might find themselves feeling anxiety. Not only does your college tour need to help ease this nervousness, but it also needs to effectively showcase your school as the best choice, but the incoming generation of students isn’t quite like years past: This is Gen Z.

All students want to learn the history of the school, the locations of the various departments on campus (particularly the one for their major), the location of the dorms and student union. Additionally, showing prospective students the beauty of the campus, the art work, the quiet places to study and the loud places to make friends are all great ways to show why your school is special. 

While they can learn more of this online, Gen Z students prefer in-person experiences over digital. This is why your tour needs to present what makes your school special in the ways that interest them. Gen Z students aren’t as interested in making money like previous generations, they are interested in making a difference:

Not only will a college need to show off the school, but it will also need to align with its new student’s desire to improve the world and affect positive change. Once your tour is catered especially for Gen Z students, it’s important that it be heard clearly – because Gen Z is also the listening generation. Since 98% of Gen Z own a smartphone, a WiFi audio streaming solution that transmits audio directly to their smartphones is a cost effective way to ensure they hear every word of your college tour. 

If you’d like to learn more about how AudioFetch can help improve your campus tours with a wireless tour guide system or education sound system, contact us today.  

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Level Up Your Next Field Trip with a WiFi PA System

By | Education, Hearing Assistance, Theater, Tour Guides | No Comments

Most students enjoy taking a field trip because it offers more time to socialize, it breaks up the routine of the classroom, and they don’t have to eat in the cafeteria! But field trips are also beneficial to learning because they expand a child’s awareness of the world and they help with memory.

According to a study at the University of Arkansas, taking a field trip to a live theater performance enhanced literary knowledge, tolerance and empathy among students. And, a recent study by Emilyn Ruble Whitesell at New York University, showed that middle-school students who participated in science field trips scored higher on a standardized science test. Ruble believes that this is because field trips and hands-on learning make concepts more memorable.

These studies point to the fact that field trips are beneficial for students on multiple levels, but that’s only if you can manage to keep students engaged. Increased class sizes can make many field trip groups difficult to manage, and with budget cuts it’s important to find an economical solution that makes the most of readily available resources like a student’s smartphone. A personal PA system for teachers or field trip guides, one with built in WiFi, can transmit audio from the speaker directly to a student’s smart device.

With a wireless tour guide system from AudioFetch, students can have the freedom to roam during a field trip while staying connected to the teacher or tour guide providing vital information about the experience. It can also keep students hands free to take notes, and because they use their own devices, the school doesn’t have to budget for upkeep on headsets or another type of wireless tour guide system. Finally, with built in WiFi, educators are empowered to take their class anywhere and ensure that learning is uninterrupted by others in the area.

If you’re an educator and want to learn more, contact us to find out if an AudioFetch personal PA system could help you level up your next field trip.

And don’t forget, we’re in the final weeks of our #WHYIGUIDE tour guide giveaway! To enter, record a video (<30 seconds) explaining why you love being a tour guide, and post it to our Facebook page or upload the video to your Instagram profile, and use the hashtags: #WhyIGuide and #TourGuideLife. Every video uploaded between March 18 and April 30 with those hashtags is automatically entered, and the winner will be chosen at random in May. Full rules and eligibility


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3 Reasons to add AudioFetch to your College Campus

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A college campus is a vibrant place of learning, ingenuity, and inventiveness.  The atmosphere is ripe with growth and learning, and the technology available on campus for various activities is a great opportunity to inspire students and faculty alike. An audio solution that transmits audio over wifi could be a great addition to any higher education audio-visual department and opens up some creative opportunities to enhance the experience of everyone on campus.

STUDENTS

Students work hard to become informed and expand their knowledge and skills.  They learn from books, professors, visiting lecturers, and each other. They attend multiple classes and spend long hours studying.  To unwind they sometimes look to the Student Union to share a meal, a televised sports event or an episode of South Park or Jeopardy.

One television, turned up loud enough for so many people to hear, can seem blaring to those who are more interested in talking to their friends.  For students who are studying while they eat, the noise of the television that rises and falls with the excitement of sports announcers’ voices or the music of commercials can be very distracting.  Or perhaps there are several televisions showing different programs and one can’t be heard over another, creating a cacophony of noise. And what if students with hearing disabilities just want to hear what’s on TV more clearly?

Any streaming device that transmits audio via wifi to a user’s smartphone, would be a perfect solution to manage noise levels in shared student spaces like the Student Union or dorms. Think of the peace in having an audio-streaming device that would allow students to listen to any TV through their cell phones.  Earbuds would prevent distracting anyone sitting nearby, and students could still watch together by tuning in to the same channel.

PROFESSORS

Seeking to vary the classes or impart direct knowledge, a professor might take a class of students to a museum, a play, a special lecture or a local engineering facility.  Communicating with students might be distracting to others at the museum, play, or lecture, and might be impossible in a plant, however, a personal PA system for teachers that streams audio directly to student smartphones would allow the professor to communicate with all the students over any other noise and without disturbing anyone nearby. Not only that, through direct streaming, students are more likely to hear every word of instruction through their earbuds and are less likely to be distracted or miss something vital because of ambient noise.

GUEST LECTURERS & PRESENTERS

Very often during the semester, a college will host a special visitor who might lecture on politics, environmental issues, the entertainment industry, or host a Q & A.  These special presentations are open to the public and many people from the community attend. Students attending the college or members of the community whose first language is not English are at a slight disadvantage because they might miss the nuances of the speaker.  Wouldn’t a translator be a big help? A translator could be a volunteer from the community who transmits the dialogue over streaming audio, allowing everyone to hear the lecture in their own language. Not only that, but attendees with hearing impairment could also benefit from an audio streaming device that amplifies the sound of the lecture directly into their ear buds.

CAMPUS TOURS

Walking prospective students throughout the campus, highlighting key educational and social facilities, is an excellent way to give them a feel for what life will be like and all the amenities that will be available to them. Oftentimes, campus tour guides have to shout to allow prospective students and their families to hear, or they rely on outdated and unhygienic shared devices to transmit audio. Our AudioFetch Express is better solution. Express is a wireless tour guide system, which allows attendees to listen from their own smartphones, and lets tour guides go hands-free. A useful and modern solution for any college, and one that allows for social distancing in today’s climate.

An AudioFetch education sound system that streams over wifi could solve so many on campus challenges and be a great addition to the student and community experience.  If you would like to know more about our audio streaming solutions, contact us today!

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The Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) GIVEAWAY!

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AudioFetch is the absolute best platform for providing local audio over WiFi to smartphones and tablets across any application. The Fetch-family of products are employed in fitness centers, sports bars, restaurants, churches, universities, lecture halls, theaters, tour companies, airports, correctional facilities, community centers, casinos, auctions and more. Our solutions are easy to install and stream audio to your customers smart phones, so you get to avoid upkeep and tracking of clunky equipment.

Embrace the “bring your own device” (BYOD) culture, by allowing your customers to use their smartphones for hearing assistance, access to multilingual content, audio descriptions or any live voice audio.

Whether you’re a tour company, church, educational facility, theater or any other type of venue, we want to help your guests hear better. Now through September 30th, we’re giving away a free AudioFetch FetchExpress system to four lucky winners! Just enter your business information for a chance to win!

To give you an idea of some of the creative ways an audio streaming solution could help improve your business here are 4 of our top blogs to offer inspiration…

Enter the Bring Your Own Device Giveaway today!

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5 Inspiring Ways to Teach with a Portable PA System

By | Education | No Comments

As all teachers know, managing a classroom is difficult. It takes skill and effort to wrangle and direct a large group of students; sometimes, it might just seem entirely overwhelming. However, more and more teachers are embracing technology to keep students on task and engaged. Some teachers have found success and inspiration from using a portable PA system. Here are 5 creative ways you can use a portable PA system with your students.

1. Direct a field trip

Keeping track of students in a classroom is hard enough. Outside of the classroom, you also have to worry about the possibility of students running off, getting lost, or missing the bus. A portable PA system can let you communicate to your students during a field trip. Your students will be able to hear your directions and know when to be where, even if they aren’t at the same location as you. You can also add helpful information about the place being visited. Tips, stories and even possible pop-quiz questions.

2. Foreign language listening

Learning a foreign language requires listening and comprehension. Most foreign language programs involve audio in some form: to learn pronunciation, to practice comprehension, or as a part of a test. Computer speakers are often quiet and low-quality, and make it hard for students to hear and understand spoken words. A portable PA system can let your students have high-quality, easy-to-hear audio that comes directly from you. You can cater the audio to meet the needs of that day’s lesson plan, and you can teach multiple langauge levels in the same room.

3. Lecturing with a sore throat

When you’re speaking day in, day out, nonstop, for hours a day, your vocal chords are bound to get fatigued. A portable PA system can amplify your voice even when your throat isn’t working at its best. All you have to do is speak at a comfortable voice into the system, and your students will hear you through their headphones as if you were lecturing normally.

4. Playing music during work time

Did you know that there’s research showing music can help with completing tasks? Mozart and Bach are the most commonly cited examples, but, there are lots of classical and ambient musicians that can be soothing and help students concentrate. If you’re assigning work in class, why not use a portable PA system to play music? This way you can control the use of devices and music in the classroom while rewarding your students with the option work with music without disturbing the class.

5. Lessons outside the classroom

Most students would agree: if it’s nice out, they want to have class outside. Who wants to sit at a desk inside when the sun is shinning? However, a gust of wind or a passing car can easily drown out your voice. A portable PA system, can help you stay audible, and let your students enjoy the sun and the outdoors while they learn.

AudioFetch offers a portable PA system called the FetchExpress that could be the perfect compliment to your lessons this fall. We value education and are proudly offering all AudioFetch products to teachers at 20% August 1 through September 30. We hope to be your partner in education this school year! To learn more just contact us.

Enter the Bring Your Own Device Giveaway today!