{"id":4756,"date":"2021-02-12T08:56:22","date_gmt":"2021-02-12T16:56:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.poly.com\/?p=4756"},"modified":"2021-02-12T08:56:22","modified_gmt":"2021-02-12T16:56:22","slug":"powering-hybrid-classrooms-with-poly-studio-usb","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.poly.com\/powering-hybrid-classrooms-with-poly-studio-usb\/","title":{"rendered":"Powering Hybrid Classrooms with Poly Studio USB"},"content":{"rendered":"
\u201cWhen we shut down in March 2020, I thought we\u2019d adjust over a short break,\u201d<\/em> New Jersey educator Esther Loor explained to us, \u201c…but when two weeks became four, and four became six, and then it was the remainder of the school year… it was an interesting transition, to say the least.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n Due to the pandemic, Esther and thousands of her fellow educators around the world, suddenly found themselves, as she describes it, \u201clocked in front of their computers\u201d unable to stand-up, demonstrate on whiteboards or smartboards, or simply walk around in the natural style that they had always been used to. Then, as in-person learning began to resume, the requirement of teaching to in-class students and<\/em> remotely connected students at the same time<\/em> became even more daunting.<\/p>\n Classrooms equipped as \u2018distance learning studios\u2019 were rare, generally very expensive to build, and complex to operate. Educators found themselves sitting at desks and providing a less than optimal experience to both sets of students through no fault of their own.<\/p>\n Esther, whose husband just so happens to be a tech geek, began a project to find tools that could help her teach in these odd circumstances that the world has found itself in. She saw an offer online from Poly\u2019s Services team to obtain a free, expert consultation to assist organizations with adopting technology to cope with the pandemic and she reached out for help. Poly answered the call and told Esther about the Poly Studio USB<\/a><\/span>.<\/p>\n Esther\u2019s school already had PCs and collaboration platforms that were working without incident. What they didn\u2019t have was a way to allow educators to teach in a natural style in a hybrid environment consisting of both in-classroom and at-home students. The Poly Studio USB could simply connect to one of the PCs they were already using, be placed on a desk, and allow remote participants to see and hear the teacher as if they were in the classroom.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n