With four locations across the state, Delaware Technical Community College offers academic, technical, community education, and workforce development comprising more than 120 bachelor’s degree, associate degree, diploma, and certificate programs. The College is dedicated to providing quality education that is accessible, relevant, and responsive to labor market and community needs while contributing to Delaware’s economic vitality.
As part of a technology upgrade across its campuses, Delaware Tech renovated the Del-One Conference Center on its Terry Campus in Dover with an array of high-tech audio visual equipment and systems. The main attraction of the project is a nearly 28-foot-wide, 8-foot-high (14x7) Planar® TVF Series LED video wall with a 1.2 pixel pitch (TVF1.2). Completed at the end of January 2023, the large fine-pitch LED display gives the College and other groups the ability to make presentations, conduct video conferencing calls, and show a wide variety of content in multiple configurations .
“A video wall of this caliber really brings our facilities up to a more modern standard,” said Bill Melvin, classroom technology manager at Delaware Tech’s Terry Campus. “We think of it as an investment in our College’s future.” Bill Sahm, senior project engineer at Delaware Audio Visual, which performed the video wall and technology integrations, said the updated space is loaded with an impressive display of AV power. “The room has four 4K PTZ cameras, 40 high-end Shure wireless microphones, 240 data cables and a really robust windowing system with eight 4K HD sources,” Sahm said. “The LED video wall is just phenomenal. The color is beautiful. It’s the ‘wow factor’ for the College.”
Combined with the new audio visual technologies, the LED video wall significantly improves the usability and features of the conference center as a space for rent. In addition to internal Delaware Tech functions, external organizations also use the conference center for corporate events, workshops, governmental conferences, job fairs, private parties, and more.
“During the installation, we were visited by representatives from the Governor’s office and the Department of Transportation,” Sahm said. “They heard that the space was being outfitted with a new AV system and they wanted to take a look. When they laid their eyes on the video wall, they were blown away.”
With the addition of the Planar LED video wall, Delaware Tech is also exploring ways to use the conference center as an educational hub. “We’re working with our instructional designers to create the most effective teaching environment and bring the College into the hybrid learning space,” Melvin said. “At the same time, we are actively using the video wall during campus tours and open houses to attract students and showcase the different programs of study we have at the school. Essentially, the video wall is a massive centerpiece that enhances any event. People are just awestruck when they come in and see it.”
