Skip to main content
Add as a preferred source on Google

Nebraska District Adopts Audio Enhancement in Classrooms

  • By Dian Schaffhauser
  • 12/13/21

Nebraska's Lincoln Public Schools has gone public with its implementation of an audio enhancement system that allows teachers' and students' voices to be more easily heard throughout the entire classroom, including behind face masks. The district is working with Audio Enhancement, a company that produces classroom AV products.

The teacher microphone system, which was adopted in 2016, consists of a lanyard-style microphone that teachers wear around their necks. With a touch of a button on the lanyard, teachers can pair the microphone with an Audio Enhancement amplifier and its related speakers to amplify their voices. The outcome is that students sitting anywhere in the room can hear their voices at the same volume.

The system can also offer the option of a student microphone that can be passed around the classroom so that students hear their peers' responses and feel like their voices are heard.

Audio Enhancement's system accommodates paired teacher microphones for those co-teaching with another instructor, making it simple for both instructors to engage with the classroom together.

"All students deserve to hear what their teachers and peers have to say without difficulty," said Stephen Joel, the district's superintendent, in a press release. "Audio Enhancement's teacher microphone system has allowed us to increase equitable audio access for all students in our classrooms, providing a much richer classroom experience that has translated to better outcomes for our students and teachers alike."

The school district is also currently testing two additional products from the company. The Signal Alert for Education (SAFE) System lets a teacher press buttons on the same lanyard microphone for three seconds, to alert school officials that help is needed. The office can then discreetly let teachers know via the lights on the microphone that help is on the way.

VIEWpath provides for video capture and recording, enabling teachers to record lessons in the classroom to share with students later. The system can also be used to record incidents as they occur.

About the Author

Dian Schaffhauser is a former senior contributing editor for 1105 Media's education publications THE Journal, Campus Technology and Spaces4Learning.

Featured

  • Houston K–12 District Opens New Elementary School

    The Lamar Consolidated Independent School District (Lamar CISD) recently announced the completion of a new elementary school in a western suburb of Houston, Texas, according to a news release. Haygood Elementary School measures in at 110,000 square feet, has the capacity for 854 students, and is the first of three new schools scheduled to be built in the Cross Creek West community.

  • Massachusetts K–12 District Selects Architect for New Junior High

    Swansea Public Schools in Swansea, Mass., recently announced that it has selected Finegold Alexander Architects to design a new junior high school for the district, according to a news release. The firm will create the Feasibility Study and Schematic Design for Joseph Case Junior High School after a lengthy selection process by the Massachusetts School Building Authority (MSBA).

  • California K–12 District Completes Elementary School Campus Replacement

    The West Contra Costa Unified School District (WCCUSD) in Richmond, Calif., recently announced the completion of a replacement campus for Lake Elementary School, according to a news release. The school has capacity for 470 students between Transitional Kindergarten (TK) and sixth grade.

  • Utah Valley University Opens New Engineering Building

    Utah Valley University in Orem, Utah, recently held a grand-opening ceremony for the new Scott M. Smith Engineering Building, according to a news release. The facility is one of the largest engineering buildings in the state at almost 200,000 square feet, and it plays home to the university’s Smith College of Engineering and Technology (SCET).