Nagoya University of Commerce and Business (NUCB) uses ATEM Mini mixers for its online classes

The private Japanese university located in Nisshin (Aichi) launches thirty mini studios equipped with ATEM Mini or ATEM Mini Pro mixers that allow classes to be taught online.

Nagoya University of Commerce and Business (NUCB) has created a work dynamic for transmissions with various solutions of Blackmagic Design. In this sense, the educational center built thirty mini-studios equipped with mixers ATEM Mini o ATEM Mini Pro that allowed classes to be taught online without losing days of the academic calendar.

NUCB is a private Japanese university located in Nisshin, Aichi, within the Tokai region. Oriented towards commerce and business, it is one of the most prestigious in the world and, in recent years, it has developed a complete online training program around Blackmagic Design products that include cameras Ursa Mini Pro 4.6K and mixers ATEM Television Studio Pro 4K.

In 2018, NUCB built a studio for online classes for students on maternity leave. This space included two URSA Mini Pro 4.6K cameras equipped with Blackmagic URSA Viewfinders, a Blackmagic Studio Camera 4K unit, an UltraStudio 4K capture device, a HyperDeck Studio Mini recorder and an ATEM Television Studio 4K switcher.

Previously, the university was already using eight Blackmagic Studio Camera units, an ATEM 4 M/E Broadcast Studio 4K mixer with an ATEM 2 M/E Broadcast Panel and a Blackmagic Duplicator 4K device to meet the school's audiovisual needs.

Hiroyuki Kurimoto, dean of the NUCB, notes that "we assigned people to switch between the different cameras and recreate the auditorium environment in a realistic way, which was a complex task. We didn't know how to build a studio, so we looked at the Blackmagic website and read the product manuals to find out what we needed, such as cables, microphones and other peripherals, and it worked."

New work dynamic

Taking advantage of this initial experience, they created a new work dynamic that includes thirty mini-studies for students and graduates, equipped with mixers ATEM Mini or ATEM Mini Pro and units Blackmagic eGPU Pro, which have been used to deliver classes online since the start of the Japanese school year in April. Each class is recorded with a robotic camera, which follows the teacher's movements, and an ATEM Mini or ATEM Mini Pro mixer, which allows you to switch between different signals while streaming via Zoom.

"The important thing was that the studio was easy to use for teachers from different countries and ages. It had to be intuitive. Instead of a whiteboard, tablets with touch screens are used, so mixers and other capture devices were essential. We couldn't assign technical staff to each class, and the price of the equipment was very important. The ATEM Mini and ATEM Mini Pro models can be used instinctively, and the interfaces of the different Blackmagic products are very similar, which is why we It was easy to learn how to use them, since we had used other devices from the company before,” explains Kurimoto.

For the purpose of teaching online classes, several computer equipment is used, for example, one to transmit the image and audio of the teacher, and another with two inputs for the mixers. In addition, iPad devices are used as an alternative to the whiteboard, as well as the Keynote application to make presentations. Larger studios have other models of ATEM switchers for switching between different cameras, but in this case, they were primarily used to display shared screens. The teacher writes student comments on the iPad and switches between this device and Keynote.

Currently, all NUCB chairs use this online teaching method, which eliminates the risk of interruptions in the middle of the class. When using various computers and Blackmagic eGPU Pro units, the amount of data processed by each system has been reduced, and it is possible to offer high-quality online classes to all students.

"One of the things we discovered was that using the iPad as a whiteboard was beneficial, even in face-to-face classes. In addition, teachers generally use presentations, and it is much easier to display them and write on the iPad through an ATEM Mini than to use a screen or a whiteboard. These mixers will be essential once we return to the classrooms," concludes the dean.