How the Meeting HQ Helps the Christian Theological Seminary Simplify Hybrid Learning

Christian Theological Seminary (CTS) is an ecumenical graduate school located in Indianapolis, Indiana. As a relatively small school of 160 students, CTS focuses on building a supportive and academically rigorous community. 

When CTS transitioned to hybrid learning in early 2021, they needed to upgrade their hybrid setup so faculty could continue to focus on teaching and community building, without worrying about the technology.

Being able to offer remote classes has been on Jesse Johnson’s docket for several years now. As the Director of IT at CTS, he was preparing for hybrid classes before COVID-19 began. For the past three years, Jesse’s primary job has been to acquire and manage new classroom technology so students always have the option to virtually engage in class.  

Jesse has had to be thoughtful about what technology he brings on board.

“We’re a small-on-purpose kind of school, we’re not affiliated with a bigger university or seminary, so we’ve really had to find new ways to use better tools and technology.”

Jesse knew the hybrid technology they were using wasn’t going to be enough to support truly immersive educational experiences. 

"There was technically a camera in every room, but it was mounted on the wall, and it was really designed for recording a class if needed. The audio wasn’t great either. The whole setup wasn’t enough."

"We started to look for solutions that could compensate for the audio quality and could capture the whole room on video. We also wanted to give teachers a way to schedule their hybrid classes in advance, so they could just walk into the classroom and hit ‘start’ on a device without having to set things up. Being able to integrate all those needs into a single touchpoint was the big appeal of the Meeting HQ."

Before purchasing the Meeting HQ, Jesse had struggled to find a device that would work with both Microsoft and Zoom. CTS uses Office 365 as their calendaring system and Zoom for classes and public-facing events. 

“We struggled with other devices. We had to use Microsoft Teams with this device, Zoom for that, and our phones for others. We wanted something more integrated.”

The Meeting HQ allows CTS to use Zoom for all their video-conferencing needs, while also syncing with their Office 365 calendars. 

Jesse is excited to bring the Meeting HQ into more classes this summer:

“We’ve tried it out in our classrooms and we think it’s perfect for hybrid education.”

CTS plans to be fully back in person in the fall, but Jesse believes it will still be valuable for students to be given an option to join classes remotely if needed.

While CTS is primarily a school, Jesse notes that education is only two-thirds of his focus. CTS has several foundations and community outreach programs that they associate with, and Jesse hopes to bring this technology into those spaces as well. 

"We’re looking at the Meeting HQ and the Meeting Owl Pro for board meetings, community meetings — things where we need a certain group of people sitting in a room, but we need the people watching to feel connected to who they are talking to."

Jesse added that, as a technology officer, his goal is to never go back to a fully in-person model. “We hope that by putting in these solutions, like the Meeting HQ and Meeting Owl Pro, we’ll prove that remote enabled meetings are just as effective.”

The Meeting HQ makes hybrid classes and meetings a single tap away.