ViewCast Solution Bridges Distances in Texas-Sized School District

The Customer
Region IX, a Texas secondary school district that encompasses more than 7,200-square miles in the state's sparsely populated panhandle area.

The Situation
Space - the "wide open" variety - is the biggest natural resource in the stretches of the Texas panhandle that the Region IX school district calls home. It takes more than five hours to drive from one end of the school district to the other. Along the way, there are long stretches where the local jackrabbit population vastly outnumbers the population of humans. Distances of hundreds of miles might separate one small school building from the next and one qualified teacher from a student in need of that teacher's expertise.

The people who call this sparsely populated region home, many of whom are first-generation immigrants, desire high-quality education - but finding, retaining and affording qualified teachers in rural areas can be difficult for school districts. Region IX could hardly justify an instructor of advanced physics or a bilingual English teacher for a class that might have but two students. On the other hand, for those two hypothetical students, such a teacher might provide the spark that lights an eager-to-learn young mind.

So the Region IX school district had a dilemma: How to bring students and teachers together over vast distances at an affordable cost? ViewCast.com had the solution.

The Solution
While it might not be possible or feasible to physically move teachers from one school to another within the large school district, videoconferencing technology would allow Region IX to share resources between its far-flung schools. Through videoconferencing, teachers in Mineral Wells could interact with students in Bowie, and a classroom of two students in Jacksboro could, thanks to the technology, join a class of 12 in Wichita Falls.

So Region IX turned to ViewCast.com for a solution. The solution was the ViewCast.com Viewpoint VBX, an enterprise-wide video communication system, which enables desktops and conference rooms to access a choice of video communication resources.

The versatile Viewpoint VBX server and codec array supports a number of video communication standards, including H.323 (video over TCP/IP networks), MPEG-2, H.320 (video over ISDN), and H.324 (video over standard telephone lines), in addition to NTSC and PAL interfaces for connection of commercial and consumer A/V devices.

The ViewCast.com Viewpoint VBX met all of Region IX's needs - both technically and financially. The school had applied for - and was awarded - an annual grant for the project, with the first year covering the initial purchase of equipment and the second year to cover any system enhancements.

ViewCast.com delivered a large VBX for the regional center and 35 mini-VBX systems to schools around the district. While some schools didn't have Internet access, every school that could be enabled was enabled. In most schools, the monitors and cameras are located in the library, cafeteria, or other large conference-type room.

The new videoconferencing system was first used to teach ESL (English as a second language) classes. Shortly thereafter, Region IX partnered with Vernon Regional College to allow high school students within the system to take advanced or accelerated classes at the college via the

ViewCast videoconferencing system. Soon, adults were also able to log on and take continuing education classes at Vernon.

Not only was the new ViewCast.com video-distribution system able to deliver teaching expertise to where it was needed and allow faculty and students to share resources and learning experiences, it also enabled teachers to participate in training sessions and administrative meetings. Teachers and administrators, who once had to make a long trek to district meetings and teacher training sessions, were now able to attend via videoconferencing - a benefit that saves Region IX a considerable amount of time and travel expenses.

"The ViewCast.com videoconferencing solution has allowed us to share our educational resources throughout the large area that makes up Region IX," said a Region IX project coordinator. "We're able to provide necessary courses and college-level classes to people who, due to the distances involved, were unable to take advantage of such opportunities in the not-so-distant past. And we're able to do so in a way that is affordable."

The Future
With the scalable and versatile ViewCast.com Viewpoint VBX solution in place, Region IX can grow the system as technology warrants. As new schools become Internet-enabled, the Viewpoint VBX is easily, and affordably, expanded. Students and faculty in the Texas panhandle will be effectively communicating with each other - and learning from each other - for years to come.

If you would like additional information, please contact us at [email protected] or call 1-800-250-6622.