Technological Innovation in the California Classroom

The Customer
Campbell School District, a California secondary school district located in Campbell, California

The Situation
The Campbell School District, located in Campbell, Calif., is one of the most technologically innovative school districts in the country. Dozens of multi-colored iMac computers dot the classrooms. The daily school announcements are not read in a droning voice over the school's intercom system by a school administrator, but are instead energetically, imaginatively and professionally produced by students in the school's video production center, to be broadcast each day to the school's classrooms.

Looking forward, the Campbell School District has plans for future applications that required a video/media distribution system that offered both video conferencing and streaming media capabilities.

The Solution
The Campbell School District chose a ViewCast solution, because it could provide both capabilities in one system at a price within the district's budget - and it was compatible with the school's existing infrastructure. The product's scalability also appealed to the district's desire to stay on the cutting edge of technology.

Rolling Hills Middle School and Monroe Middle School were the recipients of ViewCast.com ViewPoint VBX systems. Each of the systems are wired to a total of 60 clients/computers.

The flexible ViewCast.com ViewPoint VBX system had an advantage over other systems in its ability to provide the best quality video over the schools' existing CAT5 wiring. The district's 10BaseT network doesn't have the bandwidth to support H.323 (IP) video distribution and conferencing standards, but the ViewPoint VBX is able to provide broadcast-quality video on the school's existing wiring without impacting and degrading their data network.

In addition to its ability to provide the best-quality video into the classroom without impacting network bandwidth, the ViewPoint VBX system is also compatible with the school's legacy systems and infrastructure which allow them to leverage their existing legacy assets and saved them money. The Campbell schools were using NEC codecs and the Viewpoint VBX system was compatible with these codecs thanks to the VBX's capability to support a variety of 3rd party codecs. Rolling Hills had two NEC codecs, while Monroe had a single NEC codec. The ViewCast VBX system was able to control the NEC codecs through the use of the Viewpoint VBX Codec Manager software which provides remote network-based control and management functionality.

The flexibility, scalability and open standards compatibility of the ViewCast VBX system also came into play with the Campbell School District's choice of Apple computers as clients. The VBX WorkFone client software is available for use on both PCs or Apple Mac computers.

With the ViewCast.com system now in place, students at Rolling Hills Middle School are able to create and broadcast their morning announcements live to classrooms throughout the school.

The Future
Maintaining its cutting-edge mentality, the Campbell School District continues to develop exciting new applications for video communications. The school's innovative teachers have plans to use the system to share instructional videotapes between classrooms, as well as allow classes to watch plays and other activities. The district intends to grow the easily scalable system to allow for two-way videoconferencing for distance learning and many other streaming and video distribution applications.

Other possible system additions include ViewCast Niagara streaming encoding stations to provide streaming to remote locations enabling students and parents to log in to the system from home. Homebound or sick students could participate in classwork and parents could actively participate in their children's education by monitoring stored content, such as class materials. It is even possible for a distant grandparent to watch their grandson or granddaughter's star-making role in the school play.

Whatever groundbreaking direction the Campbell School District chooses to go, their ViewCast Viewpoint VBX system is ideally suited to take them where they want to go.