July 1, 2010-
Earlier this year after working with Polycom and AT&T to complete grant application, Embarass River Valley Instructional Network Group (ERVING) was awarded a USDA RUS Distance Education and Telemedicine Grant for the upgrade and replacement of distance education equipment in eight school districts. As sub-contractor to AT&T, Dascom was brought in to integrate the new system for ERVING.With 8 rooms of varying shape and size, Dascom spent several days visiting each site to evaluate the best placement for the instructor consoles, LCD displays and HD cameras. Dascom worked under the direction of key team members at AT&T to develop a new room design and integrate all new equipment.
“I was very pleased with the team’s ability to handle such a large project while maintaining close attention to detail. The engineers were creative in finding a cost-effective solution to meet our needs.”- Jamie Lane, Network Director, ERVING Network
The installation at ERVING includes: Two 55″ HD LCD displays installed at the front of each classroom- the top display showing a quad image of 1×3 classrooms and the bottom display showing all content sources; a 42″ HD LCD display hung from the ceiling displaying the quad image or full screen images of any of the quad windows or the content; new HD cameras at the front with teacher view locations positioned so both the students and instructors look directly at the far site participants; additional components including HD-capable switcher, document camera, and 17″ high-res touch monitor.
ERVING is now able to offer 12 to 16 courses a day and greatly increase students’ opportunity to learn. ERVING will serve more than 300 students this year with the new technology integrated.
“With such large populations of students now utilizing ERVING distance education, it’s difficult to imagine where students and teachers might be without the network.” – Jamie Lane
Lane relishes the versatility and options students and teachers now have through the network and newly integrated equipment, and is impressed by the quality and variety of classes offered and the benefits reaped by seamless collaboration between districts. Students can now easily take classes not offered at their local school and get a jump start on college, while teachers can teach a class that they otherwise wouldn’t get to teach because of low enrollment.
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