Issue link: http://osercommunicationsgroup.uberflip.com/i/698898
E d Te ch S h o w D a i l y Tu e s d a y, J u n e 2 8 , 2 0 1 6 3 6 SECURITY EFFECTIVELY ADDRESSED WITH FAXCORE In any profession, there is likely some kind of information involved that needs to be kept private. Faxing has normally been the solution in these instances. But as a growing number of people pre- fer to use their smartphones to access data on the go, the traditional fax machine has started to age poorly. The response to this development is online faxing like the kind made possible by FaxCore. Some people are skeptical of mod- ern technology. Cybersecurity horror stories are a dime a dozen, but much of the fear they create can often be chalked up to media hysteria. Crum said that there was some opposition initially to his online fax initiative, but his answers satisfied those concerned. The idea that faxes, which would nor- mally sit as hard copies in semi-public areas, would now be protected by strong digital encryption provided by FaxCore was enough to quell many naysayers. Crum specifically cited FaxCore's security as a reason why it was selected over other VoIP and FoIP companies that he spoke with. The ease with which FaxCore solutions were put into place and the immediate operational advan- tages they provided helped to push the pace of pilot programs along much faster than Crum expected. "After having all of those different conversations, we felt comfortable with [FaxCore], so we set up a pilot program, tried it out on a couple of our lines and decided that was going to work for us and slowly started to implement it," Crum stated. "I really didn't plan on hav- ing things implemented at this point, to be honest, but as we got into the school year and had more and more problems with fax machines either failing or prob- lems with our copper lines that we decid- ed to accelerate that process and get them all moved over." Online Fax Means Huge Cost Savings Another common issue for schools and educational services is funding. Money seems to be constantly slipping through the cracks when it comes to academic organizations, and any way to effectively cut costs is a welcome notion. According to Crum, FaxCore services have allowed PCSC to trim some of the fat from opera- tional budgets in interesting ways. These kinds of sav- ings have generally come from the migration away from copper landlines – which was Crum's initial reason for seek- ing out an online fax service in the first place. "The whole reason we really went this route is we wanted to reduce as many POTS lines, or phone lines, as possible," Crum said. "So, that's kind of where our conversation really started – moving to a hosted voice over IP system and wanting to eliminate as many of the old copper lines as possible." Stop by booth #3652 to learn about its on-premise, cloud fax offering and 'Partly-Cloudy' fax options. After the show, visit www.faxcore.com. Cleveland, Tennessee, under the umbrel- la of communications that focuses on oral, print, web and video communica- tion delivery systems. RaiderTV is a class, offered to 8th grade students at Cleveland Middle School, which pro- vides students with real-life experiences in media, communications and leader- ship. The show airs every school morning and reaches 1,300 students and staff, and then additionally reaches about 75 to 100 families after school hours. The broad- cast includes the latest news and events at CMS, and it highlights varying aspects of school life. Students produce a special Telestream (C o nt'd. fro m p. 1 ) feature segment for each school day. On- demand videos are available for shows from the last two weeks for the conven- ience of students, parents and faculty. There are 14 total staffed posi- tions, and a student-producer oversees the production. RaiderTV has been rec- ognized both locally and nationally for its high production value and professional- ism in its broadcasts. Challenge In the beginning, Cleveland Middle School needed a way to produce their daily news show and tried using various streaming solutions. Unfortunately, the programs were unreliable, used too many system resources and struggled to main- tain audio and video sync. In addition, the pixilation on high motion video was too great and lowered the production quality. Solution In the end, the school implemented Telestream Wirecast live streaming pro- duction software. In addition to provid- ing excellent streaming stability, Wirecast allowed the school to use com- plex graphics during the production of the show without expensive or complex graphics systems with alpha channels, and it was easy to use. "We consistently produce high quality broadcasts with Wirecast and the best part is that it's so easy to use that the students just click a button to start the stream," says Cody Raper, Communications Instructor at Cleveland Middle School. The Set-Up A 2012 iMac with an Intel i5 processor is located in the master control room next to the soundboard. Four Canon XF-105 cameras are run over HD-SDI to send camera feeds from three different sets back to the master control room. The soundboard is a PreSonus StudioLive 16.0.2 digital mixer. Five Shure SM93 lavalier microphones are used. Non- keyed graphics and packages are provid- ed from the iMac running RenewedVision's ProPresenter. Results By implementing Wirecast to produce RaiderTV, Cleveland Middle School has seen an increase in student engagement. Students now have an enhanced aware- ness of special events and extracurricular activities through the special features on the show. Additionally, RaiderTV is used for trivia questions and content refresher segments, which helps prepare students for standardized testing. In a nutshell, the daily live stream has unified the school, enhanced school pride and provided an avenue to effectively communicate infor- mation. For more information about how others are using Telestream Wirecast, or to download a free trial of the software, go to www.telestream.net/wirecast. Visit Telestream at booth #3425 to see Wirecast in action. PERSONALIZED LEARNING DOESN'T HAVE TO BE COMPLICATED COMPREHEND™ is online curriculum built for personalized learning and the mod- ern learner. COMPREHEND is designed to promote academic discovery. Blending highly effective content and the Internet, the world becomes the student's classroom. The COMPREHEND curriculum uses interac- tive content that is supported by robust mul- timedia and a media library. Incorporated into each lesson are audio files, video clips, pictures and graphics. Visual activities and games utilize key words and definitions to promote retention through repetition. Educators can choose from three distinct products: BrightThinker™ online curricu- lum designed for grades three to five; KnowledgeU™, a grades six to 12 college prep online curriculum; and KnowledgeUnits™, a grades three to 12 highly effective, flexible curriculum deliv- ered in a work-text format that is aligned with the online curriculum. COMPRE- HEND offers more than 50 complete online courses for flexibility, variety and choices, while meeting both national and state course standards for content and architecture. COMPREHEND simplifies the Personalized Learning environment. Customizable to the academic require- ments of the student, the student works at his or her own pace to fully master the cur- riculum and content. Therefore, the stu- dent's academic experience is effectively personalized to his or her unique needs. This experience can be completely virtual or the blended model classroom, depend- ing on the desire of the educator and what works best to promote student success. As the student moves through the curriculum, there are multiple opportunities for the stu- dent to experience visual, kinesthetic and auditory learning methods. In short, COM- PREHEND allows the student to become more engaged while also learning technol- ogy skills critical to their future success. Educators will find COMPREHEND to increase their academic effectiveness by supplying data and analytics, all the while reducing their administrative tasks. The cur- riculum content is linked to an internal assessment tool that immediately begins to tabulate data and analytics based on the responses of the student. The educator will use the data to evaluate the student's progress and mastery, and address any defi- ciencies through personalized academic intervention. COMPREHEND will save time by grading 90 percent of the student's responses, tabulating grades and by offering easy to access reporting. Educators will find COMPREHEND to be easy to use, user- friendly and effective. For more information, email info@ COMPREHEND.education or call 917.954.3275, ext. 302.