Breaking Barriers: Transforming Classrooms with Advanced AV

Executive Summary:

Forney Independent School District wanted to move away from the traditional classroom setup and enable greater teacher mobility and interactivity. Key requirements were reliability, consistency, and affordability. Pairing Vivi with a projector in every classroom proved the ideal solution for the district, meeting the needs of both technology staff and teachers.

Introduction

Forney Independent School District (Forney ISD), located in the rapidly expanding area outside of Dallas, Texas, serves a diverse student body of over 15,000 across multiple cities and unincorporated areas. Recognized as the fastest-growing district in the nation’s fastest-growing county, Forney ISD has embraced Vivi’s advanced AV technology to revolutionize its educational approach. By transitioning from static AV setups to a more interactive and flexible system, the district has met its immediate technological needs and paved the way for a future where technology seamlessly integrates into education, enhancing learning experiences inclusively and effectively.

Background

Forney ISD faced a challenge familiar to many educational institutions: traditional classrooms with setups that limited teacher mobility and interactivity, hindering dynamic engagement with students. Recognizing the importance of providing robust and consistent solutions to enhance learning environments, Howard Carlin, the Executive Director of Technology, voiced the district’s need: “We require solutions that are not only sturdy and reliable but consistent day in and day out, fostering rather than hindering education.”

This drove Forney ISD to seek a solution that would liberate educators from the constraints of the traditional teaching model. Joining Howard in this quest was Kim Morisak, Chief of Operations, whose expertise in instructional strategies further fueled the district’s determination to find the right solution.

Challenges

Before adopting Vivi, Forney ISD faced several challenges with their classroom technology setup. The classrooms were static, with teachers bound to a fixed AV setup at a designated teacher’s desk. This setup hindered teacher mobility and limited interactive learning opportunities. Additionally, the district wanted to standardize its AV technology across all campuses, providing equitable access to high-quality technology, regardless of the school’s fundraising abilities.

They wanted to find a consistent, reliable, and affordable solution that would provide the same opportunities to all students and teachers. The solution needed to enable teacher mobility, enhance classroom interaction, and work when teachers needed it to. From a technical perspective, it needed to support Windows and Chrome OS. It also needed to offer room and display security. Finally, from a practical perspective, the team was adamant about not wanting a two-part hardware solution given the frequency with which dongles and adapters go missing.

Forney ISD students present to the class while sharing their content to the classroom projector with Vivi.

Solution

To meet these challenges, Forney ISD sought a solution to enhance their educational environment and meet the practical needs of their growing infrastructure. After considering various options, they chose Vivi, an AV solution featuring wireless screen sharing, teacher mobility, and enhanced classroom engagement. Following successful trials in select locations, including the superintendent’s office and IT department, positive feedback prompted swift implementation across all classrooms, ensuring standardized technology district-wide.

Today, classrooms throughout Forney ISD are outfitted with a 7-foot tall physical whiteboard, a projector, a Vivi, a single 27-inch classroom monitor with a USB-C dock, a classroom phone, mouse and keyboard, and a document camera. Teachers all have laptops, while students are 1:1 with Chromebooks.

Morisak is confident in their choice of Vivi and is excited about its future in the district as a tool for teachers, “I’ll tell you, there are some people probably using technology now that weren’t using it before because it’s so much easier for them.” Carlin agrees, saying “Now, Vivi is a part of life at Forney.”

Everyone at Forney ISD benefits from standardized technology setups, including projectors and Vivi.

Deciding against interactive flat panels

Forney ISD carefully considered various AV solutions. While they had a few interactive flat panels in use already, purchased through grants or fundraising initiatives, they were never seriously considered as their primary classroom technology for several reasons:

• Cost and scalability: Interactive flat panels are significantly more expensive than alternatives like Vivi and a projector. This high cost made them an impractical choice for widespread deployment across a rapidly growing number of classrooms and buildings within the district.
• Durability concerns: The district was concerned about the durability of interactive flat panels in an active classroom environment. The potential for damage and the associated costs of repairs or replacements rendered them a less robust option for daily use.
• Training requirements: Interactive flat panels required extensive training for teachers to effectively use all their features. Forney ISD preferred a solution that could be quickly adopted and utilized by faculty with varying levels of tech proficiency.
• Limited practical interactivity: Despite their name, interactive flat panels did not deliver the level of interactivity desired. They often kept teachers at the front of the classroom, contrary to Forney’s goal of increasing mobility and interaction throughout the learning space.

Exploring the benefits of Vivi

Implementing Vivi has brought several transformative benefits to Forney ISD:

• Mobility and flexibility: Vivi enables teachers to move freely around the classroom, directly engaging with students and facilitating a dynamic learning environment. This feature not only boosts student interaction but also allows the technology to adapt to different teaching styles and activities. This adaptability extends to innovative spaces like Opportunity Central (The OC). As a multipurpose campus hub for career development, higher education access, and community engagement initiatives, The OC thrives on versatility. Vivi seamlessly supports this by enabling a wide range of educational configurations and uses within the space.
• Efficiency and consistency: With Vivi’s centralized management system, IT staff can remotely manage and troubleshoot devices, significantly reducing downtime and increasing operational efficiency. Carlin highlights the impact, noting, “Vivi’s central management capabilities are huge for scalability for an IT department in a K-12 setting.” Additionally, standardizing Vivi across all campuses ensures a consistent, high-quality technology experience that eases the adoption curve for teachers and students alike.
• Ease of use: Vivi’s intuitive design simplifies its use, making it accessible for teachers of all tech skill levels. Morisak appreciates this feature especially, stating, “We have a huge mix of technology skills among our teachers, and they can all use Vivi. That’s the best part about it.”

These benefits highlight Vivi’s role in fostering an inclusive and effective learning environment, where technology enhances rather than complicates the educational process. Carlin remarks, “Vivi is not just a cost-effective alternative [to interactive flat panels], it’s even better. It enables that mobility. It is device-agnostic. If you build your network right and install it right, anyone can walk in and plug and play in a room. No adapters. No cables. Just, oh, it’s a new room with a different room name. Let me log into Vivi and go.”

Beyond the classroom

Forney ISD’s use of Vivi technology reaches beyond traditional learning environments into multifunctional spaces like Opportunity Central (the “OC”), the district’s 350,000 square foot facility that is a combination of a career and college center, student-run business hub, and community complex. Morisak points out, “Every space has to have the ultimate flexibility to be whatever it needs to be in the moment… Vivi fit the bill.” The OC’s adaptable spaces, such as its black box theater, can be easily reconfigured with Vivi to accommodate different events without complex setups.

Professional development session at Forney ISD, showcasing the use of Vivi technology to support teacher training and collaboration.

Final thoughts

Forney ISD’s adoption of Vivi has transformed its classrooms by enhancing interactivity, mobility, and flexibility, aligning with its mission to inspire students through innovative educational experiences. The standardized technology used across campuses ensures equitable access for all, simplifying teaching and learning while Vivi’s intuitive design minimizes IT disruptions. As the district looks forward, it remains committed to expanding Vivi’s capabilities to further enrich education and community engagement.