Background
Located in a rural community at the mouth of the Columbia River Gorge outside of Portland, Oregon, Corbett School District is a charter school district serving 1,057 students in grades PK-12 at two schools—Corbett School (Grade School, Middle School and High School) and Corbett Arts Program with Spanish (CAPS). There are approximately 83 teachers and staff across the system.
Corbett School District (Corbett) was in a unique position in two ways;
- They were building a brand new middle school, offering the opportunity to optimize the classroom set up for student-centered learning.
- Their new superintendent, Dr. Derek Fialkewicz, had recently implemented a highly successful student-centered learning environment in the classrooms at his previous school, Lied STEM Academy, a magnet middle school school that is part of the Clark County School District in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Challenge
Most Corbett classrooms were equipped with an Apple TV for casting and one digital display, either a TV, Smartboard, or interactive flat panel (IFP). Teachers in classrooms with touchscreen panels were hesitant to let students use them out of concern they might be too rough, breaking the the expensive devices. Similarly, teachers did not allow students to cast from their device to the TV, creating a heavily teacher-directed / teacher-led classroom that made student-centered learning a challenge. Security was a problem as tech-savvy students found it easy to take over the screens (regardless of type), even from outside the classrooms. Finally, native wireless screen sharing in more advanced panels often proved unreliable. Between security concerns and dropped casts, some teachers hardwired their devices to the TVs/panels using HDMI, further tethering them to the front of the classroom. Adding even more frustration, teachers who tried to show videos often ran into buffering issues, causing delays that disturbed the flow and effectiveness of the day’s lesson.
In short, security challenges and constrained feature sets prohibited a thriving, interactive classroom setting. Though teachers used the Apple TVs, they experienced the limitations of a consumer-designed product being deployed in a classroom setting.
Solution
As Superintendent, Dr. Fialkewicz knew that Corbett would benefit greatly from Vivi based on his previous experience at Lied, but he left the decision to Chris Wingler, Corbett’s Technology Director. When Dr. Fialkewicz circled back on the results of Wingler’s research, Wingler agreed, confirming, “I have yet to find anything close to doing what Vivi can do for educational purposes.” And so both the superintendent and the technology director agreed on the plan to deploy TVs plus Vivi in every classroom.
The solution for the new middle school, inspired by what Dr. Fialkewicz implemented at Lied STEM Academy, aims to eliminate the front of the classroom and create an environment conducive to student-centered learning. These are the critical components to accomplish that goal:
- Adding Vivi plus four TVs to each classroom (one for every wall), replacing expensive, underutilized smartboards and IFPs.
- Changing and rearranging the furniture; getting away from desks in rows to create more flexible seating options, including standing tables.
- Replacing teacher desks with podiums for portability and ease of movement around the classroom with their device, whether laptop, tablet or Chromebook.
Beyond the classroom, Corbett added TVs to other learning environments such as the library, as well as high traffic areas such as the front office, for digital signage to be deployed during emergency situations or for highly visible communications to students, parents, and visitors to the school.
Outcome
Secure, flexible and collaborative
With Vivi in place in every classroom, teachers have an easy-to-use, secure platform that they control, including granting permission for students to cast. Vivi offers greater flexibility, as the teacher or student (with permission) can cast to one or all four TVs at once.
Dr. Fialkewicz noted, “Our teachers are excited to allow students access, and love the fact that they can have more than one TV casting at the same time.” When students are working in groups, four different groups can each cast to one of the four TVs, creating a small collaborative environment for sharing and communicating ideas and enhancing the learning environment, or, the opportunity to present to the whole class.
Extensive interactivity features
Some of the more sophisticated users of the Smartboards were the Math Teachers, who liked the ability to draw and have access to different tools for their lessons. Thanks to a new implementation with Vivi, they have that ability and more. Corbett purchased inexpensive touchscreen Samsung tablets for classrooms that cast right to the Vivi screens. Hence, the tablets now act as a personal “smartboard.” Teachers share their slideshows (lessons) from it, they can draw on it, they can screenshot, and even pass the tablet around the classroom so students can show their work on the screens as well. Said Fialkewicz, “The number of things we can do with Vivi changes what we are doing in our classrooms.”
Control, reliability and safety
Knowing that students sharing to the classroom display must have permission gives teachers confidence to fully embrace the Vivi features. Another feature that has been a game-changer for teachers is the ability to load videos to the Vivi box, eliminating any buffering issues when showing them to the class. And the principal loves the fact that he can take over any and all screens throughout the schools in an emergency situation to communicate critical information, such as evacuation routes. This increases safety for students and staff during events such as fire and evacuation drills.
Cost-effectiveness
Dr. Fialkewicz is pleased by the cost-effectiveness of their Vivi-centered solution, explaining, “The interactive TVs were so expensive, you could put four TVs with Vivi in a classroom for less than the price of one interactive IFP.” By choosing TVs and Samsubg tablets instead of IFPs and Smartboards, Corbett is able to bring the interactive classroom set-up to every classroom, increase student-teacher engagement, and keep their users happy.
He concludes, “The number of things we can do with Vivi changes what we are doing in our classrooms.”
