• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

My TechDecisions

  • COVID-19 Update
  • Best of Tech Decisions
  • Topics
    • Video
    • Audio
    • Mobility
    • Unified Communications
    • IT Infrastructure
    • Network Security
    • Physical Security
    • Facility
    • Compliance
  • RFP Resources
  • Resources
  • Podcasts
  • Subscribe
  • Project of the Week
  • Latest News
  • About Us
    SEARCH
Video

Interactive Displays Cost Less, Last Longer for Berkeley County Schools

The district sought to find a collaboration solution that would be cost-effective to maintain and eliminated the use of a projector.

April 27, 2015 Chrissy Winske Leave a Comment

In 2014, the Berkeley County School District was getting ready to open a new middle school to accommodate its rapidly growing population. Berkeley County is located just 75 miles northwest of Washington D.C. and is home to an increasing number of commuters who work in the Washington/Baltimore metropolitan area. This new middle school would be the third new building in four years and Berkeley County was determined to maintain its tradition of providing students with educational excellence and the latest classroom technology.

For the new middle school, the county was looking to move away from using projectors in the classrooms. Nearly every building has some sort of interactive technology inside including interactive projectors and dual-touch interactive whiteboards with a projector. Although those solutions worked well in the past, Berkeley wanted to move in another direction.

“Even with a very good projector there’s going to be a failure rate,” says David Kenney, director of Research and Technology at Berkeley County School District. “The bulbs, of course, fail before the projectors do and bulbs are rather expensive.”

Kenney wanted a solution that would be less costly to maintain, but would still provide a high-quality collaboration experience. He needed to find 45 of whatever device he chose and with the new school moving along quickly, he needed to find the technology fast. Fortunately, Kenney received a little help from the consultant on the state contract. Richard Sylvester of Pomerory, an IT infrastructure management company, found the ViewSonic CDE7051-TL interactive display and brought the product to Kenney’s attention.

The ViewSonic product is an LED display that supports Windows 8 and offers 6-point simultaneous touch functionality. ViewBoard software allows students to interact with the board by highlighting, editing and moving images around in real-time. Pomerory was able to get the ViewSonic display on the state contract, which brought the price down. As a result, Berkeley only spent a few more dollars on the displays than they did on interactive whiteboards. Kenney decided to go with a 70-inch display for the classrooms, which was a smaller surface area than the whiteboards had offered, but that hasn’t been a problem.

“The Teachers love them. With the displays, you don’t have to worry about ambient light coming into the room. There’s no glare. Even with the best whiteboard and projector you have to be concerned with light coming into the room and glaring off the board,” Kenney says. 

After the 45 displays were installed in the new middle school, the district purchased additional displays for each of its other middle schools and high school. It ordered the displays on a rolling cart so they could be wheeled between classrooms and used for training by the district’s Technology Integration Specialists.

One of the best parts about Berkeley County’s new middle school is that all staff was hired with the knowledge that they would be expected to use the interactive technology in their classrooms.

“In probably any school in the country there are a number of teachers who are the first adopters and then the ones that drag their feet and say ‘never, I’ll retire first. At this school that’s not the case,”‘ says Kenney.

The first time the ViewSonic displays were seen by the Berkeley County community was at an open house right before the new middle school opened. The district had student ambassadors serve as tour guides. They were the first Berkeley students to get a look at the new technology.

“The kids were just so excited,” says Kenney. They couldn’t wait for school to start so they could use these devices.” TD End Icon Final 14 px

Tagged With: Display, Interactive System, K12

Related Content:

  • Top New Technology Awards ISE 2022 logo 2022 Top New Technology (TNT) Awards Winners Announced…
  • Poly Hybrid Work Technology and Understanding Workstyles Will Help Support Hybrid…
  • Room with multiple computers outsourcing content on videowall to depict Datapath Aetria's connectivity. Datapath Aetria To Provide Direct Support for Videowalls
  • Neat Microsoft Teams Neat Certified For Microsoft Teams Globally

Free downloadable guide you may like:

  • The State of Digital Signage & Video Wall Technology

    Digital signs and video walls come in a variety of sizes, configurations and pixel pitches, but they share a common purpose: communicating information

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Get the FREE Tech Decisions eNewsletter

Sign up Today!

Latest Downloads

The State of the IT Department in 2022

The role of the IT professional has shifted from one that supports the business to one that is deserving of a seat at the table when it comes to ma...

Hybrid Work Challenges
The Three Most Common Hybrid Work Challenges Two Years Into the Pandemic

Many of us have been working in a hybrid environment for two years now. Our editors thought this would be a good time to take a look at what’s work...

These 10 IT Certifications Are Critical To An IT Pro’s Success in 2022

Here are 10 cloud, data and security certifications that we identify as critical to an IT professional’s resume in 2022 and beyond, according to a ...

View All Downloads

Would you like your latest project featured on TechDecisions as Project of the Week?

Apply Today!
Sharp Microsoft Collaboration HQ Logo

Learn More About the
Windows Collaboration Display

More from Our Sister Publications

Get the latest news about AV integrators and Security installers from our sister publications:

Commercial IntegratorSecurity Sales

AV-iQ

Footer

TechDecisions

  • Home
  • Welcome to TechDecisions
  • Subscribe to the Newsletter
  • Contact Us
  • Media Solutions & Advertising
  • Comment Guidelines
  • RSS Feeds
  • Terms of Use
  • Privacy Policy
  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Linkedin

Free Technology Guides

FREE Downloadable resources from TechDecisions provide timely insight into the issues that IT, A/V, and Security end-users, managers, and decision makers are facing in commercial, corporate, education, institutional, and other vertical markets

View all Guides
TD Project of the Week

Get your latest project featured on TechDecisions Project of the Week. Submit your work once and it will be eligible for all upcoming weeks.

Enter Today!

© 2022 Emerald X, LLC. All rights reserved.