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POLYCOM SPONSORS SECOND ANNUAL K-20 INTERACTIVE DISTANCE LEARNING VIDEO CONFERENCE

 

Polycom Customer, ATHENA, to present to educators across the world via video conference

INDIANAPOLIS, Indiana – October 3, 2005 – Polycom^®, Inc. (NASDAQ: PLCM), the world’s leading provider of unified collaborative communications solutions for the education market, is serving as a diamond sponsor for the second annual Keystone Conference, a nationally accessible K–20 interactive conference taking place Oct. 3-5, 2005 at University Place and Conference Center in Indianapolis. The Keystone Conference creates a venue to demonstrate and discuss best practice uses of video conferencing technology.  Over one thousand educators, policy makers and industry representatives from 110 locations across the United States, Australia, Canada, Great Britain, New Zealand and Pakistan will attend the conference either in-person or through interactive video conferencing.

As a diamond sponsor, Polycom demonstrates its dedication to keeping educators informed of emerging technology and how it can be used to motivate and inspire teachers and students to reach beyond the limits of the classroom walls.

“In today’s turbulent and budget restrictive times, interactive video holds great promise for expanding educational opportunities when traditional means have been eliminated or are dwindling,” said Craig Lynar, vice president, Polycom solutions marketing. “Over the years, Polycom has collaborated with educators, as well as engineers, to design interactive two-way distance learning, making technology truly transparent. Polycom’s ClassStation™ solutions are easy-to-use, fully integrated packages that allow instructors to focus on teaching, not technology.”

ATHENA: An Innovative Example of Interactive Learning

As part of the annual videoconference event, a Polycom customer, the ATHENA Excellence in Cities Education Action Zone from Birmingham, U.K. will be presenting “Powerful Video Conferencing – Opening New Doors to Learning” during two 45 minute sessions.  These sessions will educate participants on how ATHENA is currently expanding its program with the use of interactive distance learning solutions.

ATHENA is deploying Polycom group and desktop video conferencing systems to help raise standards of under performing pupils.  These pupils are included in ATHENA’s Mathematics and Writing Support Program, which includes the innovative use of video to enhance and extend teaching and learning.  In addition, ATHENA is installing Polycom desktop video conferencing software on laptops and PCs for Head Teachers within the Action Zone to improve communication between schools.

ATHENA will be connecting to the conference via Polycom’s VSX 7000 video solution. During the presentation, ATHENA will examine the key characteristics of powerful video conferencing and the six tools for increasing the impact of video conferencing in schools; pedagogical presence, interactivity, enriched learning environments, under pinning, collaborative learning and contextualization.

“The greatest, unexpected benefit of video conferencing has been the engagement of students who have traditionally become disaffected and disengaged from the learning experience,” said Geoff Turrell, Director of ATHENA.  “Video conferencing has quickly become a key element of our teaching strategy and enables us to provide an immersive educational environment. We are looking forward to sharing with conference attendees the success that we have had with video conferencing in the classroom.”

The Keystone Conference: A Case Study in Interactive Education

Conference attendees will participate through on-site meetings, in remote rooms or in remote regions across the world. On-site attendees will collaborate, network and strategize with interactive videoconferencing (IVC) leaders, while participants attending via video conference are connecting with multiple local and regional participants. These remote attendees will connect using IP (H.323), ISDN (H.320) and Internet 2.   The three session tracks available to both local and remote attendees include: Leadership, Training, and Teaching.

Last year, 1,400 people from five countries and 35 U.S. states attended the inaugural Keystone Conference via 112 remote site connections. Another 160 attended at the host site location in Indianapolis.

“As a collaborative partner in this innovative event, we want educators to understand our level of commitment to working with them in understanding their needs as well as improving our educational systems for interactive distance learning technology,” concluded Craig Lynar.

About the Keystone Conference

The Keystone Conference, held Oct. 3-5, 2005, is the first nationally accessible, K-20 interactive video conferencing conference and event. For more information visit the Keystone Conference web site at www.keystoneconferenece.org

About ATHENA

The ATHENA Excellence in Cities Education Action Zone was created to raise attainment across five primary schools and one secondary school in Birmingham.  The Zone employs three key strategies to achieve this.  The Data Collation Strategy uses the detailed analysis of pupil performance in Literacy and Numeracy to identify specific weaknesses and strengths for individual pupils.  The Numeracy and Literacy Support Programmes provide targeted intervention for under performing pupil groups.  The ICT strategy explores the innovative use of technology in order to enrich and enhance teaching and learning, and remove barriers to learning.  For more information visit:  www.ATHENA.bham.org.uk

 

About Polycom

Polycom, Inc. is the worldwide leader in unified collaborative communications (UCC) that maximize the efficiency and productivity of people and organizations by integrating the broadest array of video, voice, data and Web solutions to deliver the ultimate communications experience. Polycom’s hiqh quality, standards-based conferencing and collaboration solutions are easy to deploy and manage, as well as intuitive to use. Supported by an open architecture, they integrate seamlessly with leading telephony and presence-based networks. With its market driving technologies, best-in-class products, alliance partnerships, and world-class service, Polycom is the smart choice for organizations seeking proven solutions and a competitive advantage in real-time communications and collaboration.  For additional information call 1-800-POLYCOM (765-9266) or +1-408-526-9000, or visit the Polycom website at www.polycom.com.

Polycom and the Polycom logo are registered trademarks of Polycom in the U.S. and various countries. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.  ©2005, Polycom, Inc. All rights reserved.

 

 

 

Melody Callaway

VisiTech PR

303.752.3552 x223