Gwinnett County Public Schools has extended the classroom beyond its campuses to reach home bound students through collaboration technology provided by Alcatel-Lucent.
According to Alcatel-Lucent, this partnership has helped Gwinnett County Public Schools (GCPS) to reduce costs across its campuses.
The new Alcatel-Lucent voice over IP system will link 114 schools in Gwinnett. Gwinnett is also using the Alcatel-Lucent OmniTouch My Teamwork Unified Conferencing and Collaboration system to connect teachers and homebound students reducing the need for travel. The county hosts approximately 60 audio-visual calls per week serving 600 to 700 students who need to be educated at home.
Morse Communications, an Alcatel-Lucent business partner, worked as project leader to gather requirements, customize and install the VoIP equipment, manage service cutover and train the school district staff.
Rick Overton, director of telecommunications and network services of information management division at Gwinnett County Public Schools, said: Voice-only instruction lacks the graphics and visual aids that help keep young, inquisitive students engaged. Alcatel-Lucent’s VoIP network and the My Teamwork solution help teachers provide a richer learning experience, they can use video clips for a history lesson, interactive graphing for science or white-board instruction for math.
