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Scala - Education
Lower the cost of video production, increase student involvement, and rapidly update video bulletin board announcement systems for campus signage and television channels.
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Lower Production Costs and Increase Student Involvement.
Scala Solutions: Education
High schools and universities always need to communicate with students, faculty, staff, and parents. Yet budgets are tight and where to spend money is not always obvious, especially in technology.
Administrators must invest in a solution that will not only be embraced by its users but also its audience and stand the test of time through employee turnover and student graduation. Until recently, most communication was split up by individual departments or student organizations. Now thanks to converging markets, educators have the chance to synthesize messages in at least three different venues and avoid costly overlap in the process.
Television can reach nearly anyone at any time. A single station can double as a public access outlet as well as event calendar. Another channel can deliver an ongoing series of messages like homework assignments and be ready for instant announcements in a weather-related emergency. Yet relying solely on video quickly becomes costly and too slow to edit.
Perhaps you also need the ability to target a specific visual message to a certain location, such as a building lobby, stadium, cafeteria, or auditorium. It may require continuous updates or even database-driven information that is only relevant at that particular place, at that exact time. Traditional character generators look dated which turn audiences off, and only allow content to be changed on-site with no additional inputs or outputs.
Scala has been pioneering these converging visual technologies for over 15 years. Our InfoChannel software suite can manage all of these displays -- community television, campus-wide information systems, and interactive kiosks -- together from a single location with one set of tools. From creating content to scheduling to distribution and playback, InfoChannel can handle everything in a single network. Plus, the entire system can be managed by any number of people, be it a single teacher or an entire classroom of students.
Whether or not you are creative, every Scala solution can easily be tailored to suit your needs. Aspiring graphic artists love InfoChannel Designer's intuitive interface and teacher's assistants are just as at home within Reporter, our template-based tool. Incorporate either into a class or an after-school club. Create an event calendar or bulletin board that seamlessly integrates with your existing station.
InfoChannel content -- even including interactive menus for kiosks -- can be created with minimal training and comes bundled with application-specific art libraries. Users can also directly import their own media from video, scanners, cameras, and the Internet. Then they can choose from hundreds of smooth eye-catching transitions that fade, zoom, fly, and twist in 3D... all from a simple point-and-click interface.
InfoChannel transforms television and flat panel monitors into truly dynamic digital signage, a rapidly updateable medium that is easy enough for anyone to manage. That's why educators and cable operators around the world have been using Scala software for years to create, distribute, and play back content on community access stations, kiosks, and information displays with a great look and lower production costs.
Case Study: Phoenixville Area High School (Education)
Enhanced by Scala's InfoChannel 3 software suite, a new curriculum was written to support live broadcasting of school events and community calendars. Students are now involved more than ever, both during the school day and in an after school studio club, making Phoenixville a model for nearby communities and an inspiration to many educators.
Rapidly Updateable Visual Messaging for Morning Announcements
Real-time weather, forecasts, news, announcements, sports, and homework assignments keep audiences tuned in and students involved in production. Plus, users can keep everything updated from a networked PC with fresh information that can be scheduled to display at any time or date on a cycle and months in advance if desired.
Emergency Messaging
What good is a messaging solution if it can't double as an emergency information system? InfoChannel can instaneously interrupt current programming with new content either pre-designed or edited on-the-fly. There are even third party products available to dial in using a touch tone phone and update channels without the need of a computer at all.
Eliminate the hassle of calling every television and radio station in the city every time there is a weather-related delay or cancellation by publishing the information on your school's own channel. Make students and parents happier by gathering what they need to know in one place wihtout having to compete with a hundred other school districts and universities.
Show Homework Assignments
Get teachers and assistants involved by putting homework assignments on TV to give students and parents a place to check what's due. Best of all, they can enter their information remotely outside of the video production facility if necessary. Multiple people can also work collaboratively without access to each others' files, eliminating the risk of accidental deletion. Import messages directly from simple text and photos into full multimedia presentations or templates.
Lobby Signage and Kiosks
Maintain all these applications together with Scala InfoChannel driving an informational display or kiosk in the lobby to inform regular attendees as well as visitors. Constantly changing information such as sports scores are a breeze to update, and cafeteria menus can be scheduled weeks in advance to alleviate the daily task. This valuable asset to your institution can highlight facilities to prospective students, assist press during sporting events, and guide guests at after-school events or meetings.
Kiosks are an effective way of allowing visitors to find out more about your organization. An interactive presentation can be both informative as well as entertaining. However, the most common approach has been simple internet browsers that are susceptible to hackers, power outages, and viruses. Other solutions have attempted to use isolated CD-based systems that are difficult to update.
