Calgary Catholic
Immigration Society (CCIS)

Providing Access to All with Interactive Screens in Every Classroom

CCIS (Calgary Catholic Immigration Society) is a non-profit organization that provides comprehensive settlement and integration services to all immigrants and refugees in Southern Alberta.

LOCATION

Calgary, Alberta

PROJECT GOAL

To refresh six existing classroom spaces for on-site and remote students.

PROJECT OVERVIEW

The CCIS were looking to create collaborative and inclusive learning experiences for in-person and remote students. In addition, CCIS aspired for these classrooms to be adaptable and used as a multipurpose environment that could be configured easily depending on how the space was being used.

Initial direction and thoughts from CCIS were to just add interactive displays in each of their six classrooms, however after completing an on-site Audit and Design we worked together to understand the additional required support and equipment necessary to achieve their goals.

Read on to find out more about how we developed a road map to meet their current needs and our relationship to educate and provide solutions that can be budgeted and planned to meet their future goals.

Project Photo Gallery

Previous classroom static learning tools.

New classroom interactive screens and movable carts

ON-SITE AUDIT & DESIGN

Our on-site audit determined the following scenarios that the classrooms needed to consider:

Video conferencing capabilities using applications that were specifically designed or used by CCIS. (Google Meet, Zoom, etc.)
Dual Screen Setup Capabilities – Enabling teachers to present and interact with content on one screen while still having the ability to interact with students via videoconference on a second screen.
Structural Supports and Power Supply – Large interactive displays are heavy and require proper structural support backing to be included within the wall. The current walls intended for each display were void of backing and required additional circuits to ensure proper power.
FSR Smart Raceway Foor Tracks – A way to protect wires and cables that ran from displays to the teachers desks.

WORKING TOGETHER WITH THEIR FACILITY CONTRACTORS

TEATRX created detailed drawings for CCIS’ facility contractors of all current and future conduit locations, wall backing, electrical, floor track integration and proper height elevations of all equipment. By designing with 1 1/2” conduits we created pathways between the displays, into the ceiling and finally a floor track to hide and protect cables to each teacher desk. This prevented any concrete coring and would allow them to install and upgrade future audiovisual equipment that could integrate easily into the current design.

Classroom 203 - Elevation - Conduits.jpg

INTERACTIVE DISPLAYS

To offer an ample amount of interactive surface for teaching and student participation we installed 86” BenQ pro series touch screens. The vast surface area is perfect for content creation, collaboration, and presentations while the screen, pen and remote are all coated with a nano-ionic silver formula that kills 99.9% of germs after contact, essential when used my many individuals in an interactive classroom setting. Each screen has a one-tap NFC login that teachers can use to load lesson materials instantly.

To encourage productive group brainstorming discussions the BenQ displays offer multi-touch screen capabilities which allows multiple users to interact and annotate with one piece of content simultaneously again further supporting a hybrid learning experience.

ALL-IN-ONE VIDEO CONFERENCING

To ensure remote students had as little disruption from in-classroom noises we used the Bose VB1 all-in-one USB conferencing sound bar. The 6 beam-steering microphones ensure that focus is on voices and not unwanted background noise. The 4K ultra-HD wide angle field of view camera made certain that each participant in the room could be seen and heard clearly.

LARGE SCREEN WALL MOUNTS

All displays were attached to a Peerless retractable wall mount to provide built-in cable management and hide all components and cords.

EVERYTHING DOESN'T HAVE TO HAPPEN ALL AT ONCE

As installation became complete, we donated several hours of design time to work with CCIS employees and leadership team to identify additional phases for future technologies that would enhance their classroom experiences. Developing a road map with CCIS would enable funding to be properly budgeted to accommodate the following:

Soundproofing – classrooms often have high noise levels or noise traveling from adjacent classrooms and will require some type of acoustic solution.
Internet, network and WIFI possible additions to each classroom.
Infrastructure changes and equipment upgrades that would lead to improved performance, scalability, reliability, energy efficiency and security.
Upgrade cabling to provide faster and more reliable network connections and to ensure better overall performance of their network infrastructure.