One of the most rewarding things about working in ed tech is seeing first-hand the impact the technology has on the learning and teaching outcomes of schools. One such example is the amazing transformation that San Francisco Bay Area's Piedmont Unified School District has undergone since adopting FrontRow classroom audio and campus communication technology.
California’s Piedmont Unified School District provides a stimulating educational environment for 2,700 students. Part of their formula for success is making their classrooms easier to learn in with FrontRow classroom audio and making their campus easier to run with FrontRow’s campus communication technology.
“Three things we are always looking to improve upon are teaching and learning, communication, and, of course, always improving safety. And the FrontRow system has helped us in all those areas,” said Adam Saville, Technology Coordinator for Piedmont Middle School.
Piedmont now has award-winning FrontRow classroom audio and campus communication technology, including:
Piedmont recognized their classrooms were vulnerable to the invisible barriers to learning that exist in almost every learning space — barriers like distance from the teacher, background noise, and echo. Saville and his team selected Juno classroom audio to help overcome these barriers.
“My favorite aspect is the ability to be heard anywhere in the classroom no matter where I am or how I’m facing,” said Piedmont Science Teacher Ted Greenebaum, whose classroom is set up in several pods of four students each. “Now that my voice is evenly spread out through the classroom, I don’t have to raise it. I can speak in a low voice and still be heard. I’m finding kids are more engaged.”
Juno also helps streamline day-to-day classroom activities, saving time and bringing order to the learning space with one touch of its teacher Smart Microphone.
“I can also work the audio-visual and projector from anywhere in the classroom just by using my voice. I use the freeze screen capability quite a bit and turn on and off the projector just using the smart mic rather than fumbling with the remote,” Mr. Greenebaum added enthusiastically.
Using one-touch Juno Lesson Capture, teachers can record important video and audio content almost effortlessly, and make it available to students to review at home. As you know, it's an idea called ‘flipping,’ and Piedmont is a pioneer in this powerful new practice.
“In addition to actually amplifying my voice and making it more present over the classroom, [Juno] Lesson Capture allows me to record whatever is happening on my screen, whatever is being projected onto the smart board, and capture the audio through the smart microphone,” shared Daniel Kessler, another science teacher at Piedmont. “It gives students the opportunity to go back and review lesson materials for anything that they caught or any gaps in their learning. I think the confidence in what they are learning has increased.”
As a one-to-one connected school, Piedmont uses Google Docs. Students have Chromebooks so all the Lesson Capture MP4 recordings are set up to be automatically shared to the students’ drives. Every day, when they get home, students have the lesson waiting for them. As well, before going home, if they have support class that day, students can readily access the recorded lesson on Google Drive.
Conductor is a companion of FrontRow’s classroom AV technology. Piedmont school district has leveraged its capabilities across all their campuses to do automated bell scheduling, facilitate classroom-to-main-office and campus-to-campus communication, and increase their emergency response communication.
“We are using FrontRow Conductor to make our school lives easier,” shared Attendance Secretary Michael Wong. “It allows us to set bell schedules, welcoming and dismissing chimes and tones, as well as communicate directly with individual classrooms and the whole school. It was quick to learn, really intuitive, and it’s just a really useful tool.”
Piedmont School District turned to FrontRow to help them smoothly run their campus while increasing student engagement, making lesson delivery easier, and creating spaces that are more conducive to learning.
Adam Saville emphasized the ease of use and implementation: “Everybody’s comfort level with technology is different. What’s been great about FrontRow is that it’s incredibly user-friendly.”
Like Piedmont, you too can optimize learning and school communications by implementing FrontRow’s solutions in a single classroom or across the whole campus.
Ready to be like Piedmont or to take advantage of our free trial? Contact us today!
