Polycomm Video Conferencing By vsimeone on Mar 21, 2008 - Updated Oct 15, 2011

We have had an interactive video conferencing unit at our school for about 8 years. The first system was a Vtel and over the years it slowly but surely became less reliable. This year we changed to a Polycomm unit. I am in charge of facilitating distance learning with our students so I love the reliability of this new unit. I also love the new "push to talk" mikes that improve our audio so much over the Vtel system. The only thing that I don't like as well is that the Polycomm is a single monitor system so when we view both the local and remote site, we need to do it in picture in picture. Our Vtel system allowed us to view the remote site on one monitor while viewing the local site on the other. I find it very helpful to point out to students that whatever they can see themselves doing on the local site monitor - the remote site sees as well. With the picture in picture, it is harder for the class to see themselves on the monitor. I do love our system though, and love the opportunities that it affords our students in education!