The Polycom Corporation, a global, service provider offering communications and collaborations solutions, entered into partnership with the Russian Foundation for Supporting Education. The aim of the partnership is to use Polycom’s systems to run important classroom communications technologies for the GUR, a union of elite schools in Russia.

The first test project involving Polycom’s conferencing solutions was launched in St. Petersburg and has now expanded to over 350 regional educational associations. The schools participating in the project get equipped with teleconferencing technologies. The total number of schools presently participating in the program is more than 1,400, a number that includes high schools, military academies, and teacher’s training colleges. The goal of the GUR is to structure a professional network of elite high schools, known in Russia as gymnasiums and lyceums, by providing a teleconferencing platform through which participants would be able to exchange ideas. The Russian Foundation for Supporting Education pursues active cooperative programs with schools located outside of Russia, including educational institutions within Armenia, Australia, Kazakhstan, Moldova, and Ukraine.

The GUR union numbers 350 educational establishments, each of which is now online with a video-enabled classroom utilizing the Polycom video system. The particular teleconferencing solution used comprises Polycom’s VSX7000 and HDX6000 devices. The infrastructure is founded on the RealPresence Platform, which offers standards-based teleconferencing technology complete with features such as security, scale, manageability, flexibility, and HD-transmission capability. The systems allow for a significant number of students and teachers to work together with one another in a classroom setting through any type of mobile devices. One other critical component of the system is the RealPresence Media Manager package that allows recording lectures for later review. This feature allows students missing a particular course to catch up with the group.

According to Mr. Fedorov of the Russian Foundation for Supporting Education, functionality, consistent performance, and stability are a critical consideration in selecting the technologies for teachers and students in elite Russian educational establishments. Mr. Fedorov noted that the Foundation considered a wide variety of technological solutions in its quest to select the right system for uniting the top Russian schools. According to the Foundation’s vice president, Polycom got chosen because the system it proposed was consistent with the Russian educators’ demand in terms of its scalability, flexibility, and crossplatform operability. Not the least of considerations was the cost factor. Polycom’s system turned out to be very much affordable.

The newly-created information network has come to be a welcomed innovation within the Russian educational system, as it allowed for a greater interaction among the students and faculty members. As such, school students can now not only take advantage of the chance to listen to lectures by the best educators within their regions, but also participate in seminars held at other schools from any location they choose. The new information system presently has some 35 thousand members, which includes students, instructors, members of non-governmental organizations, and administrators from government authorities.

The capability of having a face-to-face platform for collaborative real time conferencing introduces a new learning approach to the schools. It also expands the reach of ideas generated by qualified and experienced instructors. Another benefit of the program is that it enhances the training of teachers through resources consolidation. Additionally, the system decreases the price tag on training programs and allows for a collective curriculum development. Teachers are also able to benefit from continuing professional education. Administrators and technical service managers enjoy a streamlined operating environment, cutting costs on hours of IT work. In addition to other benefits, with the launch of the teleconferencing system, students and faculty have come to enjoy opportunities of inviting guest speakers from other organizations via a live connection.