"Our bandwidth problems have been practically eliminated. Monitoring & customization is a snap with the web interface."
Desert Academy, Santa Fe, USA "We rolled out 1200 Chromebooks to classrooms and CACHEBOX means that we haven't needed to increase our bandwidth."
Rodney Leer, Brenham Independent School District, USA "ApplianSys is the only vendor that takes the time to look at our appliances for us, and it really goes a long way."
Mike Caruso, Orland Park Consolidated High School District 230, USA "CACHEBOX310 is a lot easier to manage than other, more expensive appliances"
Eli Vaughan, Networks Administrator, Medicine Park, USA "Not only did the Support Team answer my questions, they were also able to fill some of the gaps in my knowledge"
James Locker, Systems Administrator, St Francis Catholic High School, USA

Video lockdown safeguards home study

April 22, 2020
Facebooktwitterlinkedinmail

ApplianSys is pleased to announce that Spartanburg County School District 7 in South Carolina USA is relying on CACHEBOX to provide safe, direct access to course material hosted on a popular video-sharing website during the Coronavirus pandemic, without risking its strict e-safety standards.

As with other schools across America and worldwide responding to lockdown, the district has closed all 10 schools and sent students home with a district-owned e-learning device. Learning content is quickly being made available online, including the nationwide Advanced Placement Program (APP).

Spartanburg’s High School students had been earning college-level credit from APP’s extracurricular content, but suddenly those lessons are now being delivered via a video sharing site. Having permanently blocked access to this site on its devices – to prevent student exposure to unsuitable advertising or distracting content – Spartanburg had a problem.

Not willing to drop its e-safety standards and unblock unsupervised access on its school-issued devices, Spartanburg turned to CACHEBOX to help provide controlled access to the online material remotely.

CACHEBOX enables content to be precached ahead of need, so it’s ready for immediate use during school hours. CACHEBOX Media Library goes one step further. It allows teachers to choose their own lesson content which Media Library automatically downloads overnight, ready for sharing with individual students, whole classes or school-wide.

Normally limited to access from inside school, Spartanburg’s network has been configured to give students access remotely, while at home. Importantly, for Spartanburg, using the Media Library for content that would have been hosted on the video-sharing site brings additional e-safety benefits. With students directed to CACHEBOX’s cached copy – which displays the video on a white background – all adverts, related videos and public comments remain unseen.

Students aren’t at risk of distraction, ensuring the optimum e-learning environment, even while in lockdown at home. And teachers are free to manage content however they prefer, compiling whole lesson plans or respective APP course video playlists, ready to share with students directly via secure URL.

“With its network configured to allow remote access to the CACHEBOX, Media Library is supporting Spartanburg’s requirement to home school”, says CACHEBOX Consultant Sergio Villegas. “As a result, students are still able to benefit from a teacher-led environment, as well as access primary content safe from the distractions of unsupervised browsing activity.”

About
Spartanburg County School District 7 follows a vision steeped in traditional values but focused on the future. That puts its primary and secondary schools on the cutting edge of technology and innovative teaching strategies, boasting early computer training programs that challenge the academically and artistically gifted, and a well-rounded curriculum that focuses on building skills for students pursuing various education or job tracts. Its high school and access to a regional career/technology centre completes the secondary educational experience.