E-Learning leap at Spring Cove
ApplianSys is pleased to announce that Spring Cove School District in rural Pennsylvania, USA, has deployed a CACHEBOX solution – bought via the federal E-rate programme – and is now benefiting from faster web content in the classroom, as well as reclaimed bandwidth capacity.
The district runs comprehensive e-learning programs including Odysseyware learning that offers personalised 1:1 instruction. But despite a 1Gbps internet link, its 2,000+ users rely on WAN connections of just 200Mbps across its 3 sites. When whole classes accessed the same material simultaneously, the spikes in traffic overwhelmed the WAN links – resulting in delays in the classroom.
With longer page-load times and buffering, Spring Cove risked student frustration and disengagement. In addition, hundreds of Windows and Apple-based devices constantly downloaded operating software updates further impacting the network – often throughout the school day.
Acknowledged as directly helping schools offload traffic and accelerate content in the classroom, web caching in US schools is funded through a federal initiative – E-Rate. Spring Cove successfully applied for cache funding, selecting the US schools market leader, CACHEBOX.
Having deployed a CACHEBOX230, the classroom experience has been invigorated. By meeting more than 50% of classroom demand (and as much as 99% of software updates) from local cache storage, the pressure on WAN connections has vanished. Freed up capacity has eliminated congestion but moreover, in serving that content locally over the LAN, it’s delivered several times faster than from the web.
“Core learning content from netexam.com, study.com, xtramath.org etc is now around 50 times faster,” says CACHEBOX Consultant Marianne Cowie. “Learning videos are often 120 times faster – but educational gaming content reaches over 300 times faster!”
About
Spring Cove School District is a small rural, public school district in Blair County, Pennsylvania, about 100 miles east of Pittsburgh. The district operates four schools: Central High School, Spring Cove Middle School and two Elementary Schools, and also runs Spring Cove Cyber School. With a mission to ensure students actively engage in independent and collaborative 21st Century learning, securing fast, responsive access to online content is a district priority.