Case Study Zoom California State Parks (PORTS)

case study PORTS Program Expands, Enhances Student Access to California State Parks with Zoom About PORTS Organiza琀椀on: Parks Online California State Parks is the largest state park system in the U.S., Resources for Teachers & Students – California State Parks with nearly 300 parks o昀昀ering o昀昀er a wealth of natural and cultural resources to residents within the state and beyond. But access to Founded: 2003 these parks can be limited for many people, including students. Industry: Educa琀椀on and recrea琀椀on California State Parks began an ini琀椀a琀椀ve more than 15 years ago dedicated to providing video access to its resources and bringing the Mission: Enhance California State experience to the classroom. The distance learning program, called Park access for students and Parks Online Resources for Teachers and Students (PORTS), uses schools through interac琀椀ve digital interac琀椀ve video conferencing to o昀昀er virtual 昀椀eld trips and assist experiences K-12 educators in teaching students about California’s state parks. Solu琀椀on: Zoom Mee琀椀ngs, Zoom The best part: The PORTS program is commi琀琀ed to providing these Video Webinars virtual learning opportuni琀椀es at no cost to schools and educators. Doing so means PORTS must leverage reliable, a昀昀ordable tools to create engaging, repeatable, and scalable experiences. California State Parks Challenge By the numbers Brad Krey is the program manager for California State Parks and 280 state parks recognizes just how valuable classroom 琀椀me is. He says the PORTS 340 miles of coastline program is a way to expand tradi琀椀onal classroom walls without having 970 miles of lake and river frontage to coordinate school schedules, pay for buses and transporta琀椀on, and obtain the required parental consent. 15,000 campsites 4,500 miles of trails “While we’d certainly love for every student to visit a California state park as part of their educa琀椀on experience, the reality is that with over 67 million visitors annually 6 million students enrolled in K-12 public schools in California alone, we don’t have the capacity to accommodate, let alone educate, that many students in person, in our parks,” Krey said. “We’ve seen a shi昀琀 "With Zoom, we do a lot less toward more collabora琀椀ve learning as we move away from textbooks troubleshoo琀椀ng, and that's and as newer, savvier teachers use technology as part of their K-12 curriculums. And PORTS has embraced the opportunity to create a big deal for teachers who modern, interac琀椀ve learning experiences for students through video.” have limited IT sta昀昀 to help Krey described how the PORTS program used to be primarily a green with connec琀椀on issues." screen opera琀椀on, with a few of the parks employing chroma-key - Jennifer Langer studios. One challenge PORTS was ini琀椀ally looking to solve through PORTS program coordinator these e昀昀orts was providing access to remote park resources. For