Staying in the realm of digital signage, these displays also become a virtual directory to passing students, teachers and visitors. The touch panels display important school information and content to both faculty and staff walking through the hallways on every floor. These monitors have several uses, including signage capabilities. The system Pentegra designed and installed also equipped the corridors with the very same touch panel displays. A student inside the science room in Chicago can connect and collaborate with a student in Dubai conducting the same experiment seamlessly in real time. The most prominent use for these touch panels is to act as a virtual doorway to other classrooms within the building, as well around the globe to other GEMS schools through video conferencing capabilities. Students can come up to the touch panels and participate in the curriculum whether it be completing a long division math problem on the digital dry erase board or going online to research the first World War for an upcoming presentation in class. All classroom flat panel displays have the capability to function as a digital dry erase board to easily edit and erase during class. These monitors are used for students to create projects, present class work, etc.

The other flat panel touch display in every classroom is used for student interactivity. One of these displays is dedicated towards instruction from the teacher using it for both presentations and demonstrations among other aspects of the everyday lesson plan. Inside every classroom within GEMS’ Downtown Chicago location are two flat panel touch displays. In order for GEMS World Academy Chicago to become a virtual portal to classrooms around the world, Pentegra Systems had to introduce cutting-edge technology able to handle such a task. Working closely with GEMS, Erik Geiger of Shen Milsom Wilke, as well as Power Construction, Pentegra Systems set out to implement a system that could not only enhance the learning experience for all students through the interconnection of all classrooms within the facility, but connect all classrooms in the facility to any other GEMS classroom around the globe. The design team, composed of our expert engineers, designed and proposed a truly remarkable solution that met all of GEMS’ expectations. The goal of this AV system was to provide a state of the art education experience for all students attending that included all modern day technologies to further enhance the world class education that GEMS has become known for. This unique project was not based on a hard consultant specification, but overall design criteria with the objective of giving the client the best solution to meet their needs.

Pentegra Systems initially was solicited to respond to an RFQ by GEMS World Academy. GEMS World Academy Chicago is an 82,000 square foot building housing classrooms, offices, a library, conference rooms, a robotics lab, cafeteria, indoor gymnasium and a rooftop playground. This 9 story building in the heart of Chicago’s Lake Shore East neighborhood places students in a prime location surrounded by beautiful parks, museums and government buildings. The first facility, which holds students from Junior Kindergarten to 5th grade, opened Fall 2014 and the second facility will begin construction to open in the near future. GEMS’ Chicago location will be split into two schools to house all grades. GEMS World Academy Chicago educates students from Junior Kindergarten to the 12th grade. GEMS has schools in Europe, Africa, Asia and the Middle East and in 2014 GEMS opened their first school in the United States. GEMS Education is an international education company that has been educating youths since 1959.

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