MessageNet

Category: Education

  • Every Classroom Should Have a Camera

    Classroom

    What Are the Concerns About Cameras in the Classroom?

    Cameras are everywhere. They’re in our computers and phones. They’re in stores and in cars. In schools, they’re in the hallways, cafeteria, gymnasium, and the playground. Video cameras are a major part of the overall conversation about what can be done to keep students and staff safe. They can be an important tool in monitoring potential threats, recording any incidents that occur, and even deterring crime. So why aren’t cameras more often found in classrooms?

    Safety vs. Privacy

    A major concern with cameras in classrooms is privacy. Should students and teachers be able to expect any amount of privacy while at school? The majority of cameras in schools are currently located in public areas. People expect to be watched in common areas like hallways and the cafeteria. But classrooms are a different story. There are understandable concerns about what may be recorded and who can see that footage.

    Teachers and parents alike may have questions about what the video footage could be used for. Would it be used as a part of teacher evaluations? What about student performance? Being on camera changes how people act – if both students and teachers alike feel pressured by the cameras, they may be less likely to fully engage with their work. They may also feel more stressed from feeling constantly monitored. The overall culture of the school could change, if neither students nor staff feel like they can relax because of the constant presence of the cameras.

    A Lack of Resources

    Having a surveillance system requires not just the financial means to install it in the first place. It also requires some school staff to have the technological know-how to install and maintain a system. Some may be reluctant to devote more staff time and school district money to increasing the number of cameras, especially when there may already be cameras in the hallways and common areas.

    Why Should Classrooms Have Cameras?

    Despite the concerns about cameras in the classrooms, there are a lot of advantages, for both teachers and students. They can contribute to keeping students and staff safe in an emergency, but that’s not the only benefit. They can improve overall behavior in everyday situations as well. The important thing is that if cameras are in classrooms, the teacher needs to have control of them.

    Teacher Control

    No one likes to feel like they’re on surveillance all the time. It’s a lot of pressure and the vast majority of the time, there’s nothing of note to film. But cameras in the classroom can be incredibly useful in the rare instances that there is a problem, so long as the teachers control when they’re on and when they’re not. If the teachers can activate the camera when an incident begins, the principal or other staff can be alerted and there’s a recording of what happened in case there are differing versions of the story. Some students may be encouraged to behave better, knowing that the teacher could turn the camera on at any time.

    Emergency Cameras

    In an emergency situation, the cameras could prove invaluable to locating and recording the perpetrator. The principal or security staff could have emergency control of the cameras to turn them on and even send the video feed to the police or other emergency responders if needed. Security can see what’s going on anywhere in the school if cameras are also in the classrooms.

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  • Why Unify Safety, Security & Communcations

    MessageNet Connections unifies safety, security, and communications systems where so many other products provide just one of these. Why is the unification of these systems so important?

    • Users only have to log in to one system to control and send messages to any connected device, whether it’s for safety, security, or every day communications. In addition, as a unified system, three user interfaces are replaced by just one, reducing training and increasing user confidence with the system.
    • Because they’re connected, devices don’t have to compete to be heard. With Connections, an emergency message will pause any other messages so it’s guaranteed to reach people in a timely fashion.
    • Too often, an emergency system goes un-needed for so long that people forget how to use it. Connections is used for both emergency and every day communications, so when an emergency situation arises, users are already familiar with the system from using it every day, so they can respond more quickly.
    • Because the unification of safety, security, and communication facilitates daily use, it improves the return on investment (ROI) and combines multiple capabilities provided by MessageNet Systems and the spectrum of systems it connects to. Daily use continuously verifies that the systems are always maintained to a state of verified readiness without incurring the expense of periodic formal systems testing that is necessary with systems not subjected to daily use.
    • Unifications of safety, security, and commmunications also shares hardware and software resources across these technology platforms, increasing synergies while reducing cost.

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  • Using Web Links in Emergency Messaging

    The internet can be a powerful messaging tool, especially when it comes to getting specific information out to specific people in an emergency situation. MessageNet Connections can provide links to web pages that pop up and load on PCs when the message is sent. This type of message can also be sent to LCD digital signage screens via Mediaport controllers.

    This capability is important because it gives organizations the ability to provide everyone with the specific instructions that they need rather than general information that is not specific enough to be actionable or may not apply to everyone. These messages can be created and saved in advance, so different types of emergencies can be planned for.buy sumo suits For example, if there is a severe weather emergency, the national weather service webpage can be displayed on LCD screens, while specific relevant sections of an online emergency preparedness manual can pop up on the computers of the emergency response or security team.

    Displaying a webpage on an LCD screen can be easily set up in advance as a media message with web page selected as the media type, this can be set up in the Hyperlink section of the message editor. To pop a web page up on a computer, PC Alert has to be resident on computers receiving the message. If you elect, the MessageNet support staff can manage this process for you or instruct your staff in its application.

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  • Why is Clery Act Compliance Still a Problem?

    With a daughter about to leave for college, I began to look into the Jeanne Clery Act. Professionally, I was surprised, and as a parent extremely concerned, that even after almost 25 years since its enactment, compliance to the Clery Act remains a problem across many U.S. campuses. A safe learning environment should be a right for any college student or employee. Why is compliance such an issue when there are solutions easily available?

    The Jeanne Clery Disclosure of Campus Security Policy and Crime Statistics Act, signed into law in 1990 and originally known as the Crime Awareness and Campus Security Act, places numerous and intensive reporting requirements on colleges and universities that participate in federal financial aid programs. These requirements include the following zorb balls canada:

    • Issuing “timely” warnings of crimes that represent a serious or ongoing threat to the safety of all students and campus employees.
    • Publish and distribute an Annual Campus Security Report to all current and prospective students and employees.
    • Devise emergency response, notification, testing policies and publish these policies in their Annual Campus Security Report.
    • Compile and report fire data and publish annual fire safety reports.
    • Maintain a public crime log of the most recent 8 years, disclosing crime statistics for eight major categories (Criminal Homicide, Sexual Offenses, Robbery, Aggravated Assault, Burglary, Arson, Motor Vehicle theft, and Arrests and/or disciplinary referrals for Liquor-law; Drug-law; and illegal weapons possession violations)
    • Enact policies and procedures to handle reports of missing students.

    Many emergency communication systems have proven ineffective for mass notification of ‘timely’ warnings during an emergency as these systems are reliant on mass dial to cell phones, which depends on the capacity of the cellular towers servicing the area. These towers are designed to meet the needs of normal daily communications, far less than the volume required during an emergency. When tower capacity is exceeded, messages are delayed and even discarded by the cellular service due to the ‘bottleneck’ of outgoing bandwidth.

    MessageNet Connections is an on-site, network-based, emergency communications systems; it doesn’t have the capacity limitations of mass dialing and texting systems and can deliver thousands of messages simultaneously. Additionally, Connections can provide location-specific messages instead of a ‘blanket’ message as well as specific instructions in relation to the event or emergency. Location-specific messaging can save lives by providing unique directions to individuals to seek safety with respect to the location of the danger at hand.

    MessageNet Connections also provides detailed logs of all messages, including both emergency notifications and daily communications. This information trail is very helpful in meeting Clery Act requirements for compiling and publishing annual security reports.

    Lastly, MessageNet Connections integrates both a daily communication system with an emergency notification system. Staff become very comfortable sending and receiving messages since it’s part of day-to-day operations. In the event of an emergency, staff members will react and respond quicker because they are very familiar with operating the system as part of their daily work. Minutes saved at a critical time can minimize dangers and save lives.

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  • The Unification of Safety, Security & Emergency Communication

    In the MessageNet Connections video found on our home page (and on the right side of this post) we try to provide the viewer with a concise introduction to the features and benefits of our product and describe how Connections addresses the safety, security and communication challenges facing organizations today. What follows is the complete text of what I said in the video with an explanation of what I said and its importance to you, interleaved on a point by point basis.

    “Emergencies, such as 9/11, Virginia-Tech, the London subway bombing, hurricane Katrina, and many others, have demonstrated that text messaging and mass dialing phones does not work.”

    Many emergency communication and mass-notification systems deployed now and in the past have relied heavily on mass dialing phones and text messaging as the primary or exclusive way to notify people. For all of the significant incidences mentioned above, the internet is full of documentation that these methods have failed to effectively direct or even notify the affected people.

    “These methods of notification fail because they don’t notify the majority of people fast enough to protect them from danger.”

    Many emergencies evolve rapidly, often requiring life saving decisions to be made within a few minutes or even just a few seconds. For example, the shooter at Virginia Tech killed over 30 people in less than 10 minutes. A simple Google search of the incident reveals that many people received the warning as late as hours after the events occurred or didn’t receive it at all.

    “On-site, network based emergency communication systems are needed to deliver information and instructions fast enough and specific enough to save lives.”

    Mass dialing and text messaging are essentially completely dependent on the capacity of the cell phone towers servicing the area. These towers are designed to meet the needs of normal daily communications, far less than the volume that would be required to notify everyone in an affected area during an emergency. Though these systems advertise that they can send a large number of text or calls very quickly, the cell phone towers are limited and the delivery of the phones calls and text messages can be delayed and messages can be thrown away by the towers entirely. On-site, network based emergency communication systems like MessageNet Connections, which uses the high speed enterprise communication backbone, do not have these capacity limitations and can deliver many thousands of messages in a few seconds. Additionally, because Connections communicates to both mobile and fixed-location devices, it can provide instructions unique to the needs of people in specific areas during an emergency so they have the information to make better decisions that can save their lives.

    “MessageNet Connections combines your emergency communication systems, with your everyday communications forming one, unified system.”

    Connections, as the name implies, communicates across the spectrum of communication systems and devices, such as PA systems, fire and life safety systems, and security systems, integrating them with your PC network and phone systems to form a very cost-effective system that presents a unified functional capability to your staff.

    “By having everything integrated, your emergency communications are given immediate priority delivery, with the ability to override daily communications, ensuring that your emergency messages won’t be drowned out by daily communications.”

    As people become aware of impending danger, their stress levels quickly rise. This effect greatly reduces people’s ability to process information effectively and make decisions that can save their lives. By using the same communication equipment for emergencies that’s used for daily purposes means that Connections will suppress normal communications during the delivery of high priority messages reducing the stress and confusion.

    “And, because your staff is using Connections daily, you know the system works and you can be confident that your staff will know how to operate it in an emergency.”

    Study after study has shown that people under stress fail at executing procedures that they are not used to doing. By unifying emergency and daily communications under the same functional system, your staff can use the same skills and behavior when communicating and responding to emergencies that they use daily.

    “MessageNet Connections is a multi-user system that allows your staff to send important messages from almost any device through a central system to virtually any combination of other devices.”

    MessageNet Connections integrates your existing phone systems, cell phones, PA systems, fire and life safety systems, security systems, camera surveillance systems, and e-mail systems with panic buttons, sensors and your network of PCs.

    “In addition to emergency communications, Connections is a great tool for everyday communications as well. It lets you get the most out of your investment in existing communications systems and appliances.”

    Because Connections allows you to integrate your disparate communication, safety and security systems into one unified system you derive new synergies between these systems and deliver a real return on investment.

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  • The Trouble with Weather Alerts

    We’re often asked if we can automate weather alerts from the National Weather Service. While this is possible with MessageNet Connections, it’s not recommended. Weather alerts are often broadcast to a very large area and aren’t always relevant to specific buildings or locations. Automating weather alert messages also precludes any customization from the message, so all incoming weather alerts are treated the exact same way, regardless of severity of the alert and thus can be inconvenient to message recipients when the alert isn’t an emergency. Weather alerts are better sent automatically to one or two users, who can then determine whether the alert should be broadcast to a larger audience.
    The same considerations also pertain to other types of automated alerts that come from an external source, such as emergency tests and Amber alerts. Any emergency information origination from outside the organization may have a different agenda and a larger constituency, resulting in the need to edit the information or recipients to make the content relevant to your organization.

    Below is an example of the misplaced intrusion of an automated weather alert.

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  • Cameras in classrooms

    Cameras in classrooms are a valuable tool for a variety of reasons. They can be used for video conferences or for classroom-based morning announcements. They can even be used for classroom observation, which can be a useful resource for teachers to initiate a video recording of incidences in the classroom or to identify and document bullying.

    Cameras can also be vital for emergency situations. Not only can they record an event to be analyzed after the fact, but they can also pop and display live video feeds from the point of interest to staff PCs and digital signage.  Additionally these cameras can deliver live video feed to police, fire fighters, or other emergency responders. Having advanced knowledge of a situation can mean saving more lives.

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  • Security in Schools

    In an emergency, like the mass-shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary, seconds matter enormously. An event of that nature is impossible to predict, and thus impossible to completely prevent, but if improving the speed and effectiveness of emergency communications can save at least one life, then it’s vital to do so. An emergency management and notification system needs to be able to provide specific, relevant instructions to different groups of people, give different sets of information to students, teachers, and parents, and to quickly notify and inform the police or other emergency responders.

    Security features that can warn of an impending emergency are also vital. Features such as glass-break detectors, wireless panic buttons, fire panel integration, audio/visual PA, cameras, and location-aware way-finding can prevent bullying, save lives, and overall make schools a safer place without the hassle, expense, limitations or risk of armed security guards. While a security guard could provide some level of protection, it’s very expensive to employ even one inflatable water slides for sale. Also, a security guard cannot be in more than one room at a time, while cameras can be in every room and can project a live feed to first emergency responders and police, providing situational awareness so they can be prepared for the situation.

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  • Effectively Using PC Alert

    While PC Alert is easy to use, convenient for messaging and necessary in emergencies, it can get overwhelming for employees if not used in a strategic way. There are good reasons why PC Alert can’t be disabled and will always pop over other windows

    on a computer, but it can be distracting for employees when they find their work being interrupted, unnecessarily. Thus, it’s important to consider limiting the messages that come through over PC Alert to only the most important messages and their targeted audience. Like the boy who cried wolf, if people are constantly receiving messages unnecessarily through PC Alert, it can diminish the importance and impact of an actual emergency message.

    While PC Alert is easy to use, convenient for messaging and necessary in emergencies, it can get overwhelming for employees if not used in a strategic way. There are good reasons why PC Alert can’t be disabled and will always pop over other windows on a computer, but it can be distracting for employees when they find their work being interrupted, unnecessarily. Thus, it’s important to consider limiting the messages that come through over PC Alert to only the most important messages and their targeted audience. Like the boy who cried wolf, if people are constantly receiving messages unnecessarily through PC Alert, it can diminish the importance and impact of an actual emergency message.
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