Liquid Galaxy for the Daniel Island School
By Dave Jenkins
August 22, 2014
This past week, End Point had the distinct pleasure of sending a Liquid Galaxy Express (the highly portable version of the platform) to the Daniel Island School in Charleston, South Carolina. Once it arrived, we provided remote support to their staff setting up the system. Through the generous donations of Mason Holland, Benefitfocus, and other donors, this PK-8 grade school is now the first school in the country below the university level with a Liquid Galaxy on campus.
From Claire Silanowicz, who coordinated the installation:
Mason Holland was introduced to the Liquid Galaxy system while visiting the Google Headquarters in San Francisco several months ago. After deciding to donate it to the Daniel Island School here in Charleston, SC, he brought me on to help with the project. I didn’t know much about the Liquid Galaxy at first, but quickly realized how cool of a project this was going to be. With some help, I assembled a team of about 8 Benefitfocus employees to help with installation and long-term implementation. Benefitfocus is full of employees who are so passionate about innovative technology, and Mason’s involvement with Benefitfocus was a perfect way to connect the company to the community. We had one meeting before the installation date to go over the basics and a few days later 5 of us were at the school unpacking boxes and assembling the 7-screen display. Once it was completed and turned on, we were all in awe. We went from the Golden Gate Bridge to the Duomo in Florence, Italy in a matter of seconds. We traveled to our homes and went to see our office building on street view. After going back to the school in the days to follow, I realized we only touched the tip of the iceberg. The faculty at the school had discovered the museums and underwater views that Google has managed to capture.
The Liquid Galaxy isn’t known for revolutionizing the way children learn, but I firmly believe it is going to do just that at the Daniel Island School. The teachers and faculty are so excited to incorporate this new technology into their curriculae. They have a unique opportunity to take this technology and make it an integral part of their teaching. I hope that in the future, other elementary and middle schools can have the Liquid Galaxy system so that teachers all over the country can collaborate and take advantage of everything it has to offer!
STEM education is becoming ever-more important in the fast economy of the 21st century. With a Liquid Galaxy these young students are exposed at a very early age to the wonders of geography, geology, urban development, oceanography, and demographics, not to mention the technological wonderment the platform itself invokes with the young minds: with seven 55" screens mounted on an arced frame, a touchscreen podium and a rack of computers nearby, the Liquid Galaxy is a visually impressive piece of technology regardless of what is being shown on the screens.
This installation is another in a string of academic and educational deployments for the platform. End Point provides 24-hour monitoring and remote support for Liquid Galaxies at Westfield University in Massachusetts, University of Kansas, The National Air & Space Museum in Washington DC, and the Oceanographic Museum in Monaco and a host of other educational institutions. We also work closely with researchers at Lleida campus in Spain and the University of Western Sydney in Australia. We know of other Liquid Galaxies on campuses in Colorado, Georgia, Oklahoma, and Israel.
We expect great things from these students, and hope that some may eventually join us at End Point as developers!
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