The San Mateo Community College District (SMCCD) is a three-college district serving more than 31,000 students with campuses from San Francisco to San Jose in the Silicon Valley. Offering the first two years of instruction in a wide variety of degree and transfer programs, as well as vocational-technical programs, SMCCD is committed to providing distinct pathways for all students and a successful transition to work.

THE CHALLENGE:

Alexis Arreola, IT Construction Project Specialist, and Yoseph Demissie, Director of Information Technology Support Services at SMCCD wanted to simplify the technology in their rooms and create a consistent and userfriendly experience for students and faculty.

THE SOLUTION:

After several successful deployments, SMCCD began looking to implement Crestron technology in classrooms, conference rooms, auditoriums, and more. With Crestron, SMCCD is able to standardize their spaces with easy-to-use solutions that could be easily replicated across campus.

THE TECHNOLOGY:

With the goal of reducing the amount of equipment in their conference rooms, SMCCD found Crestron Flex to be the perfect solution. Crestron Flex M-Series solutions have not only provided great audio and video quality for calls, but also offer built-in AirMedia® wireless presentation capabilities for content sharing. Beyond the conference rooms, AirMedia has also been a terrific addition in the classrooms across campus. “All of our instructors have been using wireless presentation in their classes and they have shared awesome feedback on its ease of use,” explains Arreola. “In the past, they’ve had difficulties with the systems if they would forget their dongle, but AirMedia has eliminated those complications.” With a variety of programs, from language arts and sciences to police and fire academies, each classroom is built slightly different to support various styles of pedagogy. Regardless of the layout, the brains of each room are derived from a Crestron DigitalMedia™ Presentation System and a Crestron touch screen on the lectern. SMCCD has been able to deploy consistent technologies across their classrooms, and with the .AV Framework™ platform, those installations have gone smoother than ever before. .AV Framework streamlines the configuration of each room and maintains a familiar user experience for faculty and students.

For certain active learning spaces, SMCCD has deployed Crestron DM NVX® AV-over-IP endpoints for advanced content sharing capabilities. Students are able to be separated into groups and project the screen at their table to collaborate with the entire class. DM NVX has provided SMCCD with more flexibility to run content whether it’s from one classroom to another or from a classroom to the cafeteria. On the Skyline Campus, Arreola and Demissie partnered with Rahi Systems to install DM NVX AV-over-IP technology for flexible content distribution in a large event space. With five Crestron Masters programmers on staff, Rahi Systems was able to design a custom UI that would be as intuitive as possible for its new Skyline space. “The DM NVX product line provides our team with the versatility to create a custom user interface for our clients,” explains Kyle Prescott, Director of Engineering at Rahi Systems. “Other solutions are limited with the switching that goes on in the background, but DM NVX provides us with unlimited flexibility.” 

With two 4x4 videowalls, Crestron DM NVX provides a user-friendly system that allows SMCCD to host and operate private parties, corporate events, and more without bringing in third party resources. The event space is an impressive destination with sweeping views of the Pacific Ocean and state-of-the-art content distribution that can be personalized for any event.

RESULTS:

Across campus, both students and administrators have enjoyed the simplicity of a single user interface. No matter the application, Crestron has enabled SMCCD to achieve its goal of delivering a seamless technology experience without disrupting the design elements of the space.