Indiana Pilot Sites Select SAFARI Montage as the Video-on-Demand Solution for Their Schools

Wynnewood, PA (April 4, 2006) - Library Video Company today announced that 15 schools in the state of Indiana were awarded grants by the Department of Education to obtain SAFARI Montage as a powerful video-on-demand solution. This pilot program initiative will improve visual learning in the classrooms of Indiana’s one-to-one ACCESS schools via digital technology. SAFARI Montage is an affordable, broadcast-quality, video-on-demand server that comes preloaded with more than 1,000 titles of the very best educational programs from the world’s most preeminent publishers.

“We were very excited to roll out SAFARI Montage to our schools, as it is compatible with our open Linux infrastructure and supports our one-on-one initiative, Indiana ACCESS, by bringing video to every student’s desktop in our pilot high schools,” said Mike Huffman, Special Assistant for Technology for the State of Indiana.

SAFARI Montage provides Indiana’s one-on-one pilot school classes with digital access to a wide range of choice content for their visual instruction needs. Programs from award-winning educational video publishers such as PBS, A&E Home Video, BBC Worldwide, Disney Educational Productions, National Geographic Digital Media, WGBH Boston, Scholastic, Sesame Street, Weston Woods, monterey media, Goldhil Educational and Schlessinger Media comprise the robust content packages available on SAFARI Montage.

“The Department of Education funded these grants to a select group of schools, but with the rapid expansion of the one-to-one project, we anticipate that many other schools will be able to consider integrating on-demand video into their curriculum,” said Marvin Bailey, President, Corporation for Education Technology, who coordinated the implementation of the grants.

The Center for Interactive Learning and Collaboration (CILC) is providing professional development so that all educators can effectively use SAFARI Montage to support the curriculum and their individual lesson plans. Extremely positive feedback has already come out of the initial training sessions.

According to Virginia Reeves, Media Specialist at Switzerland County High School, one of the state’s pilot schools and among the first to receive training on the platform, “This is a great opportunity for Switzerland County High School. We are working hard to broaden the horizons of our rural students and this is a wonderful way to accomplish that. SAFARI Montage fits right into our focus on writing in both the English labs and across the curriculum. Students can experience multiple, cross-discipline viewpoints on a topic through video and then synthesize it in their writing. It is also a great way to build background knowledge. We believe SAFARI Montage will be a great asset to us as we prepare students for the new SAT test.”

“We created SAFARI Montage for educators, so they could enable students to learn in a digital environment. We’re pleased that the schools in the State of Indiana’s pilot program recognize the value of visual learning for their students, and have adopted this proactive initiative in today’s technology-driven world,” said Tim Beekman, President of SAFARI Video Networks. He added, “We’re excited to offer even more schools with access to the best educational video content at the highest quality of digital delivery, and know that the students will ultimately benefit from this resource tool.”

Indiana’s one-to-one pilot schools are benefiting from the programs in the Core Content packages on SAFARI Montage because the packages are fully segmented and searchable. Titles containing Teacher’s Guides have free viewable or downloadable guides. SAFARI Montage is designed with extra bays to accommodate more quality programming. One of SAFARI Montage’s most exciting features is the ability to add self-created content. SAFARI Montage offers a more reliable alternative than streaming video over the Web, which degrades a school’s T1 bandwidth significantly. Teachers can “bookmark” particular segments for classroom use. The SAFARI Montage server is easy to install and can reside in the school media center or computer room, and it can easily be expanded to accommodate more programming. All available content is indexed and is being correlated to state curriculum standards. SAFARI Montage is the first truly open digital video network designed for schools.

About the Center for Interactive Learning and Collaboration

Drawing on 12 years of digital media experience, the Center for Interactive Learning and Collaboration (CILC) (www.cilc.org) transforms learning through collaborative technologies, thereby helping schools achieve learning goals and maximize results. A not-for-profit organization, CILC works with schools to manage the successful integration of technology. In addition, consultants help educators develop educational and professional development programming that rely on digital media, including videoconferencing.

About Library Video Company

Founded in 1985 by Andrew Schlessinger, Library Video Company is the leading distributor of educational video to schools and public libraries nationwide. The Company stocks more than 18,000 titles, which cover all subjects for all grades. Each program has been carefully reviewed and selected for content that is appropriate for the classroom and public library setting. In its 21st year, the Company continues to be the forerunner in educational media distribution through its commitment to providing schools and libraries with new titles, new services and new product formats. Library Video Company supports the efforts of educators with the No Child Left Behind Act, and www.LibraryVideo.com has set the standard for efficient media collection management online.

About SAFARI Video Networks

SAFARI Video Networks, a division of Library Video Company, is the leading provider of video networking solutions for education. SAFARI Video Networks offers schools a range of video networking products, including the first truly open digital video-on-demand system; video conferencing for distance education and professional development, school news and security; local video creation uploading and many other products. SAFARI Video Networks will provide schools, districts and states with a choice of the best new video programs digitally from Library Video Company’s vast network of the finest educational video publishers and distributors, including the award-winning Schlessinger Media content library. More information is available at www.SAFARIMontage.com.

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