Polycom video collaboration powers UNESCO initiative into classrooms in Brazil and U.S.


By
Telecom Lead Team:
Unified communications major Polycom announced that Global
Nomads Group (GNG) has used Polycom RealPresence Video and Voice Solutions to
launch the Teaching Respect for All program in Brazil and the U.S.


The
program was established by UNESCO and funded by the U.S. State Department to
increase tolerance, respect and understanding on a global scale with a
curriculum for teachers and online platforms for educators and students to talk
about building respectful communities.


Using
Polycom video, GNG connected students in Salvador, Brazil and Virginia Beach,
Virginia with officials from UNESCO, U.S. State Department, and the Brazilian
government who were at the UNESCO office on January 18 in Paris, France, to
launch the program.


“Global
Nomads is focused on fostering greater understanding through person-to-person
interactions between young people all over the world,” said Bernardo
Monzani, programs manager, Global Nomads Group.


Polycom
RealPresence video collaboration solutions make that possible through
high-definition, virtual environments where students can talk to each other in
crystal-clear audio and video just as if they were in the same room.


The
UNESCO program will result in new classroom materials to help teach children
about respect, human rights, and the value all people can bring to their
communities,” said Esther Brimmer, assistant secretary for International
Organization Affairs at the U.S. State Department, attended the UNESCO event in
Paris.


Polycom
has been working with GNG for years to support programs that facilitate
understanding of and increase tolerance among the world’s diverse cultures,
connecting kids around the world to discuss topics ranging from the war in Iraq
to the natural habitat of the Mountain Gorilla in Rwanda to relations between
U.S. and Arab students to terrorized children in Uganda, resulting in increased
understanding and tolerance for the world’s diverse cultures.


Polycom
can deploy videoconferencing to new locations quickly and students and teachers
who may not be technically sophisticated have no trouble mastering its system.
The open standards-based interoperability of the Polycom RealPresence Platform
was essential to deliver video capability quickly for UNESCO.


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