A.T. Products — Applications

AT-2001 News Release

A.T. PRODUCTS PROVIDES AIR FORCE WITH AUDIO CONFERENCING UNIT USED AS RETURN AUDIO FOR INTERACTIVE TELEVISION SATELLITE BROADCASTS

There were several challenges we faced regarding interactivity for the Air Technology Network (ATN) at the Air Force Institute of Technology. The ATN had been installed and running for several years, producing training for the Air Force engineers and techs. Courses were designed around the use of an audio conferencing system installed at the downlink sites, promoting verbal interaction between sites and instructors.

The problem we faced in 1997 was that the audio equipment previously installed was extremely complicated to hook up and use. With the complexion of the personnel at the remote sites, young privates who were constantly being rotated, there was no continuity in personnel trained to operate the equipment. We had to look at another way to provide interaction for our soldiers. After talking with several companies that made Interactive Distance Learning (IDL) equipment, we were able to review the information we had gathered and review our options.

For the type of training that the Air Force did, it was decided that keypad interaction wasn’t necessary. Our students liked and performed well using synchronous audio response equipment. They felt it provided them with an atmosphere most like the traditional classroom. We chose to turn to the audio companies that catered to distance learning and knew the satellite technologies and problems. We chose A.T. Products to help us meet our needs.

A.T. Products is an audio response system manufacturer. Their equipment is installed in our network’s downlink sites, then, the sites are joined in an audio conference when the broadcast begins. The AT-2001 is connected to the phone line and to the audio signal coming into the room. The audio is then sent to the television to be heard from the same place the video is seen. The AT-2001 system automatically answers the call from the bridge to the site. When a soldier wants to ask a question or make a comment, he pushes the bar on the microphone connected to the AT-2001 and is immediately speaking with the Instructor and heard by all the other students. Students from other sites can interact with the first student and as many sites as want to may join in and have a discussion with one another.

A.T. Products worked with us to design a system that was easy to use, functional, and durable. The intuitive way the AT-2001 was designed makes it easy for even the newest soldier at a site to operate. A.T. Products even put an instruction diagram on the bottom of the unit !

The AT-2001 has been selected by the other DoD satellite networks as the interactive unit of choice, as well as by several of the civilian agencies. We at the Air Force are proud to have joined with A.T. Products to produce the best response system, one that meets the diverse needs of the military, government agencies, corporate America and educational institutions. A.T. Products has given us several ways to obtain the AT-2001’s. We can buy direct from their GSA Schedule or we can work from the FTS-2002 contract through our AT&T vendor to obtain equipment.

Response Link News Release

A.T. PRODUCTS PROVIDES POLLING AND TESTING CAPABILITIESFOR BOSTON UNIVERSITY ‘S FIRST CLINICAL SIMULATION LAB

ResponseLink™ Product Gives First-Year Dental Students ‘Real-World’ Experience

BOSTON, Massachusetts. (July x, 2000) – A.T. Products, Inc., a leading designer and manufacturer of audio teleconferencing and distance learning products, today announced that the School of Dental Medicine at Boston University is using its ResponseLink™ interactive training tool, to poll and test dental students in the School’s first Simulation Learning Center.

"The Simulation Learning Center, equipped with state-of-the-art technology like ResponseLink, gives our students the best virtual patient care experience possible in a completely non-clinical setting," says Dr. Dominic Screnci of Boston University’s Educational Media Center. Dr. Screnci collaborated with an team of specialists to design the Simulation Learning Center, selecting the computer, audio-visual, and electronic learning tools implemented in the Center.

ResponseLink is an instructor-focused, Microsoft WindowsÒ -based system that provides several options for questions and analysis. Students respond to multiple choice, true/false, numeric or yes/no questions using keypads. Instructors can poll an individual student or the entire class to monitor progress and participation. Reports are generated with Microsoft software applications.

Course designers and instructors can create files, presentations and databases via standard Windows software – reducing lesson preparation time and facilitating courseware management. Using non-proprietary software, ResponseLink eliminates additional costs such as licensing fees, and enables instructors to communicate with students using familiar programs such as Microsoft Word, Excel and Power Point.

Boston University’s Simulation Learning Center houses 115 workstations located in two different classrooms. One student is assigned to each workstation. Each workstation area is equipped as a complete dental technician’s workspace with all the equipment and services found in a "real world" setting, including a mannequin to simulate a live patient. The workstation is also equipped with a video monitor and a ResponseLink keypad to facilitate instruction.

Typically, the instructor demonstrates a dental procedure that the student watches live on his or her video monitor. The student can then simulate the procedure at the workbench or on the mannequin. The instructor can randomly poll students using the ResponseLink system to ensure that large, extended classroom understands the procedure. The instructor also delivers tests via the ResponseLink system.

Course leaders are able to present material from many different platforms. PowerPoint-style computerized presentations, traditional 35mm slides, videotape, CDs, live video projection and interactive Internet/Intranet presentations can be delivered separately or blended into one seamless presentation. Real-time or recorded digital X-ray images can be transported to each student’s workstation.

"Our faculty is committed to a teaching experience that prepares students to become clinical dentists, not junior lab technicians," says Dr. Screnci. "Students actively practice real-world patient care procedures not simply the traditional technical procedures," he adds.

Much of the input involved in the design and development of ResponseLink came directly from instructor feedback about the limited capabilities of other polling and response systems. A.T. Products’ customers felt they had to learn a completely new way of teaching and, in turn, were losing a critical level of student interaction.

"A.T. Products is opening the door to more effective and affordable learning and corporate training tools," says Mike Rose, president, CEO and chief designer, A.T. Products, Inc. "We don’t create products and then try to fit our customers into the mold. Instead, we take more of a modular approach by designing products that can be customized to meet individual customer needs."

Founded in 1986, A.T. Products, Inc. is a Harvard, IL-based designer and manufacturer of teleconferencing equipment. A.T. Products’ fine response systems are installed in training and distance learning networks at top universities, Fortune 1,000 corporations, and government agencies.

May Department Stores Use Harvard Elite SSD & BTV

MAY DEPARTMENT STORES COMPANY USES SATELLITE-BASED TELECONFERENCING SYSTEM TO TRAIN DEPARTMENT STORE EMPLOYEES NATIONWIDE

A.T. Products Teleconferencing Products Deployed Throughout 500-Site Corporate Training Network

HARVARD, Illinois (August 2000) – A.T. Products, Inc., a leading designer and manufacturer of audio teleconferencing and distance learning products, today announced that May Department Stores Company, one of the country’s leading department store retailers, is using its satellite-based audio response systems to train executives and store employees throughout the country.

“We use A.T. Products interactive audio response systems to train employees on everything from spring fashions to sexual harassment,” says Steve Maddy, video network coordinator for the nationwide retail giant. In addition, department store executives use the nationwide satellite business television network with the ATP interactive systems to conduct meetings.

May Department Stores Company has installed the Harvard Elite SSD-5 SEDA in 30 store locations to date across the country and has deployed the sleeker Harvard Elite BTV Series in executive conference rooms at all five of its regional headquarters. Live and/or pre-recorded video training is delivered to the sites via satellite. The interactive audio portion of the broadcast is delivered via Harvard Elite systems that have been specially designed to eliminate the echo feedback problems common with satellite training networks. Employees attending the training sessions are able to converse with the instructor or other employees using the Harvard Elite push-to-talk microphones and audio response units connected to a standard dial-up telephone line.

By the end of this year, Maddy plans to have the Harvard Elite systems installed in 100 locations and the Elite BTV systems installed in two conference rooms at each of its five regional headquarters. Eventually, Maddy says all 500 sites on the company’s network will be equipped with the Elite audio response products.

“A.T. Products has opened the door to more effective and affordable learning and corporate training tools for companies like May Department Stores,” says Mike Rose, president, CEO and chief designer, A.T. Products, Inc. “We don’t create products and then try to fit our customers into the mold. Instead, we take more of a modular approach by designing products that can be customized to meet individual customer needs.”

The Harvard Elite products used by May Department Stores were designed specifically for use over satellite, effectively eliminating echo and feedback problems common in satellite-based training networks. The BTV model’s sleek design provides smaller microphones for more specialized teletraining audiences.

Maddy says May Department Stores selected A.T. Products audio teleconferencing system over other vendors’ products because of the superior audio quality it delivered over satellite and because of its ease of installation and use. “We just drop the units in and it’s ‘plug-n-play.’ They’re very easy to use and extremely robust. I’ve had one unit for six years and I’ve still not had to replace it,” Maddy says.

The May Department Stores Company is a $14 billion retailer operating eight quality regional department store divisions using 12 trade names, including Hecht’s, Lord & Taylor’s, and Filene’s. The company has 422 department stores located in 36 states and the District of Columbia.