atcomsystems.ca/forum Forums General General Telephone & Systems Information Best system for a teaching environment?

Long post, so please bare with me.

I teach and do tech work for a Network & Telecom program at a local college. Most of our content is network related, along with structured cabling and some telephony basics. Long story short, we don't cover nearly enough telephony, at least in my opinion. I plan to fix this by creating one in-depth key-system installation course. To accomplish this however, I need systems to work on. I have a Meridian 8x24 and an Onyx VS right now, and that's fine for use in the structured cabling course. For my key-system course I want something better, I want something more current. So...

What system would you choose for the classroom? The complexity needs to be somewhere between Meridian and NEAX. I always liked the idea of using the NEC Elite. They aren't too difficult to understand, lots of features to be explored, and you have the hardware aspect with the cards.

IP isn't an issue, that's being covered off elsewhere in the program. Low cost is obviously a big factor, because students do have a bad habit of breaking things. I would want a system that is primarily programmed through the sets, and better yet, a system that would allow multiple people to configure different program areas at the same time. Optional laptop programming is nice, but I want the students to experience an input method that doesn't involve a keyboard for once. The system doesn't have to be brand new, but it should have been current within the past 5 years.

Your advice is greatly appreciated. Bonus points if you can set me up with a manufacturer contact that wants to help me out with equipment and training materials.

What about Panasonic DBS? PLenty of features, somehwat complex, yet not as involved as programming a Rolm CBX or something. It was current in the past five years, but recently disontinued, so you can find some parts pretty cheaply. Programming can be done through a phone, or by terminal/comm. program.

Finding a system that allows programming from more than one set at a time will be next to impossible.

Clinton We need to talk, I am in the middle of the same project. My wife teaches Cisco/A+/Networking and wants to add a telecom class. I have a couple systems (1 digital + 1 analog)for the students to work with and am trying to setup teaching material at this point. If you want to swap ideas give me a PM

Question. Most telephone labs, when you go to train, have a key system/ per work station. How many would you need? IMHO you can't go wrong with an NEC Aspire or Aspire S you can program through a phone, use a web browser, or dedicated programming tool which allows you to pre-program without being on the system at all and you simply upload it.

Three systems would be enough for my lab. I have groups of three or four students that work together. Having a system for each student would be great, but the cost and space requirements are too high.

NEC was my first choice based on my experience with the products, but I didn't want to be too biased.

I've worked with the Panasonic Super Hybrids but not he DBS, so I'll have to check into that.

I'd be happy to swap ideas. PM sent.

Guys, I taught telecom classes for a couple of years at Ericsson and I may have a few helpful hints for you. I will have to look in some of my other computers to see if I can find some of the powerpoint presentation formats we used. If you are interested let me know and I'll look for them.

IMHO You MUST have multiple systems for a class to go "Smoothly" and allow the students as much "hands-on" time as possible.

As grider mentioned, the issue of more than one person programming a system at any given time is a huge obstacle in the smaller systems.

As far as system suggestions, Personally, I like the Vodavi STS systems. They are a little strange at first but not bad after you get to know your way around the manual.

Because there is more AT&T/Avaya base out there than most any other system, I would like to float the idea of preparing your students for what they might see in the real world. Hence the AT&T Partner. The new 308 processor package is extremly competitively priced.
In some parts of the country there are no or very little presense of many of these "popular" or "sexy" brands or models. But you can bet that almost everywhere there are Merlins and Partners. I would train for what they are more likely to see, rather than what happens to be the "cool" system for the moment. My 2 cents. Brian

Any tips or materials you can pass along would be very much appreciated.

What would your thoughts be on having several systems of different types that student could rotate through, vs. all identical systems?

I'll definately be taking a closer look at the Vodavi STSe. I'd never heard of Vodavi before I came to this forum, but from what I've seen so far it looks well suited. Thanks.