ECCC Video Conferencing Capabilities Present New Possibilities for Winston County

On Wednesday afternoon, there was a Ribbon Cutting at the Louisville Career Advancement Center --- and at the Neshoba Business Enterprise Center --- and at the Integrated Technologies Training Center at Choctaw --- and on the ECCC campus in Decatur. Through the use of ECCC’s new video conferencing technology, those in attendance at all these locations were able to participate in the “virtual” ceremony.

Working with Polycom Grant Assistance, East Central Community College was able to garner a community based job training grant of $1.8 million over a three year period to develop video conferencing capabilities. There are currently eleven capable sites throughout the communities served by ECCC. The Louisville site was hosted by Joseph Knight, the Director of Workforce Development and Shelley Thomas, the Louisville Site Coordinator.

The technology allows individuals or groups in multiple locations to interact via two-way video and audio transmissions simultaneously. Dr. Phil Sutphin, President of ECCC indicated that video conferencing represents “a tremendous improvement in speed and technology and will have an impact on credit & non-credit instruction” by pushing the college out to the communities. Students and trainees at the Louisville Advancement Center would be able to receive direct instruction from teachers at the Decatur campus or other location making continuing education more accessible and more affordable by eliminating travel time and costs.

Some of the many advantages of video conferencing touted by school officials include:
Improve Instructional Resources
Enhance Presentation Capabilities ( by allowing larger numbers to participate)
Bring Subject Experts to Area Students and Trainees
Serve as an Economic Development Catalyst
Adding Services for Existing Area Employers
Providing Incentive for Recruited Employers
Reduced Travel Costs

Per ECCC officials, there were three major points for acquiring the grant that made the VC technology available: Improving Manufacturing, Information Technology and Health Care Skill Training. Examples of the use of this technology for health care and manufacturing training were provided during the presentation.

The Video Conferencing program is available to students through ECCC, local employers for training and presentation and economic development and government personnel throughout the area. For more information, contact Shelley Thomas at the Louisville Career Advancement Center (old Spartus location) at 662-536-1150 or by email: sthomas@eccc.edu