Remote Content Delivery Platform: Minicampus

Overview

The Minicampus Device is a groundbreaking remote content delivery platform designed to make educational content easily accessible in classrooms, regardless of infrastructure limitations. Following the development of an experiential learning platform for students, the need arose to ensure that content could be delivered seamlessly across diverse school environments.

The Challenge

Delivering educational content traditionally involved:

Setting up Servers and Network Devices: Required complex installations for large schools, with content stored in folders for teachers to manually access.
Specialised Machines for AV Rooms: Dedicated hardware often became slow due to unregulated software installations over time.
TVs/Smartboards in Classrooms: Many schools faced internet connectivity challenges, rendering these tools ineffective.

Key Challenges:

Lack of Internet/Slow Speeds: Many schools had limited or slow internet, making content streaming difficult.
Difficult Installation & Maintenance: Classroom systems required technical expertise for setup and maintenance, often resulting in malfunctioning equipment.

Our Solution

We developed the Minicampus Device, a versatile hardware content delivery platform that:

Works in All Configurations: Functions in both networked and standalone modes, compatible with any computer.
Zero Internet Dependency: Delivers content without requiring an internet connection.
Remote Upgrades: Remote upgrades were enabled through the device’s built-in Wi-Fi module, requiring only a shared hotspot for automatic connection, allowing seamless remote updates.
Plug-and-Play Design: Easily connects to existing systems without additional installations.
Content Security & Encryption: To ensure content security and long-term device performance, we implemented multiple encryption protocols, preventing unauthorised access even if the internal SSD is swapped with similar hardware.

Production & Deployment

To ensure devices were prepared simultaneously for multiple schools, we established a lab capable of burning software onto 30+ devices at once. Encrypted content was automatically downloaded from online servers, and a comprehensive internal checklist ensured strict quality control, resulting in minimal device returns, with immediate replacements provided when necessary. We hardly had a couple of returns for the device from the customers, who were shipped a replacement immediately.

Minicampus devices marked the organization’s first foray into hardware as a tech product, earning widespread praise from both teachers and students for their ease of use. The device underwent two iterations, enhancing hardware quality, software functionality, and content delivery, with the second version developed in collaboration with Acer.

The Minicampus Device stands as a testament to innovation in education technology, providing an accessible, secure, and user-friendly content delivery platform that meets the needs of diverse educational environments.