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While working as a Microsoft engineer, Ashton decided to keep his competitive spark alive by working part-time at an event photography company. Despite his enthusiasm, Ashton was frustrated by the lack of professionalism he encountered.

“I was not impressed by the way they went about things and I was constantly giving them ideas,” said Ashton. “They never listened, so my wife and I decided to do it ourselves.”

At the time, he said, there was no major software solution for the event photography space, so they developed their own. Along with their software (which was faster and more efficient than anything else on the market), they needed monitors that could be used for up to 20 hours a day in environments that were often dirty, dusty and wet. These monitors would also need to withstand the constant bumping and jostling that came with constant transportation to and from events – initially throughout the Southwest, then across the country as Mad Moose Media expanded.

In the early days of Mad Moose, said Ashton, everything was about the bottom line. Their Mad Moose POS, Sort and Photo Grab software was developed entirely in-house. Cost, rather than function, was the priority when it came to purchasing monitors.

“The first monitors we had were what we could get easily and inexpensively from Best Buy. As it turned out, some were from ViewSonic and others weren’t,” he said.

During that first year, Mad Moose Media went to any event they could find near their home base of Nevada and Southern California. At a mountain bike race in Orange County, Ashton met someone who would change his life. A Mad Moose customer noticed the ViewSonic monitors then brought his friend by to meet the Mad Moose crew. That friend turned out to be President of ViewSonic Americas, Jeff Volpe.

“He and I ended up having a lot of common interests,” said Ashton, “We had a great time talking, and of course he commented on how ViewSonic monitors could do a better job for us. I was thrilled to take his advice and try out the monitors he recommended as best for our different needs.”

With a range of vehicles, trailers and tents that traveled to events, Mad Moose Media needed a wide range of monitors to meet their needs. The final solution consisted of:

ViewSonic® TD2730 Multi-Touch Displays
The 10 TD2730 multi-touch displays being used for customer point-of-sale were the most critical component of the business, said Ashton, as they served the interface where customers could see, customize and order photos. Using the VESA compatible mounts on the displays, Ashton connected standard folding wall mounts, flipped them 180-degrees and attached them to a table instead of a wall, creating a fast and easy set-up process.

ViewSonic VA2256-mhd Displays
10 displays are used by the sales team from inside the tent or trailer, mirroring what the customer sees on the outside.

ViewSonic ViewBoard® IFP7550 75” Interactive Flat Panel Display
This giant display, said Ashton, is ideal for circumstances that bring Mad Moose inside to showcase and sell their photography. Mounted on the ViewSonic
LB-STND-003-S mobile stand, the 75” ViewBoard interactive display is quite literally a standout in conference rooms, convention centers and high-end award ceremonies.

ViewSonic PX701-4K Ultra HD Projectors
Two 4K projectors amp up the excitement during events by displaying content onto the ceiling of the tent. With nighttime images that reach up to 20 feet, Aston’s team can livestream races, showcase results and present highlights.

ViewSonic VP3881 38” ColorPro™ Monitor
This powerful color-accurate display is used for image editing in Ashton’s home office to produce pixel-perfect pictures every time.

ViewSonic VX4380-4K 43” Ultra HD Monitor
The Mad Moose team uses this 4K monitor for poster development and general in-office use.

ViewSonic XG350R-C 35” Ultrawide ELITE Gaming Monitor
Running a business is hard work. That’s why for Ashton, a gaming monitor was critical for self-care.

Equipped with the right technology for each job and driven by a passion for excellence, Mad Moose Media has grown exponentially over the past five years. Some of the credit goes to the durability and performance of the ViewSonic displays, said Ashton.

“For one thing, without the touchscreen POS monitors we couldn’t do anything,” he said. “And these ViewSonic multi-touch models do everything we need. The images are great and the high nit count for brightness is very important because we’re outside. Even with the awning providing shade it’s still very bright.”

Not only do the ViewSonic TD2730 touch displays deliver everything needed for point-of-sale customer interaction, they do so again and again, without fail, at nearly 100 events per year.

“The durability of these monitors is mind-blowing,” said Ashton. “We’ve never had a failure in the field and we put them to work in the worst dust you can imagine. They’ve been through rain multiple times plus snow, 20-degree weather, 100-degree weather, you name it. They’ve had thousands of customers pushing on them and they’ve been driven across the country dozens of times.”

This, he said, is beyond critical for the company’s five concessions: A tent with five ViewSonic TD2730 touchscreen displays; two vending trailers, each with four to six TD2730 displays; a golf cart with two TD2730 displays; and the indoor concession: a 75” ViewSonic ViewBoard IFP7550 interactive display.

“We rely completely on our ViewSonic monitors. We can’t have low-quality monitors that break during an event,” said Ashton. “That would cost us thousands of dollars in a day.”

From small to large, outdoor to indoor, ViewSonic displays do not disappoint,
said Ashton, who is particularly fond of the 75” ViewBoard interactive display.

“It’s huge and vibrant and always catches peoples’ attention with its beautiful, massive screen,” he said. “We just push it into the meeting room or convention hall, put it in the corner, and people continually walk up and interact with it.”

While most of the company’s business - from order placement to the final printed product placed in the customers’ hands - is conducted and completed onsite, Mad Moose Media also specializes in creating customized posters produced off-site.

“We take a lot of pride in our posters,” said Ashton. “We know they can stay up
on walls for a long time and we work hard to make sure they’re perfect.”

This is where the ViewSonic VP3881 Ultrawide ColorPro™ monitor shines, enabling Ashton and his team to edit, color-correct and personalize photos taken in the toughest of conditions.

“None of our photographers get it easy. They have to work with odd lighting, dust and water reflections; we don’t get to set up a photoshoot,” Ashton said. “This is where the editing, color coding and color grading that we do on this monitor is critical.

For example, an image may be a bit hazy due to dust but also the best image from the event. The functionality of the ViewSonic VP3881 enables us to edit out the haze and get the colors perfect, said Ashton, adding that this is another important cost-saver for the company.

“When we generate the poster on our giant printer, we know that what we see on the monitor screen will be what we see on the final result. This is critical because we print thousands of posters per year. If it doesn’t look exactly right onscreen compared to what we print, we’d waste a lot of time and expensive paper.”

The Mad Moose headquarters is also home to a ViewSonic VX4380-4K Ultra HD monitor, which supports basic business functions as well as some poster design. “To be honest, I just love this monitor, it’s so easy to read everything on it,” said Ashton. “It’s my general office workstation so I use it daily for emails, PowerPoint, Excel, that sort of thing. The 4K is a whole different feel and I notice way less eye strain.”

Beyond the ViewSonic monitors that support his business, Ashton has one more that’s near and dear to his heart: the ViewSonic XG350R-C 35” Ultrawide ELITE gaming monitor. Designed to deliver an immersive experience for esports and gaming enthusiasts, this elegant, curved display includes ViewSonic exclusive RGB ELITE lighting technology, a 100Hz refresh rate and ClearMotion™ technology to reduce blur.

“I grew up racing and I’m a racer at heart. These days I do a lot of iRacing and sim racing online for fun,” Ashton said. “I’m at races and competitions every weekend, running the Mad Moose show, but when I want to race myself, I can do it anytime online with other people from around the world.”

What started as a pastime became something bigger when the COVID pandemic put a stop to many live events in early 2020. Because of his background, Ashton has become what he calls “tech support” for 20 or so NASCAR drivers, advising them on everything from the software to the workstation setup. And he always recommends the ViewSonic XG350R-C 35” Ultrawide ELITE gaming monitor.

“I tell them that this incredible 35” curved ViewSonic gaming monitor is absolutely what they need. It’s pretty much perfect for sim racing,” he said. “You need the ultrawide because you need to be able to easily see who’s to your left and right, and it gives you a tremendous field of view. It’s an amazing monitor and for the price point it’s even more amazing.”

With a thriving and expanding business, Mad Moose Media captures thousands of athletes and racers in the heat of the action. As soon as those shots are captured, ViewSonic monitors play a vital role in getting those images into the hands of athletes and their fans.

“These monitors – and the projectors – all do what they’re supposed to do, with outstanding quality and without fail,” said Ashton, summing up his experience with the many ViewSonic products he uses daily. “I think one of the most incredible things is their reliability. We’ve put them through the worst environments they could be through. I’m often shocked that they still work.”

Despite the damp, dust and grime spanning five-plus years, none of the ViewSonic monitors have ever been dismantled or professionally cleaned. “We just blow them off and wipe the screens, simple things,” said Ashton. “I joke that we put these monitors through more durability testing than when they’re manufactured. With us they go through hell and back – and keep working.”

Interactive displays have become a gold standard for technology in K-12 education by empowering students and instructors to communicate and collaborate in ways that have been shown to increase educational outcomes and prepare students for career success. Would it be possible then, wondered Claremont Graduate University’s leadership team, for this technology to be applied to the unique environment of their institution?

What started off as a thought experiment quickly became reality when CGU board members, Trustee Weng Chan and university president Len Jessup met with ViewSonic leadership to discuss different possibilities. The members greenlit a project that would eventually become known as the Advanced Learning Environment (ALE), a room outfitted with several ViewSonic® ViewBoard® interactive displays and short-throw laser projectors, along with enough laptops to accommodate every student. If it worked as anticipated, it would become the prototype for future classrooms.

But before the ALE could change the way CGU approached technology, it first needed to pass muster with the IT team that would be responsible for implementation. Associate Vice President of Finance and Administration/Technology Services and Information Systems Manoj Chitre admits to being skeptical at first.

“ViewBoard displays have great capabilities and deliver a terrific, immersive classroom experience that’s great for K-12 education,” said Chitre. “As a graduate-only institution it wasn’t immediately apparent how our faculty would use the devices. I wondered, how applicable would they be to our class settings?”

Michael Thomas, Director of Educational Technology and Client Services, was of a similar mindset.

“These tools, the ViewBoard displays and myViewBoard™ software, were specifically designed for K-12,” said Thomas. “We were assured by the ViewSonic team that the software would translate well to pedagogy for adults and that it would be regularly updated for this use.”

With all the relevant stakeholders onboard with the project, the IT and leadership teams went to work.

The ALE was envisioned as an interactive space where teachers could have the flexibility to expand their teaching methods and foster creativity and collaboration individually and in groups.

ViewSonic worked with the CGU team to determine the best technology to bring this collaborative vision to life, ultimately selecting five interactive displays – an 86” ViewSonic® ViewBoard® IFP8650 to serve as the “teaching display” and four 75” ViewSonic ViewBoard IFP7550 displays for use by students – all featuring 4K Ultra HD resolution and immersive 20-point touchscreens. For flexibility, each display was mounted on a cart to enable teachers to move them around the room as desired. Two ViewSonic LS820 short-throw laser projectors and 40 laptops rounded out the room.

“We knew that for this room to embody our vision it needed to be highly versatile,” said Thomas. “My philosophy is that technology alone isn’t always the solution and to achieve our goals every element of the room needed to contribute to the modularity. To achieve this, CGU leadership ultimately invested in a complete remodel of the space.”

With financial backing from the University’s board, the team gave the room a modern makeover to make it more accessible for students. Whereas before there was a typical 800 sq. ft. lab with rows of tables and chairs, there now stood a vibrant, cutting-edge technology center. An electrified glass wall provided a sense of openness but also doubled as a privacy filter by being opaque at the push of a button. Window blinds (which normally took minutes to close) became motorized and could be remotely raised and lowered as a group. A browser-based system provided hassle-free room scheduling and cut down on many of the conflicts that came with booking a regular meeting space.

“The old room was very static. This one is modular and modern,” said Thomas. “The furniture is modular and easy to reconfigure. The ViewBoard displays are on rolling carts. Everything can be easily changed up to accommodate different needs.”

The CGU IT team completed the installation during the summer of 2019. In September, the Advanced Learning Environment was officially open for use. With help from ViewSonic, the IT team laid the groundwork for a successful launch.

“ViewSonic helped train my team members, who became trainers for the faculty,” said Thomas. “We also created documentation on how to use the tools and software in the room, including recommendations on how to use these resources for different teaching modalities.”

The ALE quickly became one of the most popular spots on campus, with five months of increasing use before the university shut down in March of 2020
to slow the spread of COVID-19.

“Pre-pandemic the ALE was being used daily by faculty across the campus,” said Thomas. “The Statistics professors were the first to use it extensively, but soon it was being used for every type of class as well as for board meetings, special events and training faculty and staff from our sister schools.”

It was so in-demand, says Thomas, that they regularly had to turn people away.

“This room provides the faculty with capabilities they didn’t have in the past, and it’s changing the way they teach,” he said. “Some use all the displays at once, for upgraded one-to-many teaching. For example, this approach is good for classes that use the Socratic method, and it adds visibility for vision-impaired students. Many use the displays separately for breakouts and group work, then have the students share their work onto the large screens using myViewBoard software.

In Professor Brian Hilton’s Geographic Information Systems (GIS) class, ViewSonic ViewBoard displays have particularly been effective at saving time for both himself and his students. Consider this “then” versus “now” snapshot of group work in Hilton’s classes with and without the large screen huddle spaces.

“Before I had these resources to use, groups of students would share a single laptop to create the assigned GIS maps or apps. To demonstrate their work, they had to come to the front of the room, login to their account and find the correct content – all before they could begin discussing it, all of which took time,” said Hilton. “Now each group works at a large ViewSonic ViewBoard display, which has many benefits.”

“First of all, it gets them up and moving, getting into groups around their display – a good outcome for evening classes where almost everyone is coming from work at the end of a long day. They then proceed as before with the exercise, but since the screen is large, they have the ability to work together rather than just watch one person manipulate the application. Then, when it’s time for their demonstration, we just move between groups – it’s much more efficient.”

Hilton also talked about another unanticipated bonus, “The groups at each display can easily see what the others are doing, which creates some useful friendly competition.”

The results lived up to the high expectations that the CGU leadership had for the room. What the team couldn’t have anticipated was how useful the ALE would become in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.

“This room has proved valuable in so many ways we didn’t imagine,” said Chitre. “For one thing, it was an ideal environment for training faculty in online learning tools and techniques before going home in March.”

“For another,” said Chitre, “ViewBoard displays have proven invaluable in facilitating remote teaching in new ways at the outset of the 2020-2021 school year, with the campus closed and the university offering online flexible learning.

“Some faculty can’t or don’t want to teach from home,” he said. “We’ve been able to bring them on campus and enable them to use the big screens to connect with remote students. They can talk to them easily and present though the ViewBoard displays. It’s really been a blessing for them.”

The combination of Zoom plus the ViewSonic ViewBoard displays has been tremendous, added Thomas.

“These tools together have been a huge win this fall for the faculty teaching from campus,” he said. “They wanted to be in a classroom to teach but many found it awkward lecturing on Zoom to an empty room. When we set them up on the ViewBoard displays with webcams and they were able to see a large gallery of their students’ faces and have bidirectional conversations -- definitely a more enjoyable teaching and learning experience.”

To maximize this benefit, the ViewBoard displays were moved to individual classrooms.

According to Thomas, whether it was late 2019, during the transition to remote learning, or in its current distributed locations, feedback has been “overwhelmingly fantastic.”

“The faculty really enjoy the modularity of the ALE and the touchscreen aspect of the displays has been one of the biggest wins,” he said. “The screens are absolutely gorgeous and the touchscreen capabilities are outstanding. We’ve had nothing but positive feedback about the displays.”

All in all (pandemic notwithstanding), the faculty’s expectations were overwhelmingly met, says Thomas.

“The professors really enjoy having a top tier, cutting-edge space that gives them so much teaching flexibility,” he said. “We’re looking forward to extending the concept and are working with ViewSonic to acquire more ViewBoard displays.”

The IT team has also been offering demos of the ALE for CGU’s sister colleges.

“Scripps just bought three and CMC is also in the process acquiring some ViewSonic ViewBoards,” he said. “I’m looking forward to getting more – a lot more.”

Upon becoming Head of School at Syracuse Hebrew Day School, one of Laura Lavine’s first priorities was to upgrade classroom technology. A former public school superintendent, she recognized that her SHDS students were missing out on the benefits of interactive and collaborative technology.

“I wanted my students to be as adept at using these devices as other students, so that when they graduate and move on to seventh grade, they won’t have to face a challenging learning curve,” said Lavine. “They also deserved the educational benefits that come with using technology during their primary and intermediate grades.”

Additionally, Lavine wanted to prepare for potential remote learning due to snow days or extended student absences (a prescient move considering the pandemic that surfaced months later).

At that time, classrooms used a mix of old-school tools. The go-to for displaying content at the front of the room was a cart-mounted projector and a pull-down screen. Teachers shared lesson materials on a classic whiteboard.

Lavine was familiar with projector-based interactive whiteboards from her days as a public school superintendent, and began considering this type of solution for SHDS, while also evaluating 1:1 computing devices, taking steps to become a Google school, and beginning professional development to bring teachers up-to- date on the use of online resources.

In June 2019, as she began her research into technology and online solutions, Lavine visited an area high school. As she peered into classrooms along the way, she noticed teachers and students working at interactive whiteboards that lacked a separate projector.

“That’s when I first became aware of interactive whiteboards that don’t need a projector,” said Lavine. “They were slim, compact and looked easier to use.”

Her colleagues at the high school confirmed her initial impressions and spoke highly of their displays – ViewSonic ViewBoard interactive flat panel displays.

“I started looking at the various products available in this category,” said Lavine. “And I decided I didn’t want to do my usual lengthy amount of research. The school I visited is very large and loves their ViewSonic ViewBoard displays; I decided that if they were good enough for them, they would surely be good enough for our little gem of a school.”

Lavine purchased a 75” ViewSonic ViewBoard IFP7550 4K interactive display within two weeks of her first glimpse of the technology. At the recommendation of her sales representative Nick Gugliuzza, she purchased the IFP7550-E2 bundle, which included everything needed to create an easy-to-use shared resource: the display, a mobile trolley cart and a wireless AC adapter.

It proved to be much more than “good enough” for SHDS.

Thanks to excellent PD provided by Nick, said Lavine, teachers quickly began integrating the ViewBoard into their curriculum and were initially satisfied with using it as a shared resource. (“Back in the pre-COVID days we could do that,” noted Lavine.)

“Nick made the training very hands-on and everyone picked it up quickly,” Lavine said, acknowledging that she herself was a bit nervous about learning to use the display. “A teacher said, ‘Laura it’s just a big iPad’ – so I told myself, I can do this, and it ended up being easy. Our teachers took to it very quickly.”

Soon, however, teachers began asking to have one of their own, so Lavine purchased four more, equipping other classrooms – including every general education classroom – with a ViewSonic ViewBoard interactive display.

“They told me that there was so much more they could do if they had one full time in their rooms,” said Lavine. “Fortunately, we received a grant from an area bank that enabled us to purchase more.”

Along with outstanding customer service, Lavine said the displays themselves did not disappoint.

“The quality of the onscreen picture is extremely high, the sound is good, and the user interface is very intuitive,” she said. “Half of our faculty is over 60 yet everyone is using them. Everything about these displays is great. They are easy to use and there’s been nothing glitchy at all. We love them.”

When schools across the country began closing to slow the spread of COVID-19 in March 2020, Lavine said she was the first one in their county to announce the closing of a school.

“I was confident in doing so because I knew we could handle teaching remotely thanks to the technology and training we had invested in,” she said. “We closed school on Friday March 13th, then on Monday March 16th we were fully online for the next three and a half months.”

When the start of the next school year came around, Lavine opened the doors of SHDS knowing they had the pieces in place to keep everyone safe: small class sizes along with masking, maintaining socially-distanced classroom pods, and the addition of six-foot clear plexiglass booths around each student desk.

“When it came to teaching effectively under these conditions,” she said, “The ViewSonic ViewBoard displays helped tremendously – I don’t think it’s too much to say that they’ve saved our school day.”

In many ways, teachers used the ViewBoard displays exactly as they had for their first seven months at the school – working collaboratively with students using apps like Go Noodle, Brain Pop, Kahoot, Padlet and more. Under these new conditions, the large screen with crisp, clear images made it possible for every student to see and hear lessons clearly, said Lavine. Older students, who could be counted on to take care and use hand sanitizer appropriately, continue to get up and work at the boards.

What has made the biggest difference during the pandemic, said Lavine, is the ability to connect with those who used to come into the building – guest readers, authors and the like – along with the ability to connect to the world at large.

“Once a week, the cantor from an area synagogue came to school to teach Jewish music. Now she connects via Zoom so students get the that same half hour of music each week, displayed on the ViewBoard,” said Lavine. “The same goes for our monthly Kindergarten storyteller. These displays are allowing us to stay connected; they’ve opened up the world to us more than we would have thought possible during this pandemic.”

Another invaluable result of having ViewSonic ViewBoard displays in each classroom during these COVID times is the ability to keep the school’s traditions alive and well. One such tradition is the morning meeting, which, during typical times, brings students of all ages together in one room to get to know one another and share Torah portion lessons. It’s a tradition with countless student benefits, including the development of leadership and public speaking skills. The  ViewSonic ViewBoard displays have enabled a nearly seamless continuation of this tradition.

“Every classroom turns on their display and everyone is together virtually,” said Lavine. “The sixth graders still run the meeting and get the leadership experience. Even though the classrooms are just 20 feet apart, the ViewBoard displays are what bring us together as a community.”

Day-to-day instruction continues within each classroom “pod,” bolstered by the combined use of the ViewSonic ViewBoard interactive displays and individual student devices.

“A teacher’s creativity is the only thing that limits the use of the ViewBoard displays,” said Lavine. “And all of our teachers are really enjoying coming up with ways to use their ViewBoard for instruction.”

A Hebrew teacher uses the Padlet app for teaching Hebrew. Sixth graders read the book Wonder, then watched it on the classroom screen. First graders learn about nouns and verbs using the Kahoot app and respond to questions on the big board using their individual devices. Just about every teacher mines YouTube for resources to display on their classroom ViewBoard.

“These teachers are among the most collaborative and hard-working I have known in forty years, and they were - and are - eager to learn about new resources,” said Lavine. “The ViewSonic ViewBoard displays boosted their capabilities both in terms of what they do in their classrooms and in terms of getting them adjusted to learning and teaching remotely through technology.

“The ViewBoard displays don’t just come in handy, they’re invaluable.”