Interactive Counseling Center

What is an ICC?

The MCEC has developed an Interactive Counseling Center (ICC). The ICC is a web-based video conferencing system that allows families and educational counselors to exchange information between sending and receiving schools. The ICC's network has connected schools serving military communities all over the world.

To find an ICC in your area, click on: ICC Current Locations.

The Objective:

The Military Child Education Coalition's mission is to remove barriers and solve problems encountered by children of the U.S. Military personnel in transition between schools as their parents' assignments change. MCEC believes that by enhancing communications between transfer personnel within different school systems, we can alleviate common problems experienced by transferring students. The Military Child Education Coalition objective for the Interactive Counseling Center (ICC) is an efficient, effective means to direct visual communication between schools and school counselors located around the world.

The Concept:

The ICC will provide "virtual counseling centers" to ensure transitioning students have a smooth hand-off from one school to another. The system will allow counselors, the student, and the parents to sit in a virtual counseling center and exchange information electronically to and from the sending school and the receiving school. The Interactive Counseling Center is a video conferencing system incorporating Interactive Counseling CenterTM units, which connect to one another via a networking system. The ICC includes both hardware and proprietary software, to enable point-to-point combined voice, video, data, and document image communications over the internet in real-time. The hardware is an easy-to-use video conference box that utilizes plug-and-play technology with a streamlined interface that is not only user friendly, but also secure.

Research and Development:

The Military Child Education Coalition has researched and developed the concept of the Interactive Counseling Center for two years. We have worked closely with a company specializing in video conferencing. The MCEC has received engineering consultation from a major computer manufacturer and the system has been through phases of comprehensive testing, both internally and in the field.

System Specifications:

The video conferencing system is designed on the Windows XP operating system and the hardware includes a computer system with custom programmed software, LCD flat panel monitor, video camera, speakers, microphone, document scanner, and color printer. The counseling center system will accomplish the following tasks:

  • Allow two systems to connect to each other in a point-to-point video conference utilizing a standard internet connection. The internet access needs to be a DSL connection or faster.
  • Allow the scanning of student records and other documents and the saving of those scanned documents on the system's internal hard drive for later review.
  • Allow the two communicating parties on either end to share or send scanned images to one another.
  • Provide a chat system for users to type messages dynamically back and forth.
  • Include a whiteboard program that allows the users on each side of the video conference the ability to highlight portions of scanned documents for review dynamically between parties. The whiteboard program also allows them to write, chart, diagram, or draw onto the whiteboard while the other side watches. Drawings can be saved for later reference or printing.
  • Provide a color printer, attached to the system, for printing from the system.
  • Provide a web browser that is active during conferencing for each counselor to review the school's web site for curriculum and other school information.

Implementation and Price:

There are approximately 800 secondary school systems serving military children. The MCEC's goal is to install as many systems as possible to expand this program. The price associated with each ICC system is $6,000. This includes all necessary hardware, software, ancillary materials, including a training video and system informational brochure for parents, on-site installation, on-site training, shipping, and telephone and e-mail technical support for the receiving party.

Preparing for ICC

There are several things that must be done to prepare for an ICC system: information needs to be sent to the MCEC, your site has to be prepared, and both parties have additional responsibilities.

Contact information for the school, technology, and the location itself needs to be filled out and faxed or emailed to the MCEC. Available forms can be filled out in your browser, or as PDF forms  that can be emailed or faxed.

Your site needs to prepare a place to put the ICC system that conforms to the Room Selection Guidelines [pdf]. These guidelines give you pointers on selecting an appropriate location for an ICC. Your site will also need to provide appropriate internet connectivity for the ICC system. These details are covered in our Technical Notes section.

Before the ICC can be installed at your location, you will also need to conduct a successful test call to show that you have set up the appropriate internet connectivity as outlined in the Technical Notes section.

We realize that the Technology form cannot always be filled out completely until a successful test call has been completed, so we ask you to send us any revised information after testing has been completed.

In some cases, a signed ICC Lease Agreement will also need to be turned in before the system can be installed.

The ICC Guidelines form set is a complete set of information and can be downloaded. This set of paperwork contains all of the information contained in the above pages and forms, minus the ICC Lease Agreement [pdf].

You may find it helpful to use the examples of Installations as a reference.

Promoting the ICC

Documents: ICC Promotional Uses and other Ideas [pdf] - This document covers some of the ways MCEC suggests you promote your ICC system. There are also ideas included to make the ICC more valuable to your school.

ICC Parent Brochure [pdf] - This document is designed to help inform parents about the ICC and what it can do for them.

ICC Marketing Brochure [pdf] - This document is designed to help promote the ICC among your staff and schools.