Case Study: California State Parks expands and enhances student access to state parks with Zoom Video Communications

PORTS Program Expands, Enhances Student Access to California State Parks with Zoom

California State Parks’ PORTS (Parks Online Resources for Teachers and Students) program delivers free, interactive virtual field trips to K–12 classrooms to expand access to nearly 300 parks across the state. Facing limited capacity to bring millions of students onsite and cumbersome, resource-intensive production methods (like chroma-key studios and recorded feeds), PORTS needed a scalable, reliable way to deliver real-time park experiences without transportation, scheduling, or cost barriers for schools.

By adopting Zoom across tablets, phones, and laptops, PORTS now runs live lessons with on-site interpreters, broadcasts multi-park webinars to social media, and supports immersive initiatives like VR pilots. The shift made classroom connections simpler for teachers, reduced troubleshooting, and scaled outreach: in 2019 PORTS delivered about 2,000 presentations to 75,000 students (a 25% year-over-year increase), reaching more districts while keeping the program free.

California State Parks

Jennifer Langer

PORTS Program Coordinator