In the
district where I am a media specialist there are 6 schools. I interviewed the media specialist at all the
schools in my county, including myself, to find out what they have going on in
their schools in the form of video distribution systems. There are 2 primary schools in my district
that house pre-k through 2nd grade and neither one of those schools
have a video distribution system. One of
the media specialists even told me, “This has been a battle for many years
between many principals and technology directors and me. I’ve finally waved the white flag.” There are 2 elementary schools in my district
that have students in 3rd-5th grades. One of them is where I work. We both have video distribution systems and
they are both simply just a closed circuit cable system. Both the system here and at the other school
work. I use my closed circuit system
every morning because we do a live television broadcast each day and the
teachers simply turn their televisions or VCRs, if they are hooked to a SmartBoard,
to channel 4 to watch the daily show. The
other elementary school said theirs was never used anymore because all of the
rooms have SmartBoards. Teachers do not
have input or control over the distribution system and our system is not
digital. The middle school in my
district has a closed circuit system that works, but only in the classrooms
that have a working television. For the
most part, they use it to send out Channel One.
In the past they have used it for movies, student made videos, and character
education commercials. They do not have cable or satellite TV access. The high school had a video distribution
system but it is no longer in use. It
was a very basic system that had a satellite receiver and went out to everyone
or no one. They could not select
particular classrooms to distribute to.
It was a closed circuit cable system that she would run VHS tapes out to
the classrooms.
Five of the
six schools in my district use Georgia Public Broadcasting Resources and
Discovery Education’s United Streaming.
It was clear across the board that the majority of these resources are
used for science and social studies curriculum.
If you have not looked into GPB’s resources I highly recommend
them. They are aligned to CCGPS and
offer interesting and fun video clips.
They do a clip each day called “Today in Georgia History” that highlights
an important event in our state’s past. There
is also a digital library portion, it is no longer supported, but the assets
that were available through the library are still available, just nothing new
is being put out.
The Closed circuit/video distribution systems seem to be spotty across the board in most counties. My school has a closed circuit that we hardly ever use and when we do ends up not working for most of the teachers. It seems like in today's day and age we would have implemented something that would be more flexible and help fit the needs of each school.
ReplyDeleteI love United Straming/Discovery Education and use it in my middle school ELA and SS classes. There are so many great videos and lessons that work for the the new Common Core.
Yep, I think closed circuit/video distribution is quickly becoming a thing of the past. Cherokee County uses Media Cast, which is an online resource that allows users to access on-demand streaming, or live broadcasts. All of the classrooms in Cherokee have SmartBoards, so they are able to project the video or images on the large screen. I had a SmartBoard in my classroom which I used daily, but one day decided to show a dvd on the tv. It seemed so tiny and far away compared to the SmartBoard, not to mention that the sound quality was poor, and it seemed far away.
ReplyDeleteThe teachers use the streaming often, and can also access professional development through Media Cast. Another reason that this is so awesome is that teachers can access all of the components through their own computer or mobile device, and do not need to go through the media center.
The teachers also take advantage of the many options from Georgia Public Broadcasting. We certainly have come a long way from the days when I used to call 5 or 6 students up to my desk to see something from the internet on my desktop computer! It is amazing to me how much content can be found through streaming or the internet on any topic, and it really does make a huge difference. Imagine the impact seeing a volcano erupt on the Smartboard would have compared to reading about it in a book, or hearing someone tell about it.
Hopefully the economy will improve enough for all schools to have access to better technology for the benefit of all involved!
Bethany, thanks for the tip about GPB's daily "Today in Georgia History." I'll definitely check this out. I have utilized GPB and Discovery Education often and find their resources to be top notch. It would be a shame if resources such as these were not available to teachers and students, due to inadequate technology.
ReplyDeleteYour school district sounds a lot like ours. We also have one special channel that we can use live feed. We live feed the Spelling Bee and Student Council nomination speeches. Currently, this all we use our live feed channel for. In the past we have done live announcements in the morning featuring students. I love this feature because it allows all 6-8 grade students to get to know each other and for certain students, it gets their creativity flowing and gives them a chance to "perform" in front of a large crowd.
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