I spoke with Amy Silvers
who is the media specialist at Red Bud Elementary School in Gordon County. When
I first asked Amy about our video distribution system, she let out a laugh and
said, “Oh, ours is a dinosaur!” Although ours is old, it does still work but is
rarely used. Our distribution system is typically used for instructional movies
that whole grade levels need at the same time or occasionally a movie for a
reward day or holiday. We used to use it for the student recorded
newscast each day but we no longer do those due to our classes starting at
7:40. Occasionally, we use our distribution system for cable programs but not
very often. We get a free school service from Direct TV. The channel has
to be changed in the library. Our distribution system is pretty old and does not allow
teachers to have any input or control. It must all be done through the
library. It also does not use digital
transmitting over a data network.
With the increase of online digital
resources, Amy said there is much less of a demand for this type of in school
video distribution system. Our teachers often use Discovery Education and
YouTube. Our system has a very strict online filter and has made YouTube a safe
resource for teachers. I have been using Discovery Education’s online video streaming
for several years. It has so many educational videos and resources that can be
searched by grade level and subject. It provides activities for some of the videos,
and I have found them to be engaging for the students. It is also wonderful for
rainy day recesses. J It is ad free and you can
feel confident that the content is appropriate.
When speaking with Amy about Georgia Public
Broadcasting, she said she was not really sure how our teachers utilized it
other than Discovery Education. So I took a look into some of the resources
offered and found them to be very helpful! I liked how you can search the
resources by level and by subject.
I'm right there with you, Rhiannon. Every school that I have volunteered in has an outdated system that really just plays Channel 2 News in the home room classes every morning. Although perhaps there is less of demand for the video distribution system, I still believe it could be utilized in helpful ways for a school. Maybe some administrators don't know that they could also use the system for school announcements, to show lunchroom menus, etc. I also looked up a lot of ideas on pintrest for this and some schools do a "Joke of the Day" where students can submit jokes to the central office and they are chosen to appear on the screen. There's also a morning booklet for students to complete before the bell rings and short informative videos about hand washing during flu season, safety, etc.
ReplyDeleteThe elementary school where I work as a media clerk utilizes a broadcasting systems extensively for curriculum enrichment every day. Our broadcasting set up is not new but quite a bit of money was spent 12 years ago to get quality items that would last. Because it is an International Baccalaureate School, information about national events, world countries, customs, facts, and personal positive attitudes and attributes are discussed daily in our broadcasts to encourage students to become open minded and accepting of personal and cultural differences. Since the media specialist and I put together the script for the show we are actively involved in teaching all students through the broadcast everyday – something she definitely emphasizes in her goals and yearly reviews. We cable service is with Charter, which gives us 1 channel for PBS, and 4 channels internal school channels due to a scrambler – 1 channel for the morning broadcast, 1 for movie broadcasts usually for grade level instructional materials, and 2 others. Prior to last year we had many more cable channels available but regulations have changed allowing broadcasters like Charter to charge per classroom – which is absolutely cost prohibitive. I’ve been told this is being phased in across the different broadcasters so it is likely all schools will be affected the next few years. Our teachers do not have any control over the broadcast since the distribution tower is in the media center office. Teachers do use GPB some and regularly use Discovery Education – formally called United Streaming. School usage of Discovery Education is checked by the number of log ins to stream those videos, which is important since the district pays for access and wants to see it used – otherwise funding for it would likely be cut.
ReplyDeleteYour interview with Amy has a lot of similarities to the way our school uses a video distribution system. We use it for reward movie days and Media Cast for morning announcements. Most of our teachers use YouTube for anything ranging from instructional videos, watching Disney Jr. in bus hall, to reading books as a class online. As many of you have already stated, the teachers do not have power or control over the video distribution through Media Cast because it is in the media center. We have a big library of videos and educational movies for teachers to use but they tend to stay hidden away in our back closet because let's face it, VHS and DVDs are a thing of the past. When I was in elementary school, we watched Reading Rainbow and Bill Nye the Science Guy from a VHS that had been checked out of the media center on a TV cart that had been checked out from the media center. A lot has changed since then!
ReplyDeleteAmy's response made me giggle a little. I also think that video distribution systems are a little outdated since there are so many free educational resources online that can be used instead. I can see the point in using it if it were for a schoolwide video or maybe multiple classrooms like you stated but other than that its a little dauntless. I think VHS and DVD's are rarely used these days. As technology changes, so does the way in which videos are watched or distributed within the school.
ReplyDeleteI will agree that the video distribution system many know is old and outdated. My school has gone from having 14 channels to show VHS and DVD's to only one channel. We currently have no working VHS players in the media center and those in the classroom are being removed as they tear up and are not being replaced. We do have a few VHS DVD combo players on a few projector carts. After talking to technology, they have said the remaining equipment will be removed soon. Even our TV's mounted to the walls are now out dated and technically need to be taken down because they can not function without being connected to a computer.
ReplyDeletePersonally I love the direction video distribution is going. The cost of buying videos has greatly decreased freeing up money in the media center budget. The down side to it is technology is moving faster then the money is flowing into the school district to purchase the required equipment. In my school our news is broadcasted over the network. The bandwidth is not big enough for 1400 students to watch the news simultaneously. With the new technology the county has done away with cable and the media center does not have to worry about purchasing videos because the teachers can stream them on their laptops for the class to view from the projector.