One of the areas that is benefiting from all the new technology is the area of video distribution. Think back when you were in school. Remember watching the movies that were shown on a projector with big rolls of film. How about the filmstrip? Beep! Today, there are so many new ways to bring multimedia into your classrooms.
Many Cherokee County Schools District schools still have Closed-Circuit systems,. Thee systems are being removed from many of the schools because the county has invested in a much better system called MediaCast. This system allows us to access 16 digital television stations, district television stations (2 channels per school), a multitude of digital content that has been purchased by the Cherokee County School District, Discovery Streaming, and BrainPop.
This system allows a school to broadcast the morning news live each morning. This newscast is available in every classroom either on the mounted television, or by accessing it through MediaCast on one of our school’s television stations. This method of distributing information to the students and teachers is so much better than a voice on the intercom. With live TV, we can have students talking about their projects, showing off their medal won at competitions, or even announcing “Breaking News”.
MediaCast offers so much more than just digital television or other “movies”. This system allows teachers to upload content that can be viewed by the entire school. Grade levels can develop lessons that can be shared through MediaCast. School Spelling Bees can be broadcast live to the school without everyone leaving their classrooms. The different uses of MediaCast are endless.
One of the best resources available to teachers is Georgia Public Broadcasting (GPB). Cherokee County encourages teachers to use this resource and schools have training sessions that are put on by the GPB to show teachers all the ways that they can use GPB to meet state standards. http://www.gpb.org/
From the main screen you can choose from the many available resources. These tabs include: Programs, Television, Radio, Education, Family, Kids, News, Sports and Support. For example, under Education, you will find a wealth of information that you can use in your classrooms everyday.
This resource offer featured programs such as Chemistry & Physics, Count on it! , Dinoventures, Georgia Stories, Georgia World War 2 Project, GPB Well, Irasshai, The InVenture Prize, Road Trip and Salsa. http://www.gpb.org/education/featured-programs You can go on an adventures with Professor Ridley as he looks for fossils and crocodile to the exploration of Georgia’s history and culture.
I personally used Georgia Stories when I taught 8th grade Georgia History. I liked how the videos were broken down into parts so that I was able to show short segments of the video without having to start and stop it myself. I also liked the snag-a-segment feature that allowed me to create my own segment that met my needs.
It is difficult to talk about everything that is available on GPB. You need to take a look for yourself. I promise, you won’t be disappointed.
I have been a user of Discovery learning for a while and value it in the teaching of Earth Science and Social Studies. You just can’t take them on field trips to the places that the video can transport them to in moment. Reading and discussion just can’t provide what the video can provide. We are appealing to their sight as well as their hearing when we use video. If they could provide smells and climate as well, the videos would be even more valuable as the students would involve more sensory details and remember more. I also appreciate the teacher materials (script and quizzes) that some videos provide. I have to say that I have not ventured into all of the other capabilities of the GPB.org other than the education part of the program.
ReplyDeleteI am familiar with the Closed Circuit TV, but not with Media Cast. So, I Googled it and found some interesting things. http://www.cimav.com/industry-solutions.aspx/mediacast
It is a District system which gives teachers the tools to integrate video into their lesson plans, and it’s now eligible for e-rate funding. It provides on-demand media retrieval, interactive classrooms, capture video conferences, morning announcements, distance learning, on-demand digital TV channels, on-demand video, athletics/graduation broadcasting, and more (whatever more is). Some of that is capable with CCTV, but there are some things that High Schools might want to have and that districts could use. It sounds like it’s a CCTV capability for the district, plus much more.
I would like more information about the distance learning part of this program. That has lots of potential for everyone. Another issue that I was aware of is the copying of a program for future viewing. It was a hassle for the Media Specialist to copy the program in some format for the teachers to use. It is so much nicer to be able to find the program on line and be able to use it on demand without copying it. In addition, we don’t have to worry about the copyright issues and costs (if any) are less for their use.
Closed Circuit TV has been relegated to the back burner at our school. The Televisions are very dusty. I can’t tell you the last time they were used. No Morning Show . We live in the past with the voice over on the intercom.
I agree that technology has really changed video distribution today. There are so many resources and new technologies available to today's schools. Most teachers in my school never turn on their televisions now. They rely on morning annoucement over the intercom and resource over the web that can be displayed on their interactive whiteboards.
ReplyDeleteGPB Education is an excellent resource that is widely used in my school. There is a wealth of information available here in one place. After reading your posts and others, I plan to explore more o this website and learn more about the services available. This might provide a great training opportunity for my teachers.
Closed Circuit TV is something that I am familiar with, but I hadn't heard about MediaCast before reading your post. I plan to research this topic more closely. It sounds like it could be very useful in schools.
Wow MediaCast sounds like a great program to have within a school. I agree the students being able to put together a brief newscast that would be viewed by their peers is a great way to enhance the creative and critical thinking skills of those who are a part of the program. Students love to see and hear themselves on television and peer PRAISES go further within a student as opposed from their teacher. Having students present projects, spelling bees, etc. are great ways to encourage school pride and student involvement. The only downside is that the initial startup cost can be large with respect to wiring and the purchasing and connecting of televisions in every classroom; not taking into consideration those school buildings that are very old. A lot of districts in my opinion would hesitate in purchasing such a program because it doesn’t increase test scores (smile). Hence I believe it goes way beyond test scores, but developing the whole child as they are challenged to create daily news that’s exciting and informative all at once. I too will look further into the resources made available under GPB Media, without reading the post – I wouldn’t have known!
ReplyDeleteIn my response to another blog, I just said I would hate having to WATCH morning announcements rather than just LISTENING to them, so it's funny that you brought that up! Maybe I'm just time-driven, but I hate when the AM announcements go too long! I can't imagine what it would be on TV. I've seen it happen in a few schools, and it always seems to take longer than necessary. I would, however, to see videos of various other things. You mentioned spelling bees being shown, and I have to say, I think that is pretty neat! I would love to see our administrators and counselors broadcast various pieces throughout the year (maybe on those hot topics like bullying, internet safety, discipline, etc).
ReplyDeleteFor a subject like GA History, I'm sure this works out nicely for you! I teach English and have tried video segments on authors like Poe and Shakespeare, but full videos from the media center have always proven to be much more informative, comprehensive, and interesting to the students. I absolutely need to look more into short videos to set up smaller pieces of literature though...maybe something with some of my short stories and poems.
For SLMS, I think this would be a wonderful tool for media centers. One could stream book talks, book reviews, and author interviews as students were in the center browsing for books. Most of us go online to find suggestions, so this could be a way to reach the students who want to read but may not know where to start.
When I think of morning announcements over the intercom I think of the little bells (ding, ding, ding) and the lady from Grease who made the announcements each day. My school uses the closed circut TV station to produce morning announcements each day. We try to keep them brief and some teachers and classes listen diligently and some of course don't. Several people who have done the origiional blogs have mentioed Media Cast. It sounds like the new wave in close circut TV. Every time you think your school sysytem has the upper hand on something, something new and better comes out. I would love to know how much it cost a school system to use Media Cast and how much would have to be done to upgrade from the old closed circut TV model to Media Cast. My school system has used United Streaming for a while. I think there seems to be resources for almost every subject matter in the streaming video collection and lesson resources. Other than watching the web cast of the Common Core I have not explored the other resources available shown in Robin's blog above. I will have to spend some time taking a closer look at these.
ReplyDeleteYour description of Media Cast was superb! I have never actually used it myself but the different ways that you described sound incredible. I can definitely see the advantages of providing a live broadcast for daily announcements and how cool would it be to be able to have a school wide Spelling Bee broadcasted for everyone to see!
ReplyDeleteAlso, thank you so much for detailed steps on how to use GBP. I have not been in a classroom for over five years. Things have definitely changed since then and it was awesome to have the directions on how to access such a wonderful resource.
This is my first introduction to MediaCast. It sounds like a great tool. I have never had a chance to use anything like it. In the elementary school I left last year, we had a version of a distribution system. We had three channels on the TV that we could broadcast live feed on one using a video camera within a small room in the back of the media center and we could show videos on the other two. We had a broadcast team that did a live morning broadcast every day and they seemed to really enjoy working on this. I am in a different school this year and we are doing announcements over the intercom system, most of the time it is the principal or one of the other administrators.We have a closed circut system but it has not been used this year. I understand from the other media specialist that in past years that there was a live broadcast in the mornings using the equipment. There seemed to be more teachers using GPB in the elementary school than in this high school. I do not know if that has to do with content or with the amount of time the teachers have the students in each class period. I certainly used it when I was teaching in an elementary classroom. Unitedstreaming and GPB have really giver teachers so many more resources that are outside the classroom.
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