Video Distribution Systems and Georgia Public Broadcasting

The elementary school where I work, Ila Elementary School, uses a video distribution system every day.  Our media specialist and paraprofessional record a daily news-show each afternoon that features different children and announcements and then broadcast the show the next morning.  We do have the technology to produce live news-shows for broadcast, but our media specialist finds it more convenient for her to record it in the afternoons.  Our video distribution system contains 3 channels.  One channel is reserved for our daily news show, and the other two channels are used to broadcast movies from the media center.  Teachers can sign up for a time when they want a video to be broadcasted, and the media specialist will show the movie on one of the two distribution channels.  Also, our school receives television through Dish Network, and we only have one satellite receiver for the entire school.  Thus, only one channel can be viewed at a time in all classrooms.  Our media specialist usually lets the channel remain on the Georgia Public Broadcasting channel.

Speaking of Georgia Public Broadcasting, I believe this is a great, free resource that is very underused.  Thankfully, my school system does not have this website blocked, unlike many other sites I would like to use.  Georgia Public Broadcasting is much more than just a TV channel and radio station.  The education section has many useful resources for teachers.    The most well-known aspect of this resource is United Streaming.  I use United Streaming at least weekly in my classroom.  There are not only videos about all different topics, there are also sample lesson plans, blackline masters, writing prompts, and my school actually bought an extra feature, Discovery Education Science, which I use very often in my science class.  One of the resource I found that seems very interesting is the Digital Library.  This contains different features, such as "Cover to Cover," a monthly book club that features Georgia authors.  Also, The University of West Georgia has contributed a political heritage section.  This is a very interesting collection of interviews with prominent Georgia figures discussing Georgia's history.  There is a section about chemistry and physics and "Salsa," a program to teach Spanish to students.  The Georgia Stories seems to be a great resource for history classes.  It includes podcasts, articles, field trip ideas, and curriculum standards correlations.  I believe all Georgia history teachers should explore this website.  Georgia Public Broadcasting is a great, free resource for Georgia citizens, and I believe educators should use it to their advantage.

The term “social networking” is considered a curse word in many school systems, including mine. The rise of cyber bullying, inappropriate posts, and the risk of or perception of educators having inappropriate relationships with their students through social networks have cause school systems to shy away or even hold lectures or classes on personal social network etiquette and not being “friends” with anyone under eighteen. My school system has sent out the human resources director to every school to discourage educators even having an account at the risk of ethic violations. As the Professional Standard Commission states, “An educator shall always maintain a professional relationship with all students, both in and outside the classroom” (Georgia PSC, 2009). This fear from administration and teachers has hindered the inclusion of social networks for educational purposes.

Social networks are currently the new “fad” for students. As our classrooms and schools struggle to keep up with modern technology and new “hooking” strategies to get students to “tune in” to what is being taught. Social networks can be used to bridge the gap being boring and cool. One way a school system can use social networks as a positive tool is by starting small. Ask the PTO or volunteer organization to create a Facebook or MySpace page for the school PTO. This provides an outlet for students and parents to become “friends” and receive important announcements. Another way to promote social networking as tools for education is to allow the media center to have a blog or page that allow students to respond to or recommend books. I understand from other blogs, Destiny has this option. The OPAC my school has does not have this option, but would be an awesome way to allow student opinion and encourage reading. Our system also blocks all blogs, with the exception of kidblog.com. Blogs and wikis are great strategies to a get a shy or struggling student to respond in a class discussion over literature, practice writing strategies, and group projects in other subjects.

Social networking is an outlet and form of communication for students in today’s world. Education needs to access this untapped and taboo resource. However, it must be handled with understanding and care. Educators must first teach their students what appropriate social networking behavior is and the consequences of actions on the internet, both positive and negative. With the understanding and establishment of the boundaries, social networking can be introduced and monitored in the classroom as another way to reach all students. Social networking is a trend and characteristic of the 21^st Century Learner. It is time schools focus on the student when tailoring curriculum and learning methods before this trend has transformed into one that is unmanageable and inapplicable to the classroom.

Georgia Professional Standard Commission. (2009). Code of ethics. Retrieved from http://www.gapsc.com/Rules/Current/Ethics/505-6-.01.pdf on October 23, 2010.

Media Center Webpages

Even ten years ago, a common question for many media specialists might have been, “Do I need a webpage for my media center?” But, in just the past decade, the use of digital information has exploded! More families now have internet access at home and, as prices have become more reasonable for “smartphones” and “data plans,” an ever increasing number of patrons now have mobile internet access. In this age of information, a media center webpage is now a must. Now, the better questions for a media specialist might be, “What do my patrons expect from a webpage?” and “How much time should I devote to my webpage?”

Time is a precious commodity to educators and a media specialist needs to wisely allocate her time towards providing information in a format that best suits patron needs. In designing and maintaining a media center webpage, it is important for a media specialist to be familiar with her patron population. Patrons should be surveyed to gain an understanding of the percentage that have internet access and the frequency in which they utilize the internet. In our school district, students, teachers, and parents are required to sign an “Internet User Agreement.” This agreement also functions as an internet survey and requests information about household internet usage. This is one way to get a fairly accurate measure of student internet availability.

A media specialist can then use survey results to determine the extent to which she will need to develop and maintain her media center webpage. For instance, students in an affluent district will most likely have more students with internet access and will demand more digital resources. A media specialist with a patron group of this type would be wise to devote a large amount of time to maintaining and updating the media center webpage. Utilizing a more interactive format such as a blog or wiki with these patrons would also be beneficial and wise.

On the other hand, in the school district in which I teach, about fifty percent of our students come from economically disadvantaged households. A majority of our students do not have internet access. Of course, as media specialists, we still need to provide students with a quality webpage, but I believe that we can not get too caught up in the digital age and forget those less-fortunate students whose economic situations have forced them to be left behind. In dealing with a patron population such as this, our time might be better served providing library programming that reaches out to those without digital resources. After all, it is often the students from low socio-economic homes that struggle academically.

In spite of the patron population, I believe there are minimum resources that a media center webpage should provide. At all school levels, access to the library collection through the OPAC is necessary. Students and parents need to have the opportunity to look up library resources from home. Teachers also need to be able to peruse teaching materials without physically having to trek to the library. At the elementary level, many schools utilize Accelerated Reader or other similar program. Including a list of media center books that offer AR quizzes could be a helpful resource that would not have to be updated frequently. A page of links to research resources, book reviews, and the local public library would also be wise additions. Furthermore, posting a list of newly purchased books would be an easy way to promote circulation in the media center.

Wikis

Educators are increasingly seeing the benefits of collaboration and reaching out to each other for ideas.  Because of this, educators want to share ideas with more people than just their neighbors across the hall.  Blogging could allow this type of widespread collaboration, but most school districts block blogging websites because of inappropriate advertisements.  Wikis provide a better alternative to blogging.  They usually are not blocked by school district internet filters, so no special permission is needed to access them on the school’s networked computers. 

Wikis allow any user with access to the internet to contribute to ideas, edit the page, and add new information.  Thus, students and teachers can all contribute equally to a wiki.  This allows for more ownership by a broad range of stakeholders instead of a limited number of authors on a blog with many people simply “commenting” on materials.

Wikis have many uses in the media center.  The media specialist can create "Pathfinders" for teachers and/or students, in which they post quality sources of information for certain curriculum units.  If a teacher or student finds resources that can be added to the pathfinder, they can do that themselves without having to go through the media specialist.  (Most teachers and students do not like the hassle of going through someone and having to get permission to publish information.)  Also, since wikis are internet-based, they have much more storage capacity for pages than a school’s server would have.  A media specialist can post podcasting files in which she is giving booktalks or information literacy lessons.  A classroom teacher can then pull these up on the projector and have the media specialist “visit” the room for instruction while the media specialist may be busy doing other tasks.  Students could make their own podcasts for book reviews or projects they’ve produced and add them  to the school’s wiki.  This would get students very involved in the “wiki process.”

A classroom teacher can use a wiki in many ways.  If students are completing group projects in which they have many electronic files, they can store them on the wiki.  Any student can then log on to the wiki at home and continue working on the project.  The teacher can access the students’ work from any internet-connected computer instead of just the school’s network.  Also, wikis can be a great way to foster communication between the classroom and home.  Teachers can make different pages on their wiki for different units and projects.  Students can then easily share their work with parents that they’ve completed for these units.  Most of the time, students’ work is stored on one computer in the school building and parents never get to see it.  Also, the teacher could easily post a weekly newsletter, reminders about homework, and upcoming events on the home page of the wiki.  One idea I found in my research that I really like is that of teachers posting podcasts or summarizing notes on the wiki so students can access them when studying for tests.

Finally, the educators already using wikis have a running start compared to educators who are not using them.  Wikis are quickly becoming a favored way to store and present information to students because of their ease of use, cost effectiveness, and accessibility.  Start your wiki today!

Podcasting Thoughts

The rise of podcasting in schools has been a grassroots occurence. Depending on what school you look at, podcasting -- if present at all -- may be introduced by teachers, administrators, students, media specialists, or technology specialists. At Willowdale Elementary in Omaha, Nebraska, the technology specialist Tony Vincent introduced podcasting and has taken upon himself much of the work of spreading the innovation and guiding the quality of the podcasts produced. At Beverly Elementary School in Birmingham, MI, the media specialist Kristin Fontichiaro podcasts (herself) and hosts a Podcasting Club for 4th graders. The podcast is disseminated through a blog. At other schools, no one is podcasting.

So, imagine a teacher approaches you and asks you if you can help him to start up a podcast for his class (something like Radio WilloWeb). In truth, you may know little about podcasting. So, how do you respond to the teacher? Do you tell him farewell and good luck? Do you tell him you don't know much, but you're willing to find out? What is your role? What are the reasons behind how you choose to respond to this teacher?

In the media center, I feel the method and carrier of information is always advancing and changing. I think a media specialist should try to keep current with these new trends. Podcasting is a new, easy, and attention-grabbing way to get students and teachers involved in fluency, exciting lessons, research projects and much more. If approached by a teacher concerning podcasts, as presented in the scenario, I would first be familiar and able to explain the school system’s policy or filters on podcasting or recording students on a potentially shared recording. I would try not to deter the teacher if podcasting is blocked, but find another avenue. If podcasting is not blocked, I would admit not knowing everything about podcasting. I would also offer to research, practice, and learn about it. There are many resources online that are “how to’s” for podcasting. In our school, the media specialist has two planning times every day (teachers have one, four times a week), I would learn what I could and concise the information for this teacher, who may not have the time needed to learn about podcasts. I would then suggest we both try the condensed tips out by making samples. I like to learn with someone, not fumbling through it on my own. If podcasting tended to be successful with this teacher, I would put out “feelers” or even sample podcasts in the library (like the book talks) for other teachers to use this technology in their classrooms. I think using the connection and comparison of a reading center with cassette players would help in getting older teachers on board with this avenue. I think my response should be one of enthusiasm and of “we’re in this together”. I think this attitude would encourage more teachers to try new things to reach our students and make them more information literate. I already use a basic form of podcasting in my classroom. Students record themselves on a PowerPoint presentation or reading a story aloud for fluency. I have seen how a microphone can turn a nonreader into an excited one. This excitement with new technology should be fostered and perhaps start in the media center.