Video distribution in schools is normally made possible through the efforts of Channel One News(http://www.channelone.com/about/). Throughout the years, schools have utilized this "free" network to broadcast news and videos to students during the school year. Along with this channel, schools can play their own student news channels and/or videos requested by teachers. This type of video distribution allows the media specialist (and the administration) the ability to limit the number of videos and the types of videos distributed to teachers. Now, I have somewhat mixed feelings about video feeds. In my school, the "free" tvs donated by Channel One were removed from our classrooms when our projectors were installed. I didn't think much about it until the day my light burned out and my whole day was planned around using the projector. Why did it blow? Everything I "project" must come through my projector. There's no telling how many hours I logged on one bulb with the use of PPT, films, overheads, etc. The biggest drawback was the fact that I wouldn't receive a new bulb until the work order was processed and our technology person could go get the bulb from central office and install it. So, there I was...no bulb, no projector, not teaching. Well, not "no" teaching, but you might as well consider me back in "the dark ages." (no pun intended) I digress. Back to the whole Channel One thing. The other drawback is distribution of videos. It's hard for the media center to monitor which videos are being used in which classrooms when anyone can show one at any time. I really, seriously, only show movies that are relevant to our course study; however, many others do not feel the same way when our administration decides to change our schedule and we're sitting with students for 2 hours or longer. How many times have I heard, "Ugh! We watched this last week in math class!" At least with video distribution, teachers must create a list and their films are logged with the media center. I guess the biggest complaint then would be not having autonomy in the class room.
Georgia Public Broadcasting (GPB) is another excellent source of educational videos for teacher and classroom use. Each video includes class room activities and lesson plans that can be adapted to meet the needs of all students. Media specialists can run GPB videos through video distribution, order videos from GPB, or teachers can access them online. I'm not very familiar with much more than what I read and perused while writing this blog. I do think GPB is great on Saturday mornings, though!
No comments:
Post a Comment