The school that I work in just had a video distribution
system installed. We are still learning the basics but we actually got to use
it for the second time today. It is called Media Cast. I think this resource is
GREAT. Our Media Specialist is still learning the basics on how to operate
everything but we are learning together.
This Media Cast programs allows us to show videos that each
class can view at the same time. This is very beneficial since most of the
grade levels follow the same schedule. We have 2 different channels so two videos can
be played at one time. In the Media Center there is a daily signup sheet and
you can sign up for the time and channel and the name of the educational video
or reward video you would like to play.
Each teacher also has access to a discovery streaming
account. We learned about how to use this in a professional development. This
is a huge benefit to the classroom. It has a lot of resources such as video
clips, clip arts, video extensions and much more. It is very user friendly and
you can sort your search result based on age appropriateness.
At the school I used to teach out they did morning
announcements through the video distribution system. The media specialist
created a club of students that helped her do the announcements each morning. I
really liked this idea because the kids had something to focus on. Sometimes I feel
like my kindergarteners get lost when the verbal announcements are on. After speaking with my Media Specialist she
felt like she was going to implement a plan to get a morning announcement over
Media Cast by the end of this year or for sure next year.
I can only imagine that your little ones would get quite lost during verbal announcements. Having a broadcast could really help grab their attention. I know that my high school students can't sit still long enough to listen to our morning annoucements and they are 17 and 18 years old!
ReplyDeleteIt sounds like you will really get a lot out of the Media Cast program. We use Channel One and show it every day. We have the functionality to show videos school wide, but we rarely do it because there is always some type of glitch. With all of our classrooms now having SMART Boards and each room having cable, we really don't have a huge need to show anything to everyone at once.
Reading all these posts has peaked my interest as to what all our distribution system can do. I talked to the other media specialist about some of the basics...but now I have some more specific questions to ask.
That is wonderful about your media specialist planning on starting a school news program, Jennifer! The first year I worked at my school the news was a little dry and had not been changed for a long time. Since then, our new media specialist has created a phenomenal broadcast program and my second graders really love it! The anchor team sits angled toward each other with a flat screen between them to feature special announcements. The idea the media specialist was going for was kind of a “morning show” feel. It is lively and usually very funny. You should definitely send both of the links Dr. Cooper suggested for school news to your media specialist. I’m sure it will inspire her to do something awesome with your news.
ReplyDeleteI have been using the United Streaming feature on GPB for years, but I haven’t ventured out into the site and taken advantage of the other resources offered for teachers (I know, bad!). After briefly looking over the link Dr. Cooper sent us, I would love to go to a workshop and learn more about the resource available to teachers.