My school uses our video distribution system quite extensively. I am at a new school, so some of the technology is considered “cutting edge”. The video distribution system is housed in a room in the media center. The video system consists of several DVD/VCR players, a satellite system (Direct TV), a digital video recorder (TiVo), digital cable, and the Channel One receiver. Every classroom has a TV and there are several TVs located in places such as the cafeteria and offices. This system can be a bit overwhelming for a media specialist. It is very complicated and takes a lot of time to learn.
We use our system for the daily school news broadcast and to broadcast Channel One each morning. We also run a looped PowerPoint during the day that contains announcements and student recognitions. We record programs for teachers and use the system to broadcast the program to the teacher’s room. The system is capable of broadcasting from 5 different sources at the same time, so several teachers can be using it at the same time.
As I mentioned before, this is a complicated system to run. I have been overseeing it for the past year, and I still occasionally need some help from outside sources. We are fortunate that we have two media specialists, because I don’t see how one person could do the video system plus all of the other tasks that a media specialist must do.
One thing that I didn’t realize, until I became a media specialist, was the impact that the recent change from analog to digital TV signal would have on schools. Several of my county’s older schools have had to invest in a new video distribution system because of the digital signal that is being used. From what I have been told, these new systems were quite expensive.
My school uses United Streaming, which is provided to us by Georgia Public Broadcasting. Unfortunately, we do not make good use of all of the resources that GPB provides. I think that a lot of our teachers are hesitant to use their TVs in the classroom because of past problems and misperceptions that people (the public) have about TVs in the classroom.
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That's awesome that you are at a new school to have some of that cutting edge technology! I am teaching, but my school was the first middle school in Coweta County built in 1972. Ha! The wiring for our distribution system is as old as the hills. I am surprised they haven't totally upgraded the system by now, but I guess they haven't because of budget cuts. I also thought our school's system was confusing to operate, but I bet yours is even more so.
ReplyDeleteWith the teachers not taking advantage of the United Streaming, I know a lot of the time TV's are confusing for them to use with the computer. It was not used at my school much until we started getting Smartboards and projectors with Title I money.
I like the idea of using a PPT to help with announcements. My students barely pay attention to them over the loud speaker.
I enjoyed reading your post! Thanks!