Lights, camera, learning.TEACHERS AND STUDENTS at Escondido Union School District (Calif.) are becoming veritable desktop moviemakers thanks to a digital media project that has boosted teacher morale and student achievement. Project LIVE (Learning through Instructional Video in Education), which started four years ago to get teachers more interested in using technology in the classroom and students more motivated to learn, has been credited with helping to raise student scores by as much as 30 points on state standardized standardized pertaining to data that have been submitted to standardization procedures. standardized morbidity rate see morbidity rate. standardized mortality rate see mortality rate. exams. "You have D-average kids who are staying after school and working on projects related to core subjects," says Kathy Shirley, the district's director for technology and media services, "and they are starting to make real academic progress in these subjects." The project's goal is to foster critical and visual literacy Visual literacy is the ability to interpret, negotiate, and make meaning from information presented in the form of an image. Visual literacy is based on the idea that pictures can be “read” and that meaning can be communicated through a process of reading. skills, using digital media tools to help teach core subjects, in alignment with state standards. Budding budding, type of grafting in which a plant bud is inserted under the bark of the stock (usually not more than a year old). It is best done when the bark will peel easily and the buds are mature, as in spring, late summer, or early autumn. Classroom Directors Escondido students and teachers--in a growing list of K12 districts using video in the classroom--are creating iMovies about everything from endangered en·dan·ger tr.v. en·dan·gered, en·dan·ger·ing, en·dan·gers 1. To expose to harm or danger; imperil. 2. To threaten with extinction. penguins to hurricanes to math concepts. "Project LIVE is giving students a voice and an audience" that leads to greater learning and interest, says Escondido Superintendent Jennifer Walters. Project LIVE began in September 2003 as an offshoot of an initiative by the San Diego San Diego (săn dēā`gō), city (1990 pop. 1,110,549), seat of San Diego co., S Calif., on San Diego Bay; inc. 1850. San Diego includes the unincorporated communities of La Jolla and Spring Valley. Coronado is across the bay. County Office of Education, called the iVIE (Innovative Video in Education) awards, that recognizes standards-based uses of digital media. Shirley created the iVIE awards and later altered the model to make it work in the classroom. Apple's easy-to-use technology--iLife, iMovie and iDVD--was a major catalyst for creating Project LIVE, says Shirley, who is a former Apple Distinguished Educator. Training the Teachers Teachers, who apply to participate in Project LIVE and make a one-year commitment, learn iMovie, storyboarding, video production and editing. Participants must create three standards-based videos with their students (one of which must be submitted to the iVIE awards) and need to continuously integrate the technology into their lessons. Upon completion of the one-year training, each Project LIVE teacher receives $4,300 worth of digital moviemaking mov·ie·mak·er n. One that makes movies, especially professionally. mov  ie·mak equipment for his or her classroom,
including an Apple laptop computer A portable computer that has a flat LCD screen and usually weighs less than eight pounds. Often called just a "laptop," it uses batteries for mobile use and AC power for charging the batteries and desktop use. Today's high-end laptops provide all the capabilities of most desktop computers. , a camcorder, tripod, and an external
hard drive to store videos.
Shirley has paid for the equipment and training sessions with federal funds Federal Funds Funds deposited to regional Federal Reserve Banks by commercial banks, including funds in excess of reserve requirements. Notes: These non-interest bearing deposits are lent out at the Fed funds rate to other banks unable to meet overnight reserve from the Enhancing Education Through Technology program (EETT EETT Enhancing Education Through Technology EETT Electronic Engineering Times - Taiwan ). Next year, with no funding from EETT, district officials are relying on local businesses, grants, and the local education foundation for financial support. An Instant Hit More than 100 instructors applied to participate in Project LIVE for the 2006-2007 school year. Several teachers have continued in the program for subsequent years (using the same equipment they first received). Eighty-five teachers have gone through the program since its inception. "Project LIVE has become the hook for students who are turned off to school and has helped them express their talents and begin to make improvements in their school work," says Marta Baker, principal of Central Elementary, which has seven graduates of the program. Baker notes that the program has also boosted teachers' morale. For some teachers, like 60-year-old Stevie Wheeler, Project LIVE has converted them from technophobes into technophiles. Wheeler has two Apple laptops at school, a PC at home, and is learning how to podcast (iPOD broadCAST) An audio broadcast that has been converted to an MP3 file or other audio file format for playback in a digital music player or computer. The "pod" in podcast was coined from "iPod," the predominant portable, digital music player, and although podcasts are . She uses technology as a regular part of the curriculum for her eighth-grade American history classes at Bear Valley Middle School. Tracking Progress Wheeler and her Project LIVE colleagues track student progress with a Web-based student assessment platform to determine in which areas students are progressing or struggling. The software allows Shirley to see how students using Project LIVE score compared to peer classrooms without the technology program. For example, in 2005, a fourth-grade class that used Project LIVE scored 65 points higher on the state reading and language arts language arts pl.n. The subjects, including reading, spelling, and composition, aimed at developing reading and writing skills, usually taught in elementary and secondary school. exam than a classroom without Project LIVE. Duplicating Success Project LIVE's success in Escondido hasn't gone unnoticed. In May, the district received an award from a local education foundation and garnered a total of 21 nominations in this year's Innovative Video in Education (NIE NIE Newspapers in Education NIE National Intelligence Estimate (US government) NIE Newspaper In Education NIE National Institute of Education (various countries) ) Awards. The county office of education plans to roll out the program to other districts in the county, and the California Technology Assistance Project, a statewide educational technology initiative, will help schools in nearby counties. "We've made such terrific gains with Project LIVE," says Shirley. "Our students, our teachers, everyone who is using this program is really thriving." Escondido (Calif.) Union School District No. of teachers: 1,110 No. of students: 18,500 (K8 district) No. of schools: 19 elementary and 4 middle schools Per pupil expenditure: $7,485 (2005-2006 school year) District population: 160,000 Free and reduced-priced lunch: 63% English Language English language, member of the West Germanic group of the Germanic subfamily of the Indo-European family of languages (see Germanic languages). Spoken by about 470 million people throughout the world, English is the official language of about 45 nations. Learners: 46% Superintendent: Jennifer Waiters Technical director: Kathy Shirley Web site: www.eusd4kids.org Lucille Renwick is a freelance writer based in Los Angeles Los Angeles (lôs ăn`jələs, lŏs, ăn`jəlēz'), city (1990 pop. 3,485,398), seat of Los Angeles co., S Calif.; inc. 1850. . |
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