More school
districts are trying to find innovative ways to teach today’s young. They are
growing up in a visual and auditory boom of information. They are no longer
learning in the traditional ways of books and lectures. We must move forward
with the times and teach students the same way that they live. Video, still
pictures shown on large screens and audio are some of the ways to reach the
youth of today. They are moving too fast to be able to sit and listen to a
lecture or only read out of a book. School districts are facing some challenges
in working to obtain adequate audio and video presentations for the classroom.
There are several concerns; discussed here will be cost and finding proper
videos and audio for use in the classroom.
Cost is
always a concern for any district. Many districts have lost money since the
government isn't funding as many programs as they once did. Another concern is
the implementation of the common core. Many of the books schools are currently
using are outdated and need to be replaced in order for student to master these
new standards. Then on top of all that, a principle has to try and order video
equipment for students to record their own lessons, or audio equipment so they
can tape their written papers. For some districts, these types of luxury items
must stay a dream until they can purchase more essential items. Even though these items are a necessity for
the young people today, board members may feel they are an item that is not
necessary and opt for the more traditional textbook upgrade. It is often
difficult for the community to help a school rally for these newer technology
items. Many people can’t agree on which type of items need to be purchased.
They also feel that these items are not necessary and wonder why schools are
wasting their money on these expensive items. Schools have to get their
districts and other districts in the same area together to show people that
these items are essential to the development and education of the children. I
always here this saying when I take a technology class, “Many jobs that young
children will be working on when they graduate from college haven’t been
invented yet”. I believe this! If the United
States wants to continue to be a major
player in the global economy they need to invest in the education for these
young people.
The next large challenge to overcome is finding
videos and audio that is acceptable for use in the classroom. Even many children’s
movies are rated PG or above, and permission has to be obtained for a student
to watch anything “worse than” a G rating. Teachers will be spending exorbitantamounts of time trying to find
video or audio that they can use. They also need to be careful about copyrights.
Will there be a new position created in districts for a person to find and
screen video and audio that can be incorporated into the new common core
standards? Most likely no, the teachers
will be responsible for finding the items they want to use in their classrooms.
If a great video is found, will the teacher be able to share it with others or
will the districts need to look at contacting the holder of the copyright? This
could cause some legal and financial concerns. It is always very intimidating
wondering whether you are using a video found on line legally or if there are
other things you need to take care of first, before it is shown to the class.
To bypass this concern, will districts ask the teachers to create their own
video or audio productions? That would help with the legal concern, but it
takes us right back to the financial concerns about being able to purchase all
the equipment that is necessary. Teachers could probably do a great job putting
something together, but would they have enough time? If the students did the
work and starred in the video, would they have to have permission from their
parents before anything was posted online-or even shown in the classroom? All
of these question and concerns come up over buying vs. creating your own. There
are costs associated with both.
Whichever way districts choose, or maybe they will institute a
combination of the two; they will need to develop rules and regulations for
these new programs. Students need to have exposure to these different
technologies to learn, but they must also be kept safe from others who may use
these student videos in other ways.
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