Streaming Video

Streaming video educates students at Norfolk, VA high school

http://broadcastengineering.com/infrastructure/Optibase-norfolk-stream-20050323/

The article discusses the use of streaming video through centralized servers in a high school. It is a system that can stream video and other media content strait to the classroom and display it on large LCD projectors. At the media center there are multiple computers for streaming videos and multiple VCR’s and DVD players that are also hooked up to the system. In addition, a video on demand service is built in. This system not only transfers media around the school, it is also used for a variety of different functions. Incorporated in the system is the schools telephone system, paging system, bells and a one hundred-camera video surveillance system. The system includes 10 cable TV channels; one TV studio broadcast channel, and three classroom broadcast channels. The system can be accessed through any desktop or laptop in the network. This great new technology has helped over 1850 students since it went online in 2004.

This technology seems like it would enhance teaching by providing teachers with the ability to illustrate concepts that cannot be illustrated well, if at all, in traditional lab and classroom settings. As future teachers, we would not be limited to showing a video on the classroom television. Teachers would have the ability to choose what sections in the resources provided would relate to course concepts they want to cover. I think it would help teachers create more flawless, integrated lecture/discussion sections in class and reduce the number of times a teacher must ask students to get back on task. This makes the students more engaged in the classroom activities.

I also believe that for students, streaming video can be used to download short clips to include in projects such as PowerPoint presentations. They can work at their own pace and teachers can even recommend videos for students to watch at home for additional work to classroom lessons.

For further research I would be interested in finding out a future feature that could incorporate the webcams from the desktops and laptops to be streamed anywhere in the school. Students could have a live video conversation with any faculty member no matter where they are in the school. A student could be in the classroom working on a project and they may contact different faculty members to ask specific questions.