Teaching Through Technology Fall 2003  ECB DIGITAL WI   12/15/03
DAN = 01   KORI = 02

02:01:23;02 02:02:24;21 [00:01:01:17] TTECB2
:explaining digital WI:
I think that digital Wisconsin is an exciting new way to put content in the classroom for teachers. Content that they already have access to through what I'm now beginning to think of as the old fashioned television broadcast method. Now through the computer and through digitizing video and print resources, teachers and students can access these materials in a variety of ways. It's allowed us to reorganize content. And also if you think of a classroom approach where teachers are showing a video program to the entire program and everyone is watching the same piece of content, another possibility using digital Wisconsin is to have the students go to the computer lab and each student can access a different piece of video simultaneously and investigate on her or his own a question.

01:26:28;22 01:27:46;00 [00:01:17:06] TTECB1
:digital broadcast delivery model:
(Powerpoint on screen)
The new concept in the digital broadcast delivery model is basically because it's, it's electronic you are able to put books and media into your computer, which is then digitized, inside the computer. The videographer or the computer saavy individual comes in and is able to edit that material. Once that material is edited it is sent downstairs to our server. Our server makes a secure link through the internet to the receive server at CESA 10 which then affirms, positively that it has received the changed or created material that you have created and it is sent through that arm to the school system which then receives, is received by our children again which are then are able to view the content through their computers. So it's a viewing mechanism that moves away from only viewing this content from TV to multiple computers at the lab room running the content on their computer screen. 


02:02:53;25 02:04:23;07 [00:01:29:08] TTECB2
:training of teachers to use Digital WI:
That's a lot to ask. So, once we had the product developed we were then charged through this grant project with providing, designing and providing professional development for the teachers who had volunteered to pilot the digital WI material. And so what we designed was a one day orientation to the resource and to the project so that the teachers understood how the product worked and what their responsibilities are. Then they had seven weeks of independent study to spend hands on, at their computers at home or at school getting used to what all is included in Digital Wisconsin and how it works. And then they came back together in their school teams for three days in August, a couple of weeks before the classrooms opened up again for the school year. And by a team I mean usually a fourth, a couple of fourth grade classroom teachers, the media specialists from the school and the technology coordinator either from the building or from the district worked together in teams to design two lesson units making use of digital Wisconsin to teach Wisconsin studies in their classrooms, one unit in the fall semester and another unit in the spring semester. And then the media specialists and the technology coordinators were designing their own parts of a lesson to support the teachers in using the material in the classroom. 



02:09:12;12 02:10:48;11 [00:01:35:29] TTECB2
:content explanation and deconstruction:
Well because we viewed Digital Wisconsin as an opportunity to deliver content that teachers are already familiar with but in a new way, and let me just explain that the content I'm describing is the geography series that you ECB produced in 1995 exploring Wisconsin, our home, 14-15 minute long programs designed in a linear way one to support the next. The other series that is included is investigating Wisconsin history, also designed for 4th grade students in 1998. And then finally Cultural Horizons of Wisconsin, a 10 program series produced in 2002-2003 for 4th through 6th grade students. So teachers have access in Digital Wisconsin to all 37 of those 15 minute episodes just as they would by having 37 video cassettes on their shelf in the classroom. Instead of using a TV, a VCR and a remote control, they would use their computer and their mouse to access the entire program. But then we actually deconstructed every single one of those 37 episodes and pulled out anywhere from 30 seconds to 4 minute length video clips that in their entirety will help explain one of the 10 historical eras and themes that are addressed in the state social studies standards in the content B history strand.


01:16:12;01 01:17:04;10 [00:00:52:07] TTECB1
:front ends and back ends:
If the technology that we utilize to making this happen is very complex. But in a nutshell it's basically the local computers up here, a desktop designed the material, compress it down, digitize it if you say, and one front ends and back ends are put into. Front ends would be titles, back ends would be ECB logo, the credits, and titles. Once this material is completely edited, it then gets sent downstairs to a server. The server that is downstairs communicates with another server that is at CESA 10. 
 

01:19:56;06 01:20:54;22 [00:00:58:16] TTECB1
:simplified rsync explanation:
Well the videographer that has made a change at the desktop level sends the content to the production file in our server downstairs. When that server picks up that material overnight there is a process called RSYNC that determines that that file structure has changed from the child's file structure and is that detected then there's going to be a transmittal of that change to the child server. The child server receives that information and in turn deliver it down to it's children. This process can go forever throughout the whole state system. It is a new method of network delivery. 

02:10:48;11 02:12:31;07 [00:01:42:22] TTECB2
:how to use Digital Wisconsin:
So in other words when you look at the home pages of Digital Wisconsin you'll see 10 eras. And one way we encourage teachers and students to think of that is like a timeline or a chronological table of contents. And by accessing anyone of those eras then they will find a series of focus questions within which live anywhere from one to 121 different video clips that they can access to answer those questions. Keeping in mind they can also access any of the entire programs from the 37 programs that would also address that era and focus. So that was it in as far as our instructional design. Making sure that understanding how the content has been presented and deconstructed and put back together in these focus questions can be accessed. Meaning that the home page, the front page has to be very user friendly and clear. Then teachers know we are all instructional designers. Whenever we enter the classroom we're not only teaching, we're not only performing, but we are creating and designing the use of different instructional pieces to achieve the specific goals and objectives. So that's where the really fun part of this project comes in to play, because our role is simply to create an interesting product and help teachers get familiar with it, and then encourage them, and support them to explore it and do their own creative instructional design. And in this case, everyone of the 14 teams came up with their own unique design of how to use this material in the classroom.


01:21:14;18 01:22:48;04 [00:01:33:14] TTECB1
:QuickTime and RealMedia player:
From the school perspective of a network administrator, receiving this content on their server, there are again issues on playing this at the local level that the administrator has to make decisions on. Number one, is the issue of, of the different players. Quicktime is a product that is proprietary to Macintosh. RealMedia files are, is a product that is proprietary to RealMedia Player. We have incorporated into this the component associated with the content, the professional content, the digital teach Wisconsin geography, history and culture series in purely MP4 format so that it is delivered through both of those two players, RealMedia Player or the QuickTime player. But for the training component, we dedicated the training component to run with RealMedia Player and for the digital teach Wisconsin material we dedicated to QuickTime, to QuickTime Player. 


02:18:41;03 02:20:13;28 [00:01:32:23] TTECB2
:future vision:
Well my vision is to help this kind of delivery allow teachers really quick easy access to all kinds of really good content. So in other words, they would go to one URL, one website functioning almost like a portal. Maybe we see digital Wisconsin evolve into, Digital Wisconsin.org, which would have every potential resource that's out there for both teacher learning and student learning about Wisconsin studies K-12 or K-16. And anybody could go there and access streaming video, PDF, information on how to get in touch with the Wisconsin Historical Society to order reprints for the classroom, links to other websites. The potential of digital Wisconsin and other projects like that is that in a very small space in terms of the world, there's a lot of content there. And it allows for a wide delivery, quick delivery of even more content than we can imagine. And it makes it easier for teachers because it's all in one place. They can bookmark what they want to use and forget about what they don't want to use. They can access it home instead of hauling a backpack or briefcase or totebag full of prints and video cassette materials back and forth.


01:14:58;28 01:15:31;07 [00:00:32:07] TTECB1
:wow factor:
Well it's a very wow technology. It's, it's new, it's really going to be the way of the future. It's innovative and it's technology in what it can do in the internet for our children. So I think that the teachers at the training are starting to see how they can specifically tailor their lesson plans, utilizing this new utility into it.