Broadband Proposal Presented to Greenville Public Schools

Prepared by Scott Smith

Content areas: Interdisciplinary, Pilot will involve

areas of history, foreign language and American literature

Grade levels: 11th and 12th grade

Proposed school site: Participating High Schools throughout

district

Duration: Pilot will run for 3 weeks.

Objectives

• To provide a high-level proposal for a Broadband application for Greenville Public Schools

• To Introduce the concept of SMIL and its potential role in delivery of learning content through Broadband

This Presentation Does Not

• Propose a specific user interface for the application– That will be determined in future meetings by the

project committee

• Recommend specific software productsor media sources– Reference to specific software titles is only

to provide familiar examples

With Broadband

• We can view better-quality streamed video and audio or…

• We can download higher-resolution still images for later use in print media or…

• We can have near-instantaneous text-based communications or…

We Could Do All At Once

• Broadband is one component in the delivery of integrated, high-quality media for the purpose of enhanced learning

• What’s needed is a method of integrating all these elements

How Do We Integrate The Media?

• Synchronized

• Multimedia

• Integration

• Language

Introducing….SMIL• An simple XML-based markup language• Approved by the Worldwide Web Consortium• Integrates media components from multiple

sources– Local hard drives– School and/or district file servers– The Internet

• Allows control of presentation layout, and duration & speed of playback of multimedia files

The SMIL Advantage

• SMIL allows a simple method of integration of disparate elements into single coherent presentation

• SMIL editors are inexpensive. SMIL players are free

• SMIL promotes collaborative effort. Allows for multiple authors in multiple locations.– Changes can be made to individual components.

Edits are expeditious and less costly than with other multimedia tools.

A Brief Example

• Consider the learning impact of a history lesson on Martin Luther King’s“I Have a Dream” speech through traditional textbook and lecture methods versus….

A Multimedia Presentation:• Video and Sound from a Smithsonian collection

• Inset Still Photos from the MLK Library--images of King, the crowd, the national monuments, demonstrate the scale of the event

• The text of the speech displayed in synch with King’s voice on the audio track

• Personalized commentary from Greenville’s own instructors to provide background and explain the historical significance of the speech.

Imagine• Captioned learning modules for hearing impaired

• Translation of content developed in foreign languages

• Video Conferencing

– Can include video, lecture outline, or other text messaging to be

visible all at once

• Digital field trips

– For example, a video about Westminster Abbey, streamed from from

a British University site, might be enhanced by voiceover, or text

descriptions, by a Greenville public school faculty member

Our Goal

• To enhance the learning experience, we must ensure that simultaneous media streams are complementary, not competitive

• The presentation layout must maintain a degree of simplicity to be effective

• We must guard against information overload– Think CNN Headline News (what we don’t want)

The Possibilities Are Large

• But where do we begin?

Proposed Broadband Pilot• La Guerra Civil Española• An In-Depth unit on the Spanish Civil War• Taught in Spanish• Involve students and staff from each

district high school• A Interdisciplinary Effort

– Foreign Language– World History– American Literature (What?!?)

• This Will Make Sense Later

In The Beginning

• We’ll start with a simple layout

• We won’t stream media

• As skills grow, we will build more complex user interfaces with streaming files

Sample Lesson Layout

Sample Lesson Layout

America’s most famous war correspondent… author

Ernest Hemingway

Special Guest Lecturer…

Modules will be augmented with reports by, and interviews with, Hemingway during the War.

Educational Benefits• Students will be able to immerse themselves in

Spanish, spoken by natives, without having to leave their classrooms

• Students will learn about historically significant event, at a level of detail that is unprecedented in Michigan Schools

• Students will observe an excellent example of the influence of real-world event (the War) on American literature (Hemingway’s For Whom The Bell Tolls)

Technology Requirements

• Broadband Capabilities– Already Approved

• SMIL Editors– A variety of free and commercial options are available,

review or products and decisions will come later

• SMIL Players– SMIL is already supported by standard video player

software--Real Media, Quicktime, Windows Media…

Future Considerations

• Streaming Media Server – If we choose to serve digital video and sound from

our Greenville Public Schools Networks

• Video Capture Hardware and Software– Should Greenville decide to produce original video

and audio content

Conclusion• Multimedia has been an invaluable tool in

promoting the educational experience. SMIL provides an inexpensive alternative to traditional multimedia development tools. Furthermore, SMIL’s component-based natures allows for collaborative project development. This new approach to development of educational content will allow Greenville to realize the full potential of Broadband.

To Learn More About SMIL

• http://www.justsmil.com

• http://www.w3.org/AudioVideo– A description of the SMIL spec, listing

numerous SMIL tools as well ans research in learning and assistive technology

To Learn More about XML

• http://www.xml.com/

• http://www.xml.org/

To Learn More about Streaming Media

• http://www.streamingmediaworld.com/

• http://www.newmedia.com