February 2003 — Special Feature
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Streaming Technology Improves Student Achievement
Content challenges and issues. The challenge of content providers, as well as the users of content, is to select content that has been cleared for digital rights and meets the highest standards of educational excellence. The "Web-Based Education Commission Report" calls on us to "continue and expand efforts to digitize rich educational materials consistent with copyright laws" (Kerrey and Isakson 2000). Selecting content that meets the needs of students, is standards-based and is available in clips of various lengths will contribute to a rich digital resource tool.
The report also suggests that we select "content that is easy to find and access, easy for students and teachers to use and accessible to people with disabilities" (Kerrey and Isakson 2000). For example, the unitedstreaming application consists of an expanding digital video library from a variety of publishers. All such content is chaptered and correlated to state and national standards. In addition, local school content, with appropriate copyright clearance, can be uploaded to the United Learning servers and used by teachers and students within the school district.
Teacher training. "Professional development \emdash for preK-12 teachers, higher education faculty, and school administrators \emdash is the critical ingredient for effective use of technology in the classroom" (Kerrey and Isakson 2000). Teacher training that addresses the technical and practical application aspects of using video streaming in a variety of settings is suggested. Ways for teachers to incorporate content clips into their existing lesson plans, methodology for creating new lesson plans, and ways for students to use video streaming in electronic reports and for research are but a few topics to be addressed in teacher training. Consider a "train-the-trainer" model with each trainer responsible for several sites.
Security issues. "In 2000, almost all public schools with Internet access (98%) had 'acceptable use policies' and used various technologies or procedures to control access to inappropriate material" (Cattagni and Farris 2001). Security should not be a problem if administrative tools are included in the video streaming strategy. Adminis-trative tools will enable the user to block content that is not age appropriate, create user accounts, assign security profiles, set the number of users, enable permission to download, and assign access to reporting functions. In addition, a protected site with user name and password requirements is always recommended.
Funding. E-based learning is expensive, so schools must sustain funding through traditional and new sources. "To realize the goal of universal access to educational technology for students and teachers, we should ensure sustained and predictable funding for technology; ensure that technology plans reflect the educational needs of students and are regularly updated; improve the affordability, reliability and ease-of-use of educational technology; ensure that school buildings and facilities are modern; strengthen our commitment to eliminating the digital divide; and ensure that all students have equal opportunities to access and use technology" (Riley, Holleman and Roberts 1999).
