PBS and Penn State To Bring Digital Media to Schools Throughout Pennsylvania -- THE Journal

Digital Media

PBS and Penn State To Bring Digital Media to Schools Throughout Pennsylvania

By Scott Aronowitz
03/25/10

PBS and WPSU, the network affiliate operated by Penn State University, in partnership with the Pennsylvania Department of Education, will be bringing the Digital Learning Library (DLL) to classrooms throughout the state.

Launched in 2009, DLL seeks to encourage student innovation by offering access to a substantial library of digital educational media, featuring complete works and video excerpts designed to stimulate creativity, ideas, the development of new interests, and the pursuit of knowledge. Users can search all DLL multimedia content by subject, grade level, file type, and keyword, making it easy for students to find the material they need to find for research or simply wish to explore in order to answer questions and pursue interests.

"Digital media has a special capacity to engage today's students, helping good teachers be great teachers and working toward the goal that all students reach their fullest potential in the 21st century," said PBS President and CEO Paula A. Kerger. "This partnership showcases the natural synergy of public education and public media working in an innovative state like Pennsylvania to support changing classrooms and prepare tomorrow's workforce. We believe that this is a model that can work across the nation."

A recent report by market research firm Grunwald Associates, entitled "Digitally Inclined," showed that teachers are embracing educational digital media in increasing numbers, and that it tends to be most effective "when used to support specific curriculum objectives and assessment."

"WPSU has access to some of the world's leading faculty and the latest discoveries in a variety of fields," said Ted Krichels, associate vice president for public engagement and general manager of Penn State Public Broadcasting. "We translate their work into relevant, applicable materials for the K-12 classroom that captures students' attention and inspires learning by partnering with practicing classroom teachers who understand kids, the curriculum, and the academic standards."

The PA DOE said it expects to have the DLL incorporated into its statewide Standards Aligned System (SAS) by the beginning of the 2010-2011 school year.

About the Author

Scott Aronowitz is a freelance writer based in Las Vegas. He has covered the technology, advertising, and entertainment sectors for seven years. He can be reached here.

E-Mail this page

Printable Format

Featured

Iteach Bringing AI to Teacher Curriculum via Khanmigo Partnership

Users of the iteach educator certification platform now have access to the Khanmigo AI teaching assistant at no additional cost.
FCC Expands E-Rate to Support Loaner WiFi Hotspots for Students

The Federal Communications Commission has officially approved an expansion of the E-Rate program that will allow schools and libraries to utilize E-Rate resources to loan out WiFi hotspots to students, school staff, and library patrons who lack internet access at home.
NIST's U.S. AI Safety Institute to Collaborate with Anthropic and OpenAI on AI Research

The U.S. AI Safety Institute, part of the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), is partnering with AI companies Anthropic and OpenAI to collaborate on AI safety research, testing, and evaluation.
OpenAI Launching AI-Powered Search Engine

OpenAI has unveiled SearchGPT, a new AI-powered search engine designed to access information from across the internet in real time. The much-anticipated prototype will provide more organized and meaningful search results by summarizing and contextualizing information rather than returning lists of links.