Chicago-Area School District Adds Streaming Media

A small school district in the Chicago, IL area, Cass District 63, has turned to New Dimension Media's CCC!  streaming media to provide resources for its students.

Options for teachers include original material from New Dimension Media, and video, audio, maps, data, graphics, animation, and Flash-based media from, for example, Disney Educational Production, National Geographic Education, and BBC Motion Gallery. Subjects covered include social studies, sciences, mathematics, English and language arts, music, dance, art, and foreign language.

Features include:

  • Access to 3,500 programs and 50,000 teaching segments;
  • Search by curriculum, keyword, subject, or standard;
  • The ability to play entire videos or select by segment;
  • Thousands of standards-based titles. Each comes with a teachers guide, a student activity, and an interactive assessment;
  • Media is placed on a school or district network and run through an intranet;
  • H.264 picture quality;
  • iPod playback;
  • Live webcasts;
  • Video play lists, which let teachers string together segments into customized lesson plans;
  • The ability of teachers to add their own content to the system; and
  • Integration with digital projectors and Smart and Promethean interactive whiteboards, and the ability to share with students through emailed hyperlinks.

The cost for a classroom license is $129.

Cass District 63 serves 850 students in kindergarten to grade 8 at Concord Elementary School and Cass Junior High School, approximately 15 miles west of Chicago. Students live in Darien and Willowbrook, IL, as well as unincorporated areas of Burr Ridge, Clarendon Hills, Downers Grove, Hinsdale and Lemont.

Proceeds from a June 10 golfing fundraiser, hosted by the Cass District 63 Foundation for Educational Excellence, will go toward Smart Boards, a wireless upgrade, and a library automation system, among other projects.

For more information, visit cccvod.com.

About the Author

Tim Sohn is a 10-year veteran of the news business, having served in capacities from reporter to editor-in-chief of a variety of publications including Web sites, daily and weekly newspapers, consumer and trade magazines, and wire services. He can be reached at [email protected] and followed on Twitter @editortim.

Featured

  • AI toolbox containing a wrench, document icon, gears, and a network symbol

    Common Sense Media Releases Free AI Toolkit, AI Readiness & Implementation Guides

    Common Sense Media has developed an AI Toolkit for School Districts, available to educators free of charge, that provides guidelines and resources for implementing AI in education.

  • elementary school building with children outside, overlaid by a glowing data network and transparent graphs

    Toward a Holistic Approach to Data-Informed Decision-Making in Education

    With increasing access to data and powerful analytic tools, the temptation to reduce educational outcomes to mere numbers is strong. However, educational leadership demands a more holistic and thoughtful approach.

  • three silhouetted education technology leaders with thought bubbles containing AI-related icons

    Ed Tech Leaders Rank Generative AI as Top Tech Priority

    In a recent CoSN survey, an overwhelming majority of ed tech leaders (94%) said they see AI as having a positive impact on education. Respondents ranked generative AI as their top tech priority, with 80% reporting their districts have gen AI initiatives underway, or plan to in the current school year.

  • AI-powered individual working calmly on one side and a burnt-out person slumped over a laptop on the other

    AI's Productivity Gains Come at a Cost

    A recent academic study found that as companies adopt AI tools, they're not just streamlining workflows — they're piling on new demands. Researchers determined that "AI technostress" is driving burnout and disrupting personal lives, even as organizations hail productivity gains.