Virginia District Adopts New Streaming Media Provider
A Virginia public school district has selected a company to provide streaming content in the classroom in an effort to enhance instruction.
Fairfax County Public Schools has signed a multi-year contract with Learn360. Learn360 provides K-12 schools with video, audio, podcasts, images and articles from publishers including National Geographic, BBC Motion Gallery, A&E Television Networks, and Encyclopedia Britannica. Subjects covered include arts, health and guidance, language arts, mathematics, science and technology, social studies, vocational guidance, and world languages. In addition to providing content, Learn 360 also allows school districts to upload their own material to the server.
"Our schools focus on using multimedia to enhance instruction," said Karen Sokol, information technology project manager for the school district. "Our new subscription to Learn360 will allow teachers to select and use streamed videos, audio files, images, and other media that can accentuate or reinforce a concept for students."
Features of Learn360 include:
- The ability to search by keyword, subject area, grade level, or media format. Users can choose to view results in a list or grid format, and select the number of results that show per page. Media formats are broken down by full videos, video clips, newsreels, audio, audiobooks, videos of speech, audio of speeches, music tracks, sound effects, and articles. It also provides advanced search options;
- Linking content to state, Common Core, and 21st Century skills of arts education, career and vocational, language arts, library technology, mathematics, science, world languages, and social studies; and
- Standardized reports that allow schools to select locations, report type, time frame, scheduling, and to confirm the information.
Fairfax County Public Schools has more than 175,000 enrolled students in 141 elementary schools, 27 middle schools, 29 high schools, and three secondary schools, as well as alternative high schools, special education schools and centers, inter-agency alternative school programs, and administrative centers.
For more information about Learn360, visit learn360.com. Visit fcps.edu to learn more about Fairfax County Public Schools.
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.