Imagine a TV production studio in each of Wilton’s four schools, equipped with video cameras and digital editing gear to allow students to produce television programs they can broadcast within the schools and to outside viewers in the community. Imagine the schools streaming live video–for instance, a visiting author or presenter broadcasting her live presentation to all four schools simultaneously. And imagine a library of digital videos that teachers and students can search and play, all from their school computers or hand-held devices.
That may become a reality at Wilton Public Schools, and sooner than you think. Superintendent Dr. Kevin Smith has proposed an ambitious new TV and video production program spanning all four schools. He’s dubbed the program WE-TV, or Wilton Education Television, and he hopes to raise the funding necessary to start building and implementing the program as soon as this year.
“My interest is in trying to provide an instructional program that’s as engaging as can be and that provides as many diverse learning opportunities as possible for kids. This is an opportunity that really hasn’t been tapped very deeply. We have a really good video production program here in the high school, but we don’t have anything formalized in any of the other schools,” he told GOOD Morning Wilton.
Smith hopes to build on the trend of kids’ fluency with technology and video in order to engage them even further in learning.
“Kids are interacting much more with mobile devices, there is a heavier reliance and stronger interest in video–look at the explosion of YouTube and websites like that in recent years. More recently, with the web.O movement, where people use and curate content as opposed to just consume content, there’s a whole new area of interest and skill set that comes along with that too,” he explains.
The idea piggybacks on an educational approach that Smith has championed: changing the classroom model into something more student directed, or what he calls a “flipped classroom.” This proposal feeds right into that philosophy.
“Once we have these studios up and running, as long as the funding comes through, this puts learning squarely in the hands and minds of the kids. They are going to be using the tools to create new learning, to develop projects, to create original productions. It’s very much student-centered, which very much squares with my approach,” he says.
Creating this kind of technology program was something Smith was passionate about in Bethel.
“When I was principal of the middle school we worked to expand the television production program there. The gentleman who followed me carried that forward. We had a very robust program at the high school, and started to tap the cable access network and create more and more original productions for a variety of purposes–number one, for student learning; number two, to share information across the community; number three, to celebrate accomplishments and student achievements,” he says.
Bethel’s students embraced the program there, and Smith ays he anticipates the same response in Wilton.
“The students, especially the ones who were most interested, they just took off because it was new opportunity, through a formalized curricular experience, to cultivate their interests. We did quite a bit of digital video production at Bethel High School, and many of those kids went on to study it formally at colleges and universities; a couple of years ago, one young lady got accepted into a very competitive program as a result of her experiences beginning very early on. So I’m excited about the opportunity for those kids who already have that interest, I’m excited about the opportunity to present the option for kids who haven’t yet tapped that interest but may fall in love with this kind of work through their exposure in each of the schools.”
The proposal calls for upgrading the existing studio at Wilton High School and creating new ones in the other three schools–even Miller Driscoll. Smith is confident that even for Wilton’s youngest learners, it’s a program that will have many applications.
“We’ll introduce them to the tools. Now, digital devices–iPads, iPhones–all have video recording capability, and many of those kids already have the capability in their homes already. I think of my own kids who are very small, they love to make little movies of themselves. It’s tapping into their prior experience and then teaching them what goes into making a very simple show. Every kid has a million great ideas, it’s just a matter of structuring those ideas into a way that is going to lead to a production. I know they’ll come up with some wonderful productions. It’s just a matter of giving them the right tools and channeling it in the right direction.”
Smith also sees this as a way to continue engaging students who are already learning in faster ways with different technologies than their parents, or even older siblings, had.
Practically speaking, Smith says that any video production program will be phased in but he’s eager to start.
“It will take some time to get the right adults acquainted with the tools, to get the studios set up, to organize how the programming will run. Initially, at the lower schools, we’re talking about running it as a club and then get going. I would love to get us going in the latter part of the spring of this year. Definitely, we’ll be ready to go at the start of next year,” he says.
How quickly can it move from club to wider curriculum? Smith knows that may take some time, slowing integrating video experiences into classrooms.
“I think you have to plant the seeds first, and generate the student interest and teacher expertise in the buildings. At the high school, there’s a formalized class with students who select in. At Middlebrook, they provide many differentiated, multi-disciplinary experiences, so I would imagine expanding some of that work to include video production. Over time, we can realistically see some kind of video production class created there, similar to what’s offered at the high school. But that’s a ways down the road,” he says.
Smith is looking to fund the proposal outside of the school’s budget. He’s approached the Wilton Education Foundation for funding to cover the TV studio hardware and stipends for the staff who will oversee the programs. He’s also applied for a state grant to improve the district’s access to curate and create an on-demand video system, which he says will “completely and dramatically expand” the schools’ capacity to integrate video into their curriculum.
“There’s enough interest among the staff that they’re hopeful funding will come through. They’re anxious to get going and doing the planning.”
Smith credits Wilton’s educators with always looking for new and different ways to better engage their students. He’s also looking to involve others outside of the schools. “Once we get going here, it will probably unfold in ways we haven’t anticipated, simply because we have so many creative and smart people here in the community.”
He emphasizes that’s something he’s discovered is a constant about Wilton.
“The community seems to be really supportive and interested, and I’ve found that to be a hallmark of this community. People are really open to new ideas, all with the same goal of improving education.”
Note: The editor of GMW is a member of the board of the Wilton Education foundation.