Need Your Feedback!

[Nikki]

Hello! My name is Nikki and I am part of a new team from NBC News that is creating a unique digital offering for education. Below is a description of what we are doing and I would love to get your feedback!

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Today’s generation of students lives in a media-rich world, demanding content that is engaging, up-to-date, and relevant to the real world. To help teachers bring classroom instruction to life, NBC News has created a special collection of archival video content called the NBC News Archives on Demand. In addition to archival content and current events, NBC News has produced original mini-documentaries exclusively for the platform. Whether it’s a historian explaining the events leading to the Civil War, Tom Brokaw showing the breakdown of communism on a historic night at the Berlin Wall, or Tim Russert answering students’ questions about the 2008 election, NBC News brings the real world into education.

Distributed through a partnership with the HotChalk Learning Environment, the NBC News Archives on Demand gives teachers access to thousands of video resources, along with primary sources, text resources, charts and graphs, and images aligned to classroom instruction. NBC launched in August of 2007 with collections geared to courses in U.S. History, U.S. Government and Politics, and English Language and Composition. In 2008, NBC News collections will include African American Studies, Women’s Studies, Global Studies, Sciences, Heath and Medicine, and Economics and Business.

Each collection with the NBC News Archives on Demand has been aligned to educational standards and organized to make it easy for teachers to incorporate video and news resources. Teachers are using the resources in a variety of ways to improve classroom instruction:
· Students now have access to historical broadcast material, providing a window on how events were perceived at the time they happened, whether it is Robert Kennedy’s announcement of the assassination of Martin Luther King or Neil Armstrong landing on the moon.
· The archives provide a complete “story arc” on historic events that students can use to see how history has unfolded and perception has changed over time. For example, students can watch the original news coverage of the integration of Little Rock’s Central High School, watch coverage of the anniversary dates over the last 50 years, and research additional video and print resources on school segregation issues over the years.
· For events taking place before the days of broadcast news, more than 300 original mini-documentaries have been created on subjects ranging from Mercantilism to the Civil War Draft. They were produced by NBC specifically with the Archives on Demand audience in mind, in collaboration with renowned historians and textbook authors like Allan Brinkley and Eric Foner.
· Teachers in all content areas will be able to find current events that support instruction, whether it is news about the 2008 election, new discoveries in science, or updates on economic issues or court cases. By bringing current events linked to curriculum standards into the classroom, teachers can demonstrate to students how the things they are learning in class are relevant to their lives today.

The NBC News Archives on Demand harnesses the power of video and authentic news resources to make content engaging, accessible, and relevant for today’s generation of learners.

To access this free offering, register at www.hotchalk.com/nbc.html

[Patrick Aroune]

Niki - I am very interested in NBC's news archive. Could you tell me what I would need to do to get my fellow teacher's started. Is there a trial membership that is followed by a paid subscription?

[Nikki]

Patrick,

All your teachers need to do is to register at www.hotchalk.com/nbc.html

I am looking forward to your feedback!

[Gailene Nelson]

Niki - Seems there is a free trial period. How long is the trial, and how much does it cost after that?

[Nikki]

Charlotte,

The trial is for this Spring. We are selling subscriptions for the 08-09 school year. Each subscription is a one year license per school building with unlimited enrollment for both students and teachers. We are updating the content on a daily basis -- a dynamic archive!

High school - $1999
Middle school - $1499
Elementary school - $999

Please let me know if I can answer further questions.
Nikki

[Michal]

Nikki, while I like what I've seen so far of the site, those prices are completely out of our budget. As it stands now, that cost for my district breaks down to
High School - 20 per student
Middle School - 23 per student
Elementary - 8.30 per student
If you are looking for feedback you might consider basing cost on enrollment or you will automatically lose small districts.

[Paul Hieronymus]

Hi Nikki,

I signed up for the trial and it looks promising, but those prices are well beyond most schools budgets. Many of the school districts I work with are complaining about the high prices of United Streaming which has much more material. With all of the budget cuts we are facing, many of our districts will be cutting these types of resources.

[Mrs. Archer]

I just signed up - I was impressed tihe American History section which allowed you to shoose a time period to access relevent videos. For example, I looked up "Colonial America" and found a treasure trove of resources. I also liked the lesson plan center.

[Nikki]

Terrific - We would love to know what your students think as well!

[Jen]

Nikki,
I believe that this is a great idea. Our middle school is using some of these types of things in our classes. I am interested in more of a relationship with the news. I teach a broadcasting class to 7th and 8th graders. We have a studio with two desks and three cameras. Students learn jobs ranging from Camera Grip to Anchor. We air the show live every week. There is very little support for middle school classes such as this. Most believe that advanced media classes can only be taught in the highschool or college. The program has been compared to the progam at the state college here. I am writing because I am in desperate need for support both professional and denominational. Many of my students are inspired by the class and say that they may want to do it as their career. I feel that I am teaching the students how it feels to work in a "real world" environment but I am inspiring the next generation broadcast teams. Would you know of any way I can get some support from NBC news? I would be interested to have any information, correspondence, or funding that the station could provide. We have no funding this year and I am frantically looking to keep the KEMS station open one more year so to provide this class to the students of the school again. I am going to the hotchalk site now.

[Nikki]

Jen, Where are you located?

[Jen]

We are in Colorado on the West side of the Mountians in Grand Junction.

[Gudlaug Osk Gunnarsdottir]

hello
in Iceland we have the the socalled cod war, wich was between England and Iceland this is a issue i thing will be argued amongst these to contries at least who won the battle or if there was a battle
greetings
Gudlaug Ósk Gunnarsdottir
Reykjavik
Iceland