Sunday, September 8, 2002

A Letter from Georgia Public Broadcasting's Executive Director

Dear Educator:

As the new school year gets under way, we want you to know that all of us at Georgia Public Broadcasting are working hard to continue providing you with the highest quality resources for use in your classroom. The primary goal of all our efforts as well as our programs and services is to support you and the important work you do each day.

Over the summer GPB hosted our 2002 Educator-In-Residence program. This five-week initiative offered cost-free professional development to more than 170 educators here at our GPB facility in Atlanta. The article, The 2002 Educator-In-Residence Program: PeachStar adn GA Educators Spend the Summer Learning Together, gives some specific program information and has photographs of our participants. We had a great time hosting the program and learned a lot from our participants as well as sharing information with them. A special thanks to everyone who attended one of the sessions.

PeachStar's video streaming service, launched last year, continues to grow as a popular resource for Georgia teachers. We think you will be impressed with how easy video streaming is to use and how helpful it is when teaching specific concepts in the classroom.

We are pleased to announce the launch of our multimedia physics and chemistry courses as part of PeachStar Classroom, a new PeachStar offering of credit-bearing courses. The science courses are designed to meet the needs of Georgia high school students whose schools may not have certified physics and chemistry teachers on staff. Three Georgia systems are piloting the course for the 2002-2003 school year. It will be available to all Georgia schools beginning in fall 2003. Look for more information about this program in upcoming issues of Pipeline.

For educators seeking to continue their own educations, the Teacher Certification Program, which offers add-on certification in interrelated special education, is now available through a partnership between PeachStar and the Office of Graduate Studies of Armstrong Atlantic State University. Additional professional development opportunities will become available throughout the school year. Check the PeachStar website and future issues of Pipeline for more information about these and other PeachStar opportunities.

The staff of PeachStar and Georgia Public Broadcasting have great confidence that we will continue to make progress with our efforts to serve the Georgia learning community by providing the highest quality educational technology. We thank you for the opportunity to work with you to enhance learning experiences in Georgia classrooms. Please feel free to call us with your ideas and suggestions.

Sincerely,

James M. Lyle
Executive Director