Sunday, April 3, 2005

Have You Started Receiving YOUR Copy of the e-zine?

In February, GPB launched the electronic version of Pipeline. In addition to this hardcopy version, you may access all of the articles in an easy to navigate online format.

The new Pipeline e-zine (electronic magazine) will arrive directly in your email mailbox each month, so individual teachers as well as media specialists can have a subscription. Those who have already signed up should receive your copy at the first of each month; if you have not yet subscribed, fill out the online subscription form at on the Pipeline page. Anyone will be able to access the Pipeline e-zine online, but you will need to subscribe in order to receive the email version with time-sensitive updates each month.

The sooner you register, the more time you will have to ease into the transition to the electronic version while you still have your hard copy available. Beginning with the 2005-2006 school year, Pipeline will be a completely electronic publication. The shift to a Pipeline e-zine will not only allow GPB to provide you with more timely, dynamic information, but the cost savings from printing and mailing will allow us to direct more dollars toward the purchase of high quality programming and the delivery of professional development training.

Saturday, April 2, 2005

GPB Offers A Look Inside Georgia Schools

In December, GPB told you about an exciting new project with Superintendent of Schools Kathy Cox: a monthly television program highlighting best practices and sharing news about what's happening with education in Georgia. We are pleased to announce that the program, entitled Achieving Excellence: Inside Georgia Schools with Kathy Cox, began production earlier this year and is now available for viewing.

The program features Superintendent Cox and co-host Jane Robelot and is taped each month at the Georgia Public Broadcasting studios in Atlanta. Regular features of the program include interviews with education policymakers, original video productions sent in from students across Georgia, and a special segment called "Kathy's Corner," in which the Superintendent will take on difficult questions from students, teachers, and parents.

"This exciting new show gives us an opportunity to highlight the hard work going on in classrooms across Georgia, while sharing important and timely educational information with educators and the public," Cox said.

In the first episode, Superintendent Cox and Jane Robelot welcome Milken Outstand Educator Award recipients Susan Ralstin and Jennifer Couch for a discussion about the inventive teaching strategies they use to make a difference in their students' lives. The Superintendent and Chair of the Governor's Education Task Force Dean Alford talk about the importance of creating a dialogue between education policymakers and Georgia citizens to define excellence in education. Mrs. Cox accepts questions from a fifth grade student and a school principal, and Dr. Charles Fay shares the tenets of the Love and Logic philosophy. A video submission from the students at Brookwood High School offers information on how high school students can earn extra money. The show concludes with a request from the Superintendent and Jane Robelot to viewers to send in your questions, ideas for segments, and video submissions.

PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT WITH TEACHERLINE

GPB has joined with PBS TeacherLine to bring you online professional development courses that allow you to earn 3 PLUs per course at a 57% savings. TeacherLine, developed through a grant from the U.S. Department of Education, offers more than 80 research-based courses at every grade level from Pre-K through 12. The No Child Left Behind Act's standards for highly qualified teachers makes these courses - which include math, reading, technology integration, teaching strategies, science, and curriculum mapping - a necessary component of every responsible educator's professional development plan.

TeacherLine courses are available online, and are facilitated either locally or nationally by teachers holding Master's Degrees or higher. Courses are developed to fit in with teachers' individual needs. Assignments are due weekly, but you can choose when you go online to do them. You need to log into your course at least three(3) times a week to read articles, read, and respond to discussion boards.

Tuition for each course is $150, which covers facilitation and online course materials. Each course is worth three PLUs, which must be granted through your local school district. National courses may be taken for 2 hours of graduate credit, awarded by Adams State College, for an additional $90 fee per course.

Visit our website and click on the TeacherLine icon for more information or to register for courses.

GEORGIA HISTORICAL RECORDS ADVISORY BOARD

2005 Outstanding Archives Awards Program

Are your students creating projects using original historical records? Show them the value of their work!

The Georgia Historical Records Advisory Board has two student award categories, grades 6-8 and 9-12. There are additional awards for educators and educational programs. You can obtain instructions and forms as well as view previous award winners at www.GeorgiaArchives.org; select "Who Are We" and then "Georgia Historical Records Advisory Board."

The submission deadline is June 1st.

GHRAB established the Outstanding Archives Awards Program in 2003 to recognize outstanding efforts in archives and records work in Georgia. By publicly recognizing excellent achievements, the Board strives to inspire others.

Get the 411 on Higher Education

Georgia Public Broadcasting was recently pleased to host Governor Sonny Perdue at our headquarters in Atlanta for the announcement of the Georgia Student Finance Commission's GAcollege411 program. GAcollege411 is an online mentoring resource that helps students and their families select a college, apply for admission, and develop a plan for financing higher education. The mission of GAcollege411 is to increase access to postsecondary education in the state of Georgia AND to simplify the tasks and processes related to planning, applying, and paying for higher education.

The site is organized into seven sections accessible through tabs across the top of the page:
- Career Info
- Student Planner
- GA Colleges
- Applications & Transcripts
- Paying for College
- GA College Savings Plan
- Adult Learner

Each of these areas provides students and parents with important information needed to ensure success in the many stages of education, from planning, applying, and funding to career choices after college.

Career Info

This section of GAcollege411 helps students to plan their college curricula by identifying majors that match career preferences. The Career Key survey solicits information about student interests and uses answers to assign Holland Codes, point values correlated to each of six personality types. The Student Career Matching Assistant takes students' Holland Codes, along with the answers to a few brief questions regarding your career preferences, and match them with a list of compatible careers. The matching assistant will also provide suggested majors for each career and the Georgia colleges and universities that offer them. If students prefer to examine all potential careers, GAcollege411 provides a list of careers grouped within broad occupational clusters. For each career, students may find a job description and breakdown of job tasks as well as information about the required experience, education, and training.

Student Planner

This section gives students the information they will need to plan their high school educations in order to meet college entrance requirements in Georgia. The Test Prep feature provides tutorials, interactive practice sessions, a Vocabulary Builder, techniques, and strategies to strengthen student academic skills in preparation for the ACT, SAT, and GRE exams. The Student Planner Timeline offers students a general guideline for the financial aid and college application process beginning with 8th grade and continuing through the senior year of high school. Beginning in July 2005, the High School Planner will allow students to track their high school coursework and compare it against the requirements of their colleges and universities of interest.

GA Colleges

This feature gives students several ways to evaluate the potential colleges and universities available to them after high school graduation. The Comparative View provides information such as student enrollment, student to faculty ratio, average financial aid packages, in-state tuition, and out-of-state tuition to help students and parents compare and contrast schools. The Campus Tours section gives an overview of each school, including photos, enrollment, admissions and financial aid information, a campus summary, and a lot more. The Matching Assistant allows students to choose colleges and universities according to specific criteria such as major, enrollment, financial aid availability, or percentage of students living on campus. The Distance Search enables students to search for schools near their home zip codes.

Applications & Transcripts

Rather than having to gather forms from countless organizations in order to apply for college admission and financial aid, GAcollege411 allows students and parents to find everything in one place. Students seeking financial aid are required to fill out a FAFSA form; students who have already entered their information into the GAcollege411 website will be able to transfer certain data to the online FAFSA application automatically. The Loan Application module allows students and parents to download application forms for student loans from the Georgia Student Finance Commission; online applications will be available soon. Students may also download applications for grants and scholarships. Beginning in July 2005, the College Admissions module will allow students to apply to the school of their choice online. As early as 2006, students will be able to send electronic transcripts along with their online admissions applications.

Paying for College
This section tells parents and students everything they need to know about paying for college. Financial Aid 411 gives a brief overview of the financial aid process, including types of available aid, eligibility information, and information about how and when to apply. Scholarships & Grants gives information about these programs and offers a search tool to help locate them. Additionally, sections on Savings Plans and Tax Savings tell parents and students about things they can do to save money for college. A special section called Tools & Calculators helps determine how much money students can and should borrow to pay for their higher educations.

GA College Savings Plan
This module provides an overview of the Georgia Higher Education Plan, a 529 savings plan that allows a state income tax deduction of up to $2,000 per year per student. These tax-exempt funds may be used to pay for thousands of higher education institutions. The site offers links to learn more about the program, sign up for an account, or manage an existing account.

Adult Learner
This section for nontraditional students seeking to begin or resume their higher educations will be available in July 2005. It offers information for students interested in obtaining their GED, career choice information, advice for first-time college students, information about restarting college, and information about financial aid for adult learners.

My 411
Students who choose to take advantage of the resources provided by GAcollege411 should be sure to utilize the My 411 module. Students can create special portfolios for career choices based on the information obtained through the activities in the Career Info section. They can also create Student Portfolios that document their achievements, awards, and activities throughout high school. There are also sections where students can save their top choices for colleges, review financial aid applications and status, and submit their personal profiles to recruiters at the schools of their choice.

Be sure that your students know that it is never too early to start planning for college. Encourage them to talk with their parents about GAcollege411 and to take an active role in determining the course of their higher educations today by visiting the site at www.gacollege411.com.

Friday, April 1, 2005

GPB Forms Network of Video Production Apprentices

Georgia Public Broadcasting serves all of Georgia through television, radio, and education. Our new Production Resource Development project combines GPB's expertise in the realms of television production and education to offer broadcast media students across the state the opportunity to gain valuable experience while at the same time creating high quality video content.

Noteworthy educational activity takes place across Georgia every day; unfortunately, GPB staff cannot capture video footage in unlimited locations simultaneously. In order to address this problem, GPB has created a network of higher education institutions with broadcast media programs to join us. We have divided the state into 12 regions, each of which contains at least one high school, college, or university with a broadcast media program. The following schools are currently involved in the project:

# Albany State University
# Atlanta College of Art
# Augusta State University
# Brenau University
# Chattahoochee Technical College
# Clayton State University
# Coosa High School
# Davidson Fine Arts Magnet School
# Emory University
# Fort Valley State University
# Gainesville College
# Georgia College & State University
# Georgia Institute of Technology
# Georgia Perimeter College
# Georgia Southern University
# Georgia Southwestern State University
# Georgia State University
# Rome City High School
# Southern Polytechnic State University
# University of West Georgia
# University of Georgia
# Valdosta State University

The top students from each school's program are selected to participate in the project as video production apprentices by utilizing their skills as journalists, videographers, and video editors. The apprentices first go on location to obtain video footage of educators and learners engaged in best practices and then use their school's production facilities to edit and shape the footage into finished video programs. Once the programs are completed, they are shared with the rest of the Georgia educational community via GPB satellite and video streaming.

This network serves the double purpose of providing valuable experience to broadcast media students AND creating timely educational programming for use by the classrooms GPB serves across the state. The Production Resource Development project offers the apprentices the opportunity to work with GPB's seasoned broadcast professionals, enhance their résumés, and earn money for their time. At the same time, the project allows GPB to maximize production of high quality video programs that both recognize outstanding education practitioners in Georgia and share successful strategies as professional development for other educators.

Since the inception of the Production Resource Development project in November 2004, GPB has recruited a team of more than 50 video production apprentices and completed 22 projects. Some of the events the network has covered include the USS Jimmy Carter kick-off, productions by the Ririe-Woodbury Dance Company, and the NASA Institute for Advanced Concepts speech on the "Future of Space Exploration."

In addition to on-location production experience, video production apprentices have the opportunity to participate in special Tour and Train seminars at GPB once per semester. Apprentices from each participating institution are invited to Atlanta to tour the GPB production facilities and attend technical and editorial workshops designed to enhance their video production skills.

GPB has also invited the department heads from each school involved in the Production Resource Development project to join us for a Networking Day designed to promote inter-school collaboration and cooperation. This event will give the leaders of the broadcast education community across the state the opportunity meet one another, share education strategies, and develop potential partnerships to benefit their students and the larger learning community.

If your school has a broadcast media program and you would like to share this learning experience your students, contact Jake Shakhman at 404-685-2562 or jshakhman@gpb.org.

What's Happening In Your World?

Now that Pipeline is moving to a digital format, Georgia Public Broadcasting has almost unlimited space to share information about the goings on in communities around the state. We would like to extend an invitation to every school, system, and library to send us notices about educational events in your communities like science fairs, awards ceremonies, community lectures, etc., to be included in an ongoing section of the Pipeline e-zine called "Community Corner." Send us text, photographs, video, or any other information pieces that you would like to share with educators and parents in your community and beyond. Submissions may be sent to pipeline@gpb.org or Georgia Public Broadcasting at 260 14th Street NW, Atlanta, GA 30318 - Attn: Amy Turner