Kentucky Academy of Technology Education

Digital Video in the Classroom

Instructional Illuminations

The benefits of using video in the classroom have been well documented: It improves attention, appeals to students with different learning styles, and can get a point across quickly and effectively. The use of digital video in the classroom took on new meaning with the implementation of KET EncycloMedia for use in Kentucky schools.

KET EncycloMedia is a comprehensive online multimedia learning service offering downloadable/streamable video, a library of still photos and clip art, quizzes and lesson plans, a "this day in history" calendar, and many other related resources. It includes the popular unitedstreaming multimedia service, which has already been used successfully in several Kentucky school districts, as well as 50 hours of KET-produced video on Kentucky subjects. All of the materials-including the united library of more than 40,000 video clips-have been indexed to Kentucky academic standards. Best of all, thanks to a partnership between KET and the Kentucky Department of Education, KET EncycloMedia is free! KET has negotiated and paid a statewide license fee that allows all Kentucky public schools to use this wealth of teaching and learning resources.

To ensure that Kentucky teachers and students will always have reliable access and the highest possible video quality, the Kentucky Department of Education has purchased "local host" software that allows video and audio clips to be stored and indexed locally. School districts can build electronic libraries of resources from KET EncycloMedia within their own buildings. Schools can then access those resources via high-speed local networks even without real-time access to the Internet. Statewide implementation of local hosting means that Kentucky teachers and students "will have much more reliability and quality when it comes to accessing electronic audio and video material," explains David Couch, KDE associate commissioner for education technology.

http://www.ket.org/education/encyclomedia.htm

Healthy Habits for Healthy Kids

Core Connections

Of all the many health problems affected by nutrition in our society today, childhood obesity is of the greatest concern. Obese children have a seventy percent chance of being overweight as an adult. Children are now becoming obese by the time they reach elementary school. Not only that, childhood obesity has increased by 75% in the past three decades.

So what starts this epidemic at such a young age? In order for pre-adolescent children to mature into healthy adults, parents should instill nutritional values, such as healthy eating and exercise, into their children throughout the course of their youth. By implanting these nutritional values into their children at an early age, parents will insure that their children will be motivated to maintain a healthy lifestyle throughout their lives.

The answer does not lie in the current trends of quick fixes using unhealthy dieting practices. The answer lies in teaching children at a young age the importance of nutrition, exercise, and leading a healthy lifestyle. While elementary schools are teaching our children to read and write, should they also be teaching them the importance of nutrition? Although this strategy could help, the solution lies in the home. Parents play the most important role in their child's lives.

Parents are role models to their child. If mom or dad is not eating right, children will follow along in their footsteps. Parents also have an important job of restricting their child's free time in front of the TV and computers, and encouraging them to get outside and play. Let you child help you cook supper, and then take a walk together afterwards- as a family.

The main key to keep childhood obesity under control is to remember that a healthy lifestyle does not start when we become overweight. A healthy lifestyle starts when we are born and continues until the time we die. After all, we are only given one body to live our entire life in.