Whether it’s learning technological skills like keyboarding and coding or exploring the arts, students at Dixon Elementary school find out what they need to know through use of PBS LearningMedia.
PBS LearningMedia is a free, searchable repository of over 100,000 high-quality, standards aligned resources, and is provided to schools throughout Kentucky by KET.
Use of the online repository of free digital content has soared in Webster County. From July 1, 2016 to June 30, 2017, there were about 2,400 views of content from PBS Learning Media.
However, from July 1, 2017, to Jan. 30, 2018, usage has jumped to over 6,200 views of content so far.
Trisha Crabtree, library media specialist at Dixon, said the library curriculum focuses heavily on technology. Students learn about everything from keyboarding, Internet safety, netiquette and cyberbullying to QR codes, video production, stop-motion animation, and even coding.
That work is paying off. “The students just finished a Code-A-Thon and won 20 Chromebooks for the library,” Ms. Crabtree said.
Among the resources in PBS LearningMedia is the Ruff Ruffman Humble Media Genius Collection, designed to help children navigate 21st century technology, focusing on texting, sharing photos, conducting searches, and finding an appropriate balance of media and technology use.
Ms. Crabtree created a lesson plan with the Ruff Ruffman resources, adding questions about the videos at the end, and students used Chromebooks to go to the URL link to complete the assignment.
Teaching students about technology isn’t the only way PBS LearningMedia is used. Dixon music teacher MaryGrace Chappell uses the Arts Toolkits created by KET — in music, dance, drama, and art — to explore music and more with her students.