District pioneers new streaming setup
Roughly 800 monitors to be set up for hybrid learning
LANSDALE » North Penn School District officials, parents and the public got a first look Tuesday night at how students will be learning once they’re back in classrooms soon.
The school board’s Education, Curriculum and Instruction committee saw a demonstration from district staff on how the 50-inch TV monitors, stands, microphones and speakers will help kids learn from home and in classrooms at the same time.
“People can now see it, and it’s a little more tangible what the potential is,” said assistant superintendent Todd Bauer.
“There’s a difference between having this tiny little laptop in the back of a room, and having a 50inch TV where kids can engage, and be part of the class,” he said.
Since the school board voted in July to return to school in a virtual model first, with the goal of returning students to classrooms in early November, staff have given near-weekly updates on nearly every aspect of those plans.
In September the board voted to order $500,000 worth of large screen monitors meant to help teachers see students at home while teaching in classrooms, and Bauer and district Coordinator of Communications Media Bob Gillmer gave updates on that order during Tuesday night’s Education, Curriculum and Instruction committee meeting.
“We’ve been delivering parts for the last week to get to this point, and ... Walton Farm, Inglewood, Nash, York (Avenue), and Gwynedd Square is what we got accomplished basically today,” said Gillmer, naming elementary schools that have had the monitors delivered and installed.
“That’s way faster on my schedule than I anticipated. Our custodial staff: really, once they got the carts delivered to the buildings, I can’t even explain how fast they put the carts together,” he said.
In a six-and-a-half minute video now posted to the district’s NPTV channel, Gillmer demonstrated how the equipment works: Teachers can put their laptop on a wheeled stand in a classroom, connect it via an HDMI cable to the 50inch monitor above, and use a wireless Bluetooth microphone or an area mic mounted atop the stand to talk to students watching from home, as those students can be seen on the large screen.
“If this is too far back, we can move it forward, we can move it around, and we can do what works best for each classroom teacher,” said Gillmer, sliding the cart forward and back in an empty classroom on the demonstration video.
“One (setup) may work better for secondary (classrooms), another may work better for K-one-and-two, so the nice thing is, we have lots of options,” he said.
In the video — filmed in an empty classroom at Nash — Gillmer demonstrated how to plug in the laptop, use the same Google Meets software students have used since late August, and showed how teachers can switch from the mounted area microphone to the wearable Bluetooth mic depending on how close to the stand they are.
“What we’re really trying to do is bring at-home into the classroom, and bring our classroom directly at home, so that we can be teaching to both our kids at home and the kids in the classroom at the same time,” he said.
Bauer said roughly 800 of the monitor and stand systems were nearly all delivered to the district as of Monday evening, and added extra thanks for NPTV videographer Cheryl Gillmer for shooting the video of her husband demonstrating the systems.
“It’s a way that North Penn is a model. I don’t know of a single other district that’s doing it this way,” Bauer said.
Superintendent Curt Dietrich added that he expects some growing pains as teachers and students learn their way around the new instruction approach, but felt the systems were an “awesome resource” for the district.
“There will be an adjustment, again, as we transition to this new way of teaching, with live streaming being the backbone of our approach here, but I am very grateful to our community, to our school board, for providing the necessary resources,” he said.
“We’re going to give it our best shot,” Dietrich said.
Board member Elisha Gee asked if the district would have enough staff to have technology support employees in each of the district’s 19 buildings, and Gillmer said he’s been in talks with the district technology department about exactly that. So far it looks likely that some support staff may split days covering two schools, Gillmer said, but getting equipment set up this week will allow teachers as much time as possible to familiarize themselves as students return in various grades later this month and in early November.
“We’re all working hard to make those things happen,” Gillmer said.
Board member Christian Fusco asked about the ranges of the mounted versus wireless microphones and which could work better with students who have hearing issues, and Gillmer said those could be adjusted and extra support provided as teachers identify those needs. Fusco also asked if “smart boards” used in classrooms could transmit drawings, diagrams or lessons directly from a classroom screen to the students watching, and Gillmer said they could, by having teachers share their smart boards through the Google Meets software they’re currently using so students at home can see.
“We talk about engagement, and that’s a critical piece,” Fusco said, of letting teachers see how kids at home are watching alongside those in classrooms.