WVIZ/PBSideastream

Rita Bigham, Nick Carpas, John Church

Who Are We?

• Started in Cleveland Municipal Schools• Began in 1965 with studios in

Cleveland Municipal School District.

• Community Licensee

Business Model

• Receive funding (approx. $750,000) for technology from Ohio eTech Commission • Provide services to 470,000 students and 34,000

educators in over 190 public and private school districts in eleven counties.

• Leverage funding and grant monies to provide for fee services.• Create multi-media products and services. • Lead the State of Ohio in video conferencing.• Provide Instructional Television.

• Receive Professional Development funding for Early Childhood.

• Grant and Foundation Funding• Budget PreK-12 Staff Development of $2.7 million.• Total department budget of approximately $4 million.

WVIZ/PBS and TeacherLine • One of 16 original affiliate TeacherLine stations.

• State and Regional Coordinator• 7 Partners in Ohio• West Virginia• Northern Kentucky• Michigan

• Approx. 10,000 registrations in TeacherLine courses.

• Staff includes: • full time program manager• a marketing/outreach coordinator• part-time facilitator coordinator • administrative support staff for registrations

Reasons for Success

• Relationships with school districts and educational organizations

• Greater understanding of professional development needs

• Leads to district/organizational “buys”

Intentional Outreach

HQT Courses• Fifteen contact hours added to

selected thirty contact hour courses

• Mathematics, Science and Reading

• Relationship with Cuyahoga Special Education Service Center (CSESC)

Money on Account

• WVIZ holds money for districts/organizations

• Counts as income upon registration

• Becomes an incentive to register

• Helps districts/organizations solve end-of-Fiscal-Year and end-of-grant-year problems

• Almost $65,000 on account now

Challenges

Partner Engagement

• Enthusiasm has declined over time

• Personnel changes impact relationships

• Distance is a factor

Affiliation with the Ohio Department of Education

• TeacherLine not promoted by ODE

• Other, less expensive online professional development options are promoted

The Identification of Professional

Development Needs• Not systematic

• Needed to offer appropriate courses

• Would allow us to market to the needs