Memphis City Schools Webcast Events, Training Sessions, School Board Meetings and Classroom Discussions

Mediasite has become an essential educational technology for Memphis City Schools (MCS), the nation’s 21st largest school district. 

So far Mediasite has proven its value in the special events department. Last year when President Obama delivered the commencement address at Booker T. Washington School, it was streamed to over 225 schools and military families overseas who couldn’t attend the commencement in person. That means that 15,000 students, parents and family got to watch live – something that wouldn’t have been possible without Mediasite. 

But that example is just the tip of the iceberg. MCS has developed a deep library of Mediasite content, and the creative uses of the technology within the school district continue to grow.

“The impressive number to me are the more than 170,000 views and the 114,500 hours of content in our library. That’s a lot of professional development and has saved our district a ton of money because now our teachers are able to complete training on demand. It saves them time,” said Jeff Baxter, special projects coordinator.

Here are some other ways MCS is leveraging Mediasite:

• Business Operations - Mediasite is used for OSHA videos, bloodborne pathogen training and CPR. Previously outsourced, adding this training to the Mediasite catalog has saved the district real dollars. 
• Technology Training - Mediasite presentations cover how to connect to new technologies such as iPads, and also how to choose which apps work in an educational environment. 
• Board Meetings - The county and city school districts are merging into one district, which means a lot more media interest and parents wanting to stay informed. The meetings are streamed live to facilitate the much larger audience. 
• Students Learning From Students - MCS decided to take the YouTube experience and migrate it into Mediasite, allowing students to create presentations and share information. 

“We’re flipping the paradigm of sage on the stage. The teacher sets up the recording and becomes the facilitator, and the student becomes the teacher in a sense – teaching not only other students but teachers as well,” said Scott Holcomb, staff development coordinator. “This is one area we really wanted to push to get the students hands on—that’s a great start in our district.”

MCS has a lot more planned for using Mediasite in the future, including migrating to Mediasite 6 so teachers and administrators can watch content on their mobile devices.