Every January our team spends the month preparing for the department review. This involves a combination of gathering usage statistics from our databases and catalog, surveying students, creating individual reflections and gathering readings that support our vision to share with the admin team.
Our goal in gathering data is to notice patterns or trends. As I looked at our database statistics, I was reminded of a dilemma that I have been shelving for a while now. Despite the fact that virtually all of our database usage statistics have gone up, Safari Montage has gone down significantly over the past three years. Safari Montage is our streaming video database. I was drawn to the company based on the quality of their content. What other company has publishers like BBC, NASA, National Geographic and PBS? Unfortunately when it comes to playing the videos on individual laptops, we’ve had inconsistent results. There are a variety of reasons for this. Lakeside’s philosophy of not having a single, locked down image for student and faculty laptops is likely the top culprit. Regardless of the reasons, if teachers can’t rely on a product working on demand in their classroom, they won’t use it. If they can’t ensure that students will be able to do their assignments in a flipped classroom model, they won’t assign them.
When trying to solve this problem, there are a number of key questions to consider:
- How will teachers who have invested a tremendous amount of time and effort into creating playlists for their classes feel about switching to another system? How can we alleviate growing pains during the transition?
- Are we at the point that there are enough videos freely available online (YouTube, Vimeo, TED Talks) and through open courseware (Khan Academy, Coursera, EdX) and that we no longer need to subscribe to a video database?
- Have any new products come on the scene in the last few years that rival Safari Montage’s content?
After a bit of research, I stumbled on Facts On File Curriculum Video On Demand. I was thrilled to see that they offer engaging content from Films Media Group. We have a preview for the next month and I am looking forward to the comparison. Do any librarians out there have any feedback on this product?
The question of video database platforms reminds me of why I love being a school librarian. The information landscape is constantly evolving and we truly need to be life-long learners in order to stay current. Heather Hersey’s last post highlights why watching videos rather than simply reading can boost content retention. It is a good reminder of why we need to find a solution to our video database issues. What’s best for students is at the core of our decision making process.