Introducing....Allen Independent School District

 Prior to implementing the SAFARI Montage system, Allen ISD was using school-based media retrieval systems. That was back in 2006, and David Spann, AISD’s Executive Director of Technology, says that the district set its sights on a centralized digital media system. “The goal was to streamline, and with SAFARI Montage, we no longer have a need to put VCRs or DVD players in all of our classrooms,” he explains, adding, “The content on SAFARI Montage opened up a lot of avenues for our teachers.”

In addition to streamlining the use of digital content, Allen ISD is utilizing the ability of the system to provide both live and recorded original content. “Almost every one of our schools is doing live morning announcements to every classroom,” Spann says. Teachers are also using the upload capability of CreationStation to ‘flip’ the curriculum, allowing students to watch recorded lessons at home, via Managed Home Access, and then come to class prepared to do work with the teacher based on that lesson. “Using uploaded video to review at home is not limited to the classroom,” says Spann. “We’re working with our librarians and our campus technology folks to make sure we are seizing every opportunity we have to use the system.” Even AISD basketball coaches are catching on, recording games and uploading them into SAFARI Montage. Spann says the players can then review the games from home to see how they played and what they need to improve on.

Bonnie Koliba, AISD Instructional Technology Specialist, reports that teachers are using SAFARI Montage across the board, creating playlists based on their lessons, and then sharing them with other staff at their school or even across the district. Recently, they have been uploading SMART Notebooks via CreationStation, and she has seen more upload­ing of student-made videos. Noting the introduction of thumbnail images in the latest SAFARI Montage software update, Bonnie states, “It’s nice with the new interface because you can see your videos and Note­books on the Dashboard and in the playlists much more easily.

About Allen ISD: