Teach42

At this point I’ve had to explain to explain so many times what I do during the day that it almost seems redundant to blog about it. It is pretty exciting stuff though, so I figure I should share anyway. Oh, and for the record, this is my general understanding of how things came to be and what my position entails. If I’ve made any mistakes, I’m sure I will be ridiculed mercilessly in our next conference call.

As I’ve said before, I do work for Discovery now. Yes, Discovery as in the Discovery Channel. They have a division called Discovery Education that’s been around for about a year and makes all kinds of cool things for schools, including a huge number of educational DVD’s, laserdiscs and VHS tapes. Discovery also bought unitedstreaming, which if you haven’t heard about yet you really should check into. It’s a massive video library, all online, that can be streamed, downloaded, and many of them can even be edited for use in movies and digital stories. I’m not going to waste time telling you much about that product, but let’s just say that it’s cool enough that New York, Georgia, Louisiana, South Carolina, Iowa, Mississippi, Alabama, Arkansas and Rhode Island bought state wide licenses for their teachers (so if you’re in those states, you already own it).

Obviously Discovery Education has a vested interested in the educational community and they’ve really tried to take the initiative when it comes to helping teachers get digital media in their classrooms. However, this isn’t really a company that sits back on its laurels and pats itself on the back over a job well done. They like to stay on the cutting edge and tried to figure out what the next step would be.

Since Discovery already has their hands in the digital media pie, it just makes sense to keep moving forward along those lines. As more and more schools have a computer connected to the internet in every classroom, the barriers to teachers using digital media quickly and easily are eroding. From using multimedia to increase understanding and retention to digital storytelling, teachers are jumping at the chance to take advantage of this stuff. Clearly a big deal in the education world right now.

Enter, the Discovery Educator Network. The official description is “The Discovery Educator Network is a global community of educators who are excited by the power of digital media and want to collaborate and share resources with other teachers.” But what does it really mean? We want to provide support to teachers who are using digital media and hook them up with other educators who have a common interest. We want to provide a place for experts to work with each other to blaze a new trail forward. We also want to create a support forum for people who are just getting started. Teachers connecting with teachers. Novel idea, eh?

Anyway, there are two pieces to this. One is creating a network of expert teachers, ‘certified’ teachers who are leading the way when it comes to digital media in the educational environment. We want to recognize their efforts and provide them with opportunities to share their knowledge with other people. It’s not all about us, it’s about finding those heroes of the classroom and giving them a soapbox to hop up on and share their knowledge. That part is going on right now. People can head over to the web site and apply to join the network. Heck, if you use digital media in just about any way at all, I strongly suggest that you throw in an application. You’d be in pretty darn good company.

The second piece is the web site that we’re in the process of building right now. It’s being designed to facilitate conversation, support, and collaboration around the subject of digital media. Sort of a home away from home for 21st century teachers. There’s going to be a message board, a multimedia resource database, a blog engine, and potential for a heck of alot more. It’s just a beginning, a launching point of sorts. We haven’t even launched the new site, but we’re already planning for how we can improve it.

In case you hadn’t figured it out yet, that’s where I come in. The official title is “Online Community Manager” and it really encompasses just about all things online related to the Discovery Educator Network. Right now we have a small, but growing network of blogs. Every regional manager that’s hired gets a blog where they can keep people in their state posted about local events, contests, conferences and other tidbits that might interest them. Most of them have never blogged before so they’re busy getting the hang of it and finding their own voices. One thing that definitely comes through as you read through what they have though is that there’s a buzz, a sense of excitement, a clear feeling that something big is in the works. Obviously, another part of my job is going to be supporting our growing blogging community.

So where’s the catch? There really isn’t much of one. Pure and simple, we’ve got one of the best products out there for digital media, unitedstreaming. Bazillions of districts already have bought a subscription, but many of the teachers in those districts don’t even know it! So this will hopefully help prod a few people into trying something new, particularly if their district has already bought into it. If their district hasn’t, maybe this will provide a little impetus to help sell a few more licenses. Regardless though, we figure that if we’re doing something to genuinely help move the world of education forward, nothing but good things can come of it.

The other question I’ve been asked a million times is where the line is being drawn between Teach42 and the Discovery Educator Network. That’s a tough one and I’m still figuring that out. The current plan is to just keep on keeping on. Teach42 will continue on as it has, but I’ll also be blogging on behalf of Discovery Education at the national blog. We’ll see how it goes, but don’t worry about this site selling out. If I can’t be honest and straightforward here, I’d rather hang up the spurs and move on. That much I can promise you.

The thing is, I’m excited about it. I wouldn’t have taken the job if I thought I was going to be turned into a sales agent. Discovery Education is doing some really cool stuff and I’m having a blast just being a part of it. If I share it with you here, it’s because I think it’s something you folks will get a kick out of too. And trust me when I say, there’s plenty of that sort of stuff in the works!

Oh yeah, one other thing, we’re still looking for quite a few Field Managers. So if you do happen to be looking for a new line of work, check out the careers page for more information. Trust me, it’s a heck of a place to work!

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