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FLORIDA PUBLIC MEDIA STATIONS ANNOUNCE AMBITIOUS PLAN TO SUPPORT AT-HOME LEARNING FOR STUDENTS AND EDUCATORS
AT-HOME LEARNING
A Florida Public Media Partnership
Tallahassee, FL, 03/17/2020 – As many schools and districts across Florida cancel classes beyond Spring Break to lessen the spread of COVID-19, PBS Stations in the state will begin airing a new, weekday television schedule of education programs aligned to state standards. The new programming begins Monday, March 23rd at 6 a.m. Stations will also offer a suite of free digital learning resources accessible from home. Florida stations are following the lead of California PBS Member Stations, KQED, SoCal and KCET.
“WFSU Public Media has a long history of providing quality educational content for our community. Designing a daily television schedule that pulls from the rich PBS programming archives such as Peg + Cat, NOVA, Nature, American Experience and others will help support students at home during this challenging time,” says Kim Kelling, Director of Content and Community Partnerships at WFSU. “WFSU and other Florida stations can play a critical role in helping create a learning environment with trusted and quality resources outside of the classroom and at home.”
WFSU will dedicate the daytime weekday schedule on its main channel to Florida standards-aligned educational programming The new 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. schedule includes specific blocks of time for pre-K through 12th grade levels and covers English language arts, social studies, science and math.
“Many students in our area do not have the needed devices or internet access to make online learning possible, but they do have a television,” says Tasha Weinstein, Education and Engagement Manager for WFSU Public Media. “Creating blocks of quality programming for teachers to assign to their classes to view at home, keeps everyone engaged. This is a game-changer that can level the technology playing field. PBS has always been about expanding knowledge, and these programs help harness the power of public media and put it in the hands of teachers and parents.”
Teachers can follow up with discussion questions, worksheets, or hands-on projects and experiments when they communicate with their students.
As part of this unprecedented collaboration, stations are aligning corresponding free digital content to the broadcast programs. In the weeks to come WFSU Public Media will be sharing local content and other resources that can specifically support the needs of our teachers and students.
Sponsored resources utilized in the broadcasting blocks
How Teachers Can Navigate School Closures Due to the Coronavirus
- Educational TV schedule: WFSU-TV is broadcasting standards-aligned programs like Nova, SciGirls, History Detectives, American Masters, Breakthrough: The Ideas That Changed The World, and Africa’s Great Civilizations weekdays from 6am through 6pm.
- Digital Media Collections: Collections include curated media and lessons, sorted by grade level and subject area.
- Support for Teachers: PBS LearningMedia webinars. WFSU Virtual office hours are offered M, W and F from 1:30 p.m. to 3:30 p.m.
- Curated Tips and Tools for Teachers: KQED is publishing a series of blog posts for teachers that point to articles and resources created and/or vetted by KQED, other public media organizations and other trusted education partners, including 3 Ways to Turn Your Classroom Remote in a Hurry and Misinformation, Data Literacy and the Novel Coronavirus.
Contacts:
Kim Kelling
Director of Content & Community Partnerships
WFSU Public Media
kkelling@fsu.edu
850-645-6056
Tasha Weinstein
Education & Engagement Manager
WFSU Public Media
tweinstein@fsu.edu
850.645.6062