Situation

For the students of Fort Sumner schools, time is a precious commodity. The schools serve a rural and sparsely populated area of over 2,300 square miles, making long-distance travel a way of life. Many students spend hours riding to and from school on buses. A vast majority of them also participate in extracurricular activities, such as sports and Future Farmers of America projects. With so much of a student’s time spent on travel and outside activities, as well as on the usual distractions, like video games and television, the school staff must continuously search for ways to engage students in learning activities.

“Today’s youth I believe are really challenged. They’ve got the most technology that they ever had, but they also have the least amount of time that they’ve ever had.” —Leigh Ann Mares, Program Director, De Baca County Extension

Figure 1. The computer lab

Reflecting on the hours their students spend riding school buses, school staff saw a missed opportunity to engage students in learning. They were already well aware of the necessity to embrace modern technology, especially in their rural environment. All students above seventh grade have school-issued laptop computers. Teachers are at ease with using the latest technology to enhance learning, such as high-speed networks for delivering instruction and connecting teachers and students, a computer lab running Windows Vista and the 2007 Microsoft Office system, and the Internet as a necessary educational resource.

The schools successfully employ a range of educational tools and methods, from laptops to lectures. It was clear, however, that teachers and administrators needed to continue to explore other learning paths in order to make more effective use of students’ time. It was also clear that multimedia learning would offer the kind of rich, engaging, and adaptable educational experience they were looking for. The challenge was how to take advantage of new media while meeting requirements of cost, effectiveness, and ease of use.

Solution

Superintendent Patricia Miller and teachers Sherrie West (Technology Coordinator and Computer Sciences teacher) and Sandy Wertheim (Spanish) saw an opportunity in the new crop of portable digital media devices. They started to develop a pilot project that made use of these devices as a teaching tool for beginning Spanish at the high school level. After researching a number of devices, they settled on the Zune devices, primarily because the Zune player, unlike other popular solutions, met their project requirements for content sharing. Students and teachers needed to be able to connect their Zunes to any number of school computers in order to share media among users. Also, the device needed to fit into a simple, robust production process that would make it easy for students and staff to create and distribute media projects.

The Microsoft Zune team worked with the Fort Sumner staff to help them get their project off the ground by providing in-depth technical support and 45 Zune players to seed the project. The district also received a state grant, which enabled it to outfit all students from grades eight through 12 with 110 more Zune players.

Teacher Sandy Wertheim used Office PowerPoint as the delivery vehicle for her lessons. In Office PowerPoint, she created colorful slides and then recorded herself reading the Spanish text with the slides. To make the lessons more engaging, she injected a dose of humor. For example, when speaking the word for dog (perro), she added a growling sound. And as an incentive to review the lessons, she’d often add sound effects or extra words or phrases that she would ask students about for extra credit.

“She’ll put on all the vocabulary for that week so we can listen to her saying it correctly. That way we know how we’re saying it to her.” —Sarah Ballard, student

Figure 2. Spanish lessons on a Zune player

The Spanish lesson project was a success. Students can now learn Spanish virtually anywhere and anytime. The pilot demonstrated not only how Zune players can be used to enhance education, but also how a new format for learning can infuse new life into the educational process. For example, Spanish class students have always had a choice of taking a written or oral test. Before the school began using the Zune players, however, fewer than 10 percent of the students chose an oral test. Now, 90 percent of them opt for the oral exam. Superintendent Miller describes the resulting improvement in grades as “through the roof.” Though enabling students to hear words and sentences spoken has long been the preferred method of learning a language, educators have, for many years, relied primarily on written instruction outside the classroom, supplemented by parents attempting to quiz their kids at home, often without knowing how to correctly pronounce the words. Other audio methods, like records and tapes, have been used successfully, but the Zune player has the advantage of neatly containing the media and the delivery mechanism in one highly portable, easy-to-use device.

Based on the success of the Zune player pilot project in first-year Spanish, the school district expanded the project to second-year Spanish. In Spanish II, students gain practical knowledge by writing scripts and producing videos projects, such as soap operas and fictitious commercials. Traditionally, students advanced by learning how to write in Spanish on their own. By producing media projects, the student learning experience is enhanced through group collaboration and oral expression. Also, students are encouraged to enjoy themselves in the process, which translates into enjoyment of both the Spanish language and the learning process. Students record their performances on an inexpensive video camcorder, such as the Flip Video Camcorder, and edit on a personal computer using free software, such as Windows Movie Maker or Audacity. Students then distribute their work through the internal school server to their teacher and other students. The Spanish II students enjoy and learn from one anothers’ videos. First-year students are encouraged to download and view the second-year students’ videos on their Zune players.

“They are having a very good time. They enjoy it; it’s engaging, captures their imagination and makes learning a lot more fun than the traditional way.” —Patricia Miller, Superintendent

Recognizing the educational benefits of using the Zune player, the school district expanded the pilot project further, making Zune players available to all teachers and staff. With each student already equipped with a Zune player and the necessary tools and help for using those tools, all a teacher has to do is think of an idea and then quickly implement it using a digital media format. Because it takes minimal cost and time to bring an idea to life, teachers and students are encouraged to try new things, experiment, make mistakes, and take risks. For example, one early adopter of Zune technology, the Home Economics teacher, made a video instructing students how to make a roux to thicken sauces and then distributed the video to their Zunes.

“We knew we had to teach the teachers how to use the technology and not just do something awful like recording their lectures.” —Patricia Miller, Superintendent

Coming up with diverse and innovative ways to use the device was not a problem. Because the learning curve for using the digital media players is short, teachers and students are able to let their imagination go without worrying about the technology. Staff members can sign up for professional development to learn how to make use of the Zune players. To help technologically challenged teachers get on board, a group of five savvy students called the Zune team or “Zunies” was formed. The Zune team was quick to pick up on the technology and devise ways to integrate it into the school infrastructure and culture. The team helped develop the processes for creating and distributing content for the Zune players. It also created instructional material. The emergency Zune team is on call to come to the aid of students and staff at anytime.

“If you’re on a sports team and you’re always gone, you miss the last half of the day, last couple of periods. You have something that you can utilize to catch up on the time you missed in class.” —Alston Bynum, student

Staff and students can share content by storing it on the school’s server, downloading it to a school computer, and then syncing it to their Zunes. The material can also be made available as podcasts that automatically sync to Zune players whenever the devices are connected to any school computer. The easiest way for students and staff to distribute audio content, however, is with the Zune’s wireless feature. After audio content is downloaded to a Zune, others can connect to it automatically and the material can be beamed wirelessly Zune to Zune. For example, a Spanish class student can share a podcast she created by beaming it directly from her Zune to others’ Zunes during class or in the hall, and the students who receive the content can in turn beam it to others.

The Agriculture teacher, who is also the Future Farmers of America (FFA) coach, spent many hours creating Office PowerPoint slide decks for various teams of FFA judges. The coach converted the presentations to movies that can be synced to the students’ Zunes. The teams of judges use their Zunes to study presentations during long trips to FFA competitions. For another example, during one recent trip to Las Cruces that took over five hours, students were able to study using their portable Zunes.

“Kids love it. Today’s kids are visual and auditory learners, and so they really take to the Zune. Plus it saves them from having to lug their books around everyplace. They can also listen to podcasts of books, like The Great Gatsby, and textbook notes.” —Sherrie West, teacher

Figure 3. Engaging in after school activities

Zune players are also useful tools beyond the classroom. On one occasion, 16 students were chosen to participate in the national Business Professionals of America (BPA) competition in Reno, Nevada. The school district requires that the Board of Education approve all out-of-state travel. The sponsor of the BPA couldn’t attend the board meeting, so she produced a simple one-minute video with a Flip Video Camcorder. The video was loaded on a personal computer and synced to a few Zune players, and then the devices were handed out to each board member at the meeting. The board members were told to simply push Play; students were standing by to provide technological support. The board received the presentation from the teacher without her having to disrupt her schedule, and it approved the student trip.

The future of digital technology and networking in the Fort Sumner Municipal School District is clear. Patricia Miller realizes that, “Learners need multiple modalities in order to most effectively acquire new knowledge. It’s also clear that kids in this generation are early adopters of technology tools. If we don’t jump on the boat and use tools that are better at engaging them, then we’ve missed a fantastic teaching opportunity. I’m not willing to let that happen and neither are the teachers. Teachers are willing to go to any length to help ensure that kids are learning, and learning as effectively as possible.”

Benefits

The Zune digital media player helped make the Fort Sumner schools project a success because it is:

• Portable Students and teachers can take their Zunes anywhere and use them anytime. They fit easily in backpacks and purses, weigh less than 6 ounces, and can hold over 100 hours of video. And because content on a Zune player can be consumed almost anywhere, students and teachers can make better use of their time. For example, they can listen to, or view, media while riding in a car, traveling on a school bus, or studying with friends.

• Engaging People enjoy information delivered in audio and video formats. When used as a learning tool, the Zune player can make instruction more engaging, so students are more likely to enjoy not only the content, but the process of learning.

• Shareable Teachers, students, and staff can easily distribute media to one or more people through multiple school computers or by beaming content Zune to Zune. For example, a student can easily share his or her video assignment with every high school student, almost instantly.

• A natural fit Fort Sumner schools have embraced digital technology with school-issued laptops for students, computers on every desktop, a fast internal network, and Internet access for all. It makes sense to extend the infrastructure with a portable media device that interfaces naturally with the existing hardware, software, and workflows. A production process can be created easily that uses free or inexpensive software and tools.

• Easy to use The Zune player and associated software are designed for all types of users, including those who demand products that are both highly useful and easy to use. This same design works well in an educational environment that includes a variety of users with many levels of technical expertise—from kids who are well-versed in video gaming and Internet social networking, to staff members who don’t have time to keep up with the latest technology. File management is intuitive and automatic, and the user interface is simple and robust.

• Inexpensive Compared to other solutions for delivering audio and video content to individuals, the cost of a Zune player is very low. For example, television is more expensive, requires a more complex distribution system (over the air or cable, or via tape), is designed for multiple viewers, and cannot easily be transported. Other popular portable devices are more costly and cannot easily be connected to many different computers.

• Easy to be creative Because digital media is so engaging and Zune players make media so easy to use, it is easier for teachers and students to come up with and implement creative ideas. Because it encourages creativity, students are more likely to embrace the Zune player as a learning tool and become more involved in their education, and educators are more likely to be successful.

Future Zune pilots

Microsoft is planning a new pilot with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra to help with their education efforts. Feedback from the pilots will be used as a basis for an education program with the Zune player.

For more information

Partners in Learning general inquiries: pilwwapm@microsoft.com

U.S. Partners in Learning: uspil@microsoft.com

Zune devices and software: http://zune.net

Zune product inquiries: msftvpp@microsoft.com

Fort Sumner Municipal Schools: http://www.ftsumnerk12.com/home.aspx

© 2008 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

This document is for informational purposes only. MICROSOFT MAKES NO WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, IN THIS SUMMARY.

Microsoft and Zune are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and/or other countries. The names of actual companies and products mentioned herein may be the trademarks of their respective owners.

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