Glenwood High School

Glenwood High School students enjoy quality educational programs and exceptional opportunities delivered in state-of-the-art classrooms. Strong educational leadership and dedicated teachers create a supportive, dynamic learning environment which caters to all abilities and develops potential. Our specialist teachers offer inspiring programs for gifted and talented students and provide responsive, personalised support for students needing additional help. Our school community cares for each student and celebrates achievement by providing a wide range of experiences which nurture individual academic, sporting, performing arts and cultural talents.

The media crew in action

Film, Radio and Social Media

In an effort to gain new student enrolments from the local community, it's no longer necessary for schools to solely rely on the School Promotions unit, to effectively spotlight their school. Today, school promotions is a collection of tools that have replaced traditional forms of communication, such as the school newsletter. Glenwood High School uses film, radio and social media as a key whole-school communication tool to build relationships with the school community as well as involving students to actively run it.

We have created a year 9 elective subject called Communications, Broadcast and Media Studies for students to learn about the theory and practical side of these areas and have a created a student media team who are responsible for the running of all our media platforms. We even use multimedia to support announcements made at assemblies to congratulate students!

Student reactions

Students regard the subject and their role in producing communications for the school, extremely highly. Their confidence in using the technology has greatly increased as has their participation and engagement levels. Students are continuously seeking new ways to enhance the current platforms we use to share school-related information with their peers and to the local community.

Teacher reactions

Teachers have embraced the technology and regularly request that the media team record their (practical and theoretical) lessons, extra-curricular activities and school events. As a result, teachers are beginning to use the technology as part of their teaching and learning, allowing their students to use multimedia techniques to learn KLA content.

Glenwood High School's Media Crew

Links to the curriculum

The new, 200 hour year 9 elective subject (Communications, Broadcast and Media Studies) that we developed is based on the Stage 5 IST syllabus. This class forms our media crew. Other subjects use the ICT requirements of their curriculum to use these resources to further explore their subject areas.

Tips and Tricks

It is important to remember that there is no such thing as making a mistake. It has certainly been a learning curve for the school and by starting small and slowly building on a solid foundation, we've discovered the best way to success. Attending professional development is also necessary for teachers who would like to use the equipment so that they can maximise its benefits.

First steps

Before we purchased our technology, we consulted with Learning Systems at State Office, to determine which would be the most appropriate cameras and associated equipment we needed to accomplish our overall objectives. They provided significant insight in terms of what is viable for a school and what is not. We purchased Sony Cameras, a green screen, black magic connector and settled on Wirecast software to manage our video streaming requirements.

They also provided us with extensive training so teachers were able to effectively use the equipment. Online tutorials, available on YouTube wereoften reference to develop needed skills. What is fantastic, is that students have also begun researching the full capabilities of out cameras and are experimenting with trying new things.

Promoting Glenwood High via social media

From this starting point, we are gradually adding to our technology as we improve our skill and capabilities. We also asked our P&C to assist with purchasing other items such as our Instagram frame to help us promote our media channels with students. These are a huge success with students and as soon as our students see it, they run towards us for a photo and to be featured on our Instagram story. My advice to any school is to start slow. Glenwood High School began by simply recording a few school events.

Once the confidence by both teachers and students increased, we began recording Glenwood News and other videos. Glenwood Radio began as streaming songs (using the schools PA system) and encouraging students to speak between songs. It is now something that occurs much more regularly and is soon to be podcasted and broadcasted. In terms of our social media channels, we attended significant TPL and became well-informed of all legal requirements before we began posting content and information. This has helped us ensure that we utilise these channels appropriately and professionally.

About the author

Noelene Callaghan is an Microsoft Innovative Expert Educator, Google Certified Educator and NSW DoE Online Collaboration Mentor. She is a leader in ICT in NSW and Australia and her and her school, Glenwood High School were recently awarded the prestigious T4L Award for Innovative Use of ICT in Secondary. Noelene is a prolific contributor to peer-reviewed publications, a true sharer of her knowledge, time and experience to assist the development of others and an asset to public schooling in NSW.

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