Broadcast Students Have Equipment, Skills to Enhance Morning Announcements

Our mornings in school start the same every day: once the second bell rings students sit down and immediately hear the crackling of the loudspeaker before the inevitable announcements start to blare throughout the school. However, students usually talk over the announcements and place their attention elsewhere. Many students don’t give their attention to the information they hear.

The solution is really an easy fix. I believe that having the announcements put into a video form – run by a very experienced and ready Broadcasting III class – could solve the problem of ignored announcements. This solution could also give the students in these classes more experience in front of, or behind, the camera, and an important responsibility.

The steps that could make this idea reality aren't as big as some may believe. The broadcasting class in the high school already holds many of the required pieces of equipment to put this into action, including a teleprompter, cameras, microphones, an audio board, and an AV switcher and lights, though even with all these items, the class still needs to gain a few more pieces of equipment to finalize their end of the solution. 

“The equipment needed is expensive; one [piece] ranges in the hundreds while the other ranges around in the thousands,” said Andrew Conte, who is head of the broadcasting classes here at the high school. Even though this may be a dilemma, Conte agrees that having these pieces could be beneficial and that it could make a difference for many students. “They could definitely help make a difference in the production, which would help the students and the process that would come along with the idea,” he said. These pieces could potentially contribute better volume, video quality and even editing. Therefore, the school as a whole benefits from these improved announcements.

With the announcements on a big screen, students will be much more apt to watch the morning announcements and pay attention to the content. According to the National Health Institute (NIH) showing students videos less than 6 minutes long increases their engagement to close to 100%.The benefit for students are they'll listen to the announcements effectively as the video will captivate them, leading them to retain the announcements messages more successfully.

Broadcasting III students can also get a chance to use the skills they've learned throughout their hefty years of high school while also gaining more experience in front and behind the camera, as they'd be the ones recording and editing these video announcements. Conte concurs once again that getting this extra experience could be of benefit to his students. “It would be so beneficial for my students to produce the announcements. All their skills could be put to use in a project like this,” Conte said.