How the NSW Department of Education Stayed Connected
The NSW (New South Wales) Department of Education is the largest provider of public education in Australia. It’s responsible for delivering high-quality public education across early childhood, primary school, secondary school, vocational, adult, migrant and higher education across two-thirds of the NSW student population. With over 2,200 schools and a total enrollment of over 750,000 students, its focus is to prepare each and every child and young person for a dynamic and rewarding life.
EVOLVING WITH VIDEO
Video is playing an increasingly important role in classrooms across the world. It’s recognized for creating more engagement among students than traditional printed materials, along with delivering sights and sounds that result in a more memorable sensory experience. Educators know that video raises the digital literacy of both students and teachers while creating new opportunities for curriculum, campus events, and internal and external communications. As schools look to increase their use of video technology, Brightcove® offers seamless, secure and proven solutions that make it easy to get up and running instead of burdening administrators with technical concerns. The NSW Department of Education partnered with Brightcove on two important video initiatives, demonstrating the power of video to remain an established, trusted source of information while also being flexible enough to respond to individual situations.
CREATING A HUMAN CONNECTION
The “Schools Video” initiative enables 2,200 schools within NSW to create and distribute content across websites, social and internal channels. This video content can take many forms. It may be external communications to parents and the community, or internal communications to students and staff, including the ability to live stream announcements, assemblies and campus events. Powered by Brightcove Video Cloud™, “Schools Video” makes it possible to upload raw footage, create a video and share it quickly and easily. For the Department of Education, this allows them to create a higher awareness of their activities and achievements while developing a visual “brand” that gives the Department a unique identity. Above all, video is key to helping the Department develop a richer human connection with its school community. Knowing that the very core of teaching is a face-to-face experience, video can help amplify that experience with the powerful combination of a face and a voice that builds trust and encourages understanding.
VIDEO, NIMBLE AND POWERFUL
Faced with the sudden delays and closings brought on by the global COVID-19 pandemic, the NSW Department of Education needed to communicate quickly with the student and teacher population while also making sure to provide reassurance and comfort during an unprecedented time. This led to the launch of NSW Education Live, a series of 15-minute wellbeing classes live-streamed at the start of each school day. Connecting students with expert presenters across the fields of music, art, food, gardening, technology, and sports, it helped them continue their learning from home while bringing a needed sense of normalcy to their day.
The series featured Australian celebrity guest speakers including Olympic gold medalist Bronte Campbell, artist Ben Quilty, filmmaker Gracie Otto and singer Guy Sebastian, winner of Australia Idol and former judge on Australia The X factor. “I was keen to be involved with these live streams to do what I could to help kids stay positive and happy through this,” said Sebastian. “It can also give them the mental wellbeing to stay focused on their learning.” This series, supported by Brightcove Live™, was streamed directly to 2,200-plus public school websites and 1,400+ school Facebook pages.
For the NSW Department of Education, video has delivered several key advantages. While demonstrating the importance of innovation and creating new channels of communication, it also allows the department to speak with one unified voice, furthering a sense of trust and human connection.
Together with the power and reliability of Brightcove technology, these initiatives are well-positioned to be an important part of the future for the next generation of students in New South Wales.