About Educational Services

Know More. Do More. Be More.

From preschool through college and beyond, WVIZ/PBS ideastream plays a crucial role in formal education, serving as our region’s largest classroom. From pre-school through college and beyond, WVIZ/PBS ideastream provides educational opportunities to nearly 500,000 Northeast Ohio school children and 34,000 educators in over 275 schools and districts.

As one of eight Educational Technology agencies in the state of Ohio, the Educational Services Department assists schools and districts in utilizing new technologies, provides staff development in the use of technology, and provides student and teacher programming through technology.

Distance Learning
As a leader in transforming teaching and learning with interactive technology, we offer nearly 200 instructional programs to students and teachers across Ohio. Distance Learning services integrate the latest video, audio and Internet resources to deliver outstanding interactive programs including ACT and SAT preparatory classes, the Career Exploration Series, the Town Hall Speaker Series, Dominion's Master Moments programs, KeyBank’s Careers in the Performing Arts programs and a variety of professional development programs featuring prominent locally and nationally known speakers.

WVIZ/PBS ideastream manages and is a member of the North Ohio Technology Association (NOTA), an innovative technology group made up of eighteen school districts and Cuyahoga Community College. Students can take classes using the latest videoconferencing technology or take courses made available through the Internet.

Early Childhood
Designed to build partnerships with local community organizations, Early Childhood serves childcare centers, schools, libraries, businesses, civic groups and government agencies to extend the value of children's educational television. Workshops are conducted for parents and early childhood professionals working with children ages birth to eight years. Adults are encouraged to become active viewers and take learning “beyond the screen” by combining PBS KIDS programming with hands-on activities and children’s books (View, Do, Read). Funding is provided by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) through the Public Broadcasting Service.

WVIZ/PBS ideastream and all public broadcasting Ready to Learn stations in Ohio present professional development workshops for family homecare providers and others through a grant from the Child Care Bureau and the Ohio Department of Jobs and Family Services. Workshops are conducted throughout WVIZ/PBS ideastream’s broadcast community and are based on the Ohio Department of Education’s Early Learning Content Standards for Math, Language Arts, Social Studies and Science. The Ohio Ready to Learn workshops are free of charge and all participants receive two hours of in-service credit for attendance, as well as books and other materials.

Educational Multimedia
The design and production unit of Educational Services finds, develops, and distributes high quality media products correlated with state and national curriculum standards. These resources help students visualize difficult concepts, travel to distant lands, experience diverse cultures and bring a vast collection of media-rich resources to their fingertips via the Internet, DVD, cable and broadcast television, and videotape.

Workshops
In the area of teacher professional development, WVIZ/PBS ideastream annually provides computer skills and content training to thousands of teachers. Whether provided on site, via the Internet, through videoconferencing or in the teaching labs of WVIZ/PBS ideastream, training can be tailored to fit a school or district’s individual needs. Exceptional facilitators cater to a range of technical abilities and help teachers use technology in the classroom and integrate technology into the curriculum. WVIZ/PBS ideastream workshops meet local university requirements for graduate credit.

Online Learning
WVIZ/PBS ideastream offers educators quality online courses through PBS TeacherLine. These courses, funded by a grant from the U.S. Department of Education, provide high-quality, online professional development for K-12 teachers with the goal of improving teacher quality and increasing student achievement. PBS TeacherLine offers approximately 100 online facilitated courses in reading, mathematics, science, curriculum and instruction, and technology integration. The courses meet state standards, professional development goals and re-certification needs. All courses are offered for graduate credit hours.