Katy High School
Keeping Katy High School students connected through morning news program, KTTV
Morning news in no time
Katy High School serves more than 2,800 students in Katy, Texas — about 28 miles west of Houston. Education and technology are important to Russell Sadberry, technology application instructor and head of KTTV, Katy High School's morning news program. With one class of nine students creating news and feature videos and a second class that produces the school's morning program, a professional-quality video broadcast that is created using Adobe® Visual Communicator® software, Katy High leads the district in broadcasting news.
"Visual Communicator allows us to create a six-minute daily news show with a short turnaround time. We are able to put together the script, graphics, video, and sound clips, plus shoot the raw video footage in 45 minutes. All we have to do is put it all together in Visual Communicator and we are ready for broadcast," said Sadberry.
Visual Communicator's incredible ease of use, Sadberry says, makes it a good product for both staff and students. The intuitive interface and wizard walks users through the video creation process. The ability to preview the video before you publish it allows his students to perfect the video so that it only has to be recorded once. Sadberry agrees that Visual Communicator is so simple to use that people using the software need to have only a basic understanding of video production. "It's easy to capture video and audio since Visual Communicator can use any standard capture and audio device, which makes it nice because we don't have to worry about proprietary content. Anything and everything can be incorporated," said Sadberry. In addition, Visual Communicator makes it simple to record video to a DVD, CD, network, or the Internet.
Using Adobe Premiere Elements
In addition to Visual Communicator, the students in KTTV use Adobe Premiere® Elements software to capture and create their videos. Adobe Premiere Elements allows the students to edit and create videos that can be imaginative and fun or professional.
Teaching real life lessons
Sadberry's classes also teach students real-world skills like what it takes to apply and interview for a job. Sadberry explains: "We ask students to fill out an application, interview, and do an on camera screen test. I would like to think that we are not only giving them a glimpse into the profession of video, but also a glimpse into what life is like after school is over." The classes also visit a local CBS affiliate every year so students can see a real news broadcast station at work. Students also have the opportunity to be a part of the audience for the station's morning TV show, Great Day Houston.
Visual Communicator has been so successful that some at Katy High School want to expand its use. Sadberry says that the student body wants to create additional Public Service Announcements for educating the student population on new or changed policies and procedures, like the one they created for the new curfew that was put in place last year. In addition, teachers want to use Visual Communicator to help with in-service material like lesson plans and professional development.
"Visual Communicator offers us tremendous flexibility," said Sadberry. "As new initiatives come up, we can easily and cost-effectively use Visual Communicator to create just about anything."
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