Blue Ridge PBS- TTI

For more than 40 years, Blue Ridge PBS has provided quality educational opportunities for students and schools in school divisions from Amherst to Lee Counties. But we are more than just Instructional Television.

Instructional Television

Every school day we broadcast programs that have been specifically selected for their instructional content and correlated with the Virginia Standards of Learning. ITV is more than just Educational Television: it is video designed especially for classroom use, with study guides, companion web sites, and specific instructional objectives.

Teacher Training

The Education Services staff leads training sessions and teacher inservices at no cost to local school divisions on a variety of topics, including Computer Training, Copyright, Meeting the Standards of Learning, Media Literacy and others. We also lead Teacher Training Institutes. The TTI method of instruction incorporates video, multimedia, and computer based instruction with hands-on activities designed to establish and maintain student interest. Each year hundreds of teachers are trained at one and two-day TTI seminars throughout our coverage area.

Family Literacy

Blue Ridge PBS is committed to improving the lives of our region's citizens by promoting literacy at an early age. We begin by distributing books at no cost to at risk children and continue by offering training to preschool teachers and care providers in effective ways to make sure that our children come to school "ready to learn." We work actively with schools and community organizations around our region to support education beyond school walls. Our broadcasts of G.E.D. and Workforce Training programs assist Southwest Virginians in their efforts to improve their intellectual and financial well-being.

Technology in Instruction

Through our web site, www.blueridgepbs.org, teachers and others can access resources like the S.O.L. Database, which correlates our ITV programs with the Virginia Standards. The Electronic Sundial is a monthly e-mail newsletter delivered directly to the desktops of hundreds of educators detailing ITV highlights and news. We by offer our school systems a chance to join NOVAnet, a nationally respected distance learning delivery network. Through our consortium, participating school systems will be able to access state-of-the-art distance learning. The JASON Project has come home to Blue Ridge PBS. This year-long interactive educational experience was conceived by Dr. Bob Ballard, discoverer of the wreck of the Titanic, and is internationally recognized as one of the best interactive science experiences available to teachers and students today.

Our Staff
V.P. Education Services: Linda Pharis is the department head who ensures communications with the education leaders in our region and supervises departmental operations.	Resources Manager: Sheila Campbell takes requests for ITV programs and can answer almost any question about ITV
K-12 Specialist: Marshall Gillespie is a certified teacher who travels the region helping educators keep up with the changes in the field. She will travel to your school for group or individual training and is standing by to help.	JASON Project Managers: Trish Lawson and Kay Hammer plan the JASON telepresence each year and train area teachers in effective utilization of the JASON curriculum.