MontanaPBS provides free resources to support students learning at home, educators

MontanaPBS has partnered with the Montana Office of Public Instruction to support students learning at home with Learn at Home, a slate of free online resources and a revised broadcast TV schedule of educational programs. The changes are intended to support families and educators as schools across the state are closed during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Beginning Monday, March 30, MontanaPBS will dedicate its daytime weekday schedule to educational programming provided by MontanaPBS and the Office of Public Instruction that is aligned with Montana state school standards. The new 6:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. weekday schedule includes specific blocks of time for pre-K through 8th grade students. The schedule covers a number of subjects, including English language arts, social studies, science and math. MontanaPBS’ regular primetime schedule will not change.

“These school closures bring unique challenges for teachers, parents and caregivers in how to keep Montana kids engaged and learning,” said MontanaPBS General Manager Aaron Pruitt. “As our state’s public television service and as a hub for digital learning resources, MontanaPBS can play a critical role in helping create a learning environment with trusted and quality resources outside of the classroom and at home.”

“During these unprecedented circumstances, teachers are continuing to teach, and students are continuing to learn through a combination of digital and non-digital distance study. This can present challenges for ensuring equitable delivery of education services," said Montana Superintendent of Public Instruction Elsie Arntzen. “The new daily TV programming will help bridge this divide and provide additional opportunities for equitable access to education.”

As part of the collaboration with the Office of Public Instruction, MontanaPBS has also curated corresponding free digital content for at-home learning and support for teachers. The content is aligned to the same Montana content standards and topic areas as the broadcast service. Available free resources include:

• Educational TV schedule: MontanaPBS is broadcasting standards-aligned programs such as “Nova,” “SciGirls,” “History Detectives,” American Masters” and MontanaPBS programs featuring Montana history and Indian education content, such as “Indian Relay” and “Montana Mosaics” weekdays from 6:30 a.m. through 5:30 p.m. The daily schedule is available at https://www.montanapbs.org/education/distance-learning-at-home/.

• Digital media collections: MontanaPBS is providing resource collections on PBS LearningMedia that correspond with its TV broadcast schedule. Collections include curated media and lessons that are sorted by grade level and subject area. 
               

• Support for teachers: MontanaPBS has begun offering live webinars for teachers on how to start using these learning platforms. PBS LearningMedia webinars are offered weekly. A schedule can be found on MontanaPBS’ website. 


• Curated tips and tools for teachers: MontanaPBS published a webpage for teachers that points to articles and resources created and/or vetted by the MontanaPBS education team, other public media organizations and other trusted education partners. 


For more information about MontanaPBS Learn at Home resources, visit https://www.montanapbs.org/education/distance-learning-at-home/. 


Educators looking for support implementing distance learning using the Learn at Home programming schedule can contact the MontanaPBS Education staff. Director of Education Nikki Vradenburg is available at nikki@montanapbs.org; Deanna Mydland, early learning specialist, is available at deanna@montanapbs.org.

MontanaPBS works to connect residents of the state through the use of broadcast television, the internet and community outreach projects. It is available to families for free via over-the-air broadcast in the state’s larger cities, on translators in smaller communities, as well as on cable TV, Dish, Direct TV and the recently launched live streaming service, YouTube TV. To watch MontanaPBS in your community, visit its broadcast area page at https://www.montanapbs.org/about/broadcast-area/.