A Montage of Manipulatives:

Safari Montage
By: Jessica Tamburro

What is Safari Montage?
SAFARI Montage provides K-12 school districts with a
comprehensive solution for their digital media distribution
and visual instruction needs. The full suite of integrated
products gives educators and administrators a single
interface for accessing all visual resources from inside the
school district intranet or from home. The award-winning
SAFARI Montage Video-On-Demand and Digital Media
Management enterprise solution is designed to cut costs for
school districts by utilizing intelligent digital media
delivery, while facilitating visual instruction and learning in
the classroom. SAFARI Montage servers come preloaded
with educational video titles tied to the curriculum from the
industrys leading video publishers including Schlessinger
Media, PBS, The History Channel, National Geographic,
Scholastic, Disney Education, BBC, and more.
A Personalized Aspect
In addition, with SAFARI Montage CreationStation, school
districts have the ability to easily upload and manage their
own digital video and other content, and to disseminate it
to all classrooms throughout the district. With the
introduction of its new Pathways SM module the road to
the future of classroom communications SAFARI
Montage now gives districts the ability to control, manage
and schedule classroom and district devices. The Pathways
SM module is a powerful new addition to the SAFARI
Montage suite of products, which forms a total enterprise
solution that provides System Administrators with the tools
to manage all of their digital media intelligently throughout
the district while improving teaching, learning and
achievement for 21st-century students.
How Does Safari Montage fit in with
the District Technology Vision?
Integrating technology is one of the three main
strategies utilized to improve student
achievement, which include: Research-based
Instructional Strategies, Building Background
Knowledge and Integrating Technology.
While the Newton County School System does
not have a technology plan, it is a part of our
mission and vision as educators in Newton
County.
Link to NCSS Strategic Plan:
http://www.newtoncountyschools.org/Portals/0/newtoncounty/main/
documents/strategic%20plan/NCSS%20Strategic%20Plan_Final.pdf

How Does Safari Montage fit in with
the Schools Technology Vision?
Again, while we do not have a technology plan in place, technology is a huge part of the Newton
County Theme Schools mission and vision. In order to project more project-based learning
and a rigorous environment, Safari Montage helps this:

The mission of Newton County Theme School is to provide
educational excellence for all students by creating a
collaborative environment that empowers students,
parents, staff, and community members to ignite a lifetime
desire and love of learning through project-based learning,
rigorous curriculum, and family involvement.

The vision of Newton County Theme School is to become a
world-class school where students engage in rigorous and
well-rounded curriculum in a safe and motivating
environment that prepares them for future learning and life
beyond school.

Appropriate Grades and Subjects for
Safari Montage
Safari Montage is appropriate for all grade level
because it is a cloud of information that is
uploaded from educators around the nation.
Teachers may also communicate and create
clouds within the county
Teachers may also upload their own material
and create playlists to store all of their
information and share it.
Safari Montage in a Nut Shell
It is a:
Digital platform for teacher and students
Video streaming library
Media delivery system
Learning objective repository
Objectives
The objectives to using Safari Montage are:
Increase technology use
Increase communication within the school,
county, state and nation
Increase potential of providing several
manipulatives in one place for students
Share and collaborate among educators
Key Benefits
It is a digital platform to house, share and use
several technological resources at once
(documents, PDFs, videos, media clips, audio,
etc.)
To organize lessons for students in which they
have the ease of access to a unit or bundled
lesson in one place
Target Population
Safari Montage has many items that range from
Pre-K to 12
th
grade. This would benefit every
classroom in the Newton County School System.
In order to benefit Safari Montage the most, the
district can create playlists or bundles for
curriculum departments to share lessons and
technology.
Target Population Cont.
While Safari Montage is ideal for teacher use, it
can be used as a platform for teachers to store
information in packages/units/lessons for
students.

At the NCTS, we do not have 1:1 technology, but
have 2 laptop carts, 2 computer labs, classroom
computers, iPods and iPads that can be shared
amongst the school
Equipment and Software
This is not a free software, so funding is required.
Here is the link to the different ways to fund:
http://www.safarimontage.com/Products/Fundin
g/Default.aspx

There are also different packages ranging in price:
http://www.safarimontage.com/Content/Default.a
spx


Equipment and Software Cont.
A download needs to be installed after package is
bought by county
Each teacher and students computer must have
Safari Montage installed.
Wireless or DSL internet access is required since
this is a web-based product
Technical Support
Safari Montage has an excellent support site and
customer support system:
http://www.safarimontage.com/support/support.
aspx

Also, Melissa Jackson and Dr. Shaduck at the
county office can help as well as school based Its
who have been trained in Safari Montage.
Limitations
Limitation of Safari Montage include not being
trained enough on how to use this product to its
fullest advantage.
Depending on what is bought by the county will
determine what type of package and resources
are able to be accessed.
Teachers need to make sure that their own
content is publishable.

Limitations Cont.
Safari Montage is only as good as you use it. For
example, if teachers do not upload or share
content, then those who are searching will not
find anything.
If you do not use it on a regular basis, it might
take longer to understand and get adjusted to.
There is no students access allowed at home.
Cost
Safari Montage is not free
Specific Package may be purchased through the
county
Safari Montage has actually saved money by
providing many service in one.
Check out the link below that will give you 10 ways
Safari Montage can help cut costs in other areas of
technology:
http://www.safarimontage.com/pdfs/AdaptingTo
BudgetCuts_web.pdf

Cost Cont.
Safari Montage can be downloaded on already
existing computers, laptops, netbooks and can
be accessed through Safari on the iPads and
iPods.
Depending on the package desired, the cost can
range. Here is a link to the different costs of
items needed for Safari Montage:
http://www.peppm.org/Products/safarivideo/pric
e.pdf

Potential Funding Sources
Several Grants are offered through the school
year, however, the cost to implement Safari
Montage countywide would be far too expensive
There are a set of government funds and
vouchers that can be applied to purchasing
Safari Montage:
http://www.safarimontage.com/Products/Fundin
g/default.aspx


How Can Teachers Use Safari Montage?
The main feature that would be purchased is
called Safari Montage Dashboard and Portal

How To Use Cont.
Teachers can search videos, audio clips, word
documents, PDFs, pictures, power points, links
and lesson plans in one search
Teachers can create playlists for themselves or to
share within their school, district or across the
nation
Teachers can search based on GPS or other
state/national standards
This also includes technology standards
How To Use Cont.
Students also have a locker where they can store
media files shared by the teacher
Students have classes set up where they can
access information separately
Students and teachers can find school news,
webcasts, podcasts and TV stations on the
dashboard as well
Students can video chat with teachers and
professionals

How To Use Cont.
Webcam Use
Each classroom will be equipped with a security
camera that enables teachers and staff to view
classroom activity at all times
Teachers can view classroom when there is a sub
Teachers can create podcasts by snipping and
creating videos from the webcam.
How Does this Technology Promote
Learning Goals?
Students can access resources directly shared by the
teacher that will enhance learning
Teachers can upload extra material for students to use as
study tools
Students can re-watch lectures or lessons from each day,
per teacher
Different types of material can be posted based on grade
level to meet individual student needs
Students Assessments can be given and graded in one
place
Teachers can share info and create more of a cohesive,
collaborative and common learning environment
Differentiation
Students have the My Locker feature which
teachers can upload pictures, documents, power
points, links and video that will help meet
individual needs of students
The search feature can help in determining the
items that are filtered based on grade level. This
can be good for math and language arts for
students who are below or above grade level

Communication
This tool is a good way to share and search for items
amongst topic and grade level.
Curriculum departments in each grade can set up
groups to share info as well as within tiered lesson
for different grade level to accelerate students
Share common info within the county
A way to communicate information to staff and
admin and students through web cameras
If there is access at home, parents can also view
lessons and resources in order to help their children
Evaluation of Research
Forsyth County Schools Evaluation of Safari
Montage:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lyYVLq2a9Pc&
feature=youtu.be
Teach and Learning Article:
http://www.techlearning.com/product-
reviews/0072/safari-montage/43530
SM vs. United Streaming:
http://www.classroom20.com/forum/topics/safari
-montage-vs-united


Evaluation of Research Cont.
Education Upgrade:
Safari Montage's extensive range of video content is preloaded onto your
school's servers, including 1000's of titles from educational video publishers,
ranging from Schlessinger Media, PBS, and The History Channel, to National
Geographic, Scholastic, the BBC, and more. Teachers have access to the
database of titles from their classroom desktops, and the easy-to-use search
feature helps find titles using keywords, subjects, age-levels and more. Playlists
can be created and shared with other teachers in your school as well as district-
wide. Each video has been correlated to State Standards, and will generally
include a quiz and a teachers' guide. Schools also have the ability to upload
their own 'in-house' created content to the server for viewing throughout the
school community.

Unfortunately it is neither practicable nor economical for an individual teacher
to implement using this resource. At the very least it would have to be
implemented at the school level, however Safari Montage becomes more
economical if it is implemented district-wide. Districts can choose different
packages, which can include 'at-home' access for both faculty and students.



Professional Learning
Teachers can send particular grade level leaders to
the 2014 Technology Conference in the summer
where experts can train
County level Its can come in during teacher
planning time to give brief, helpful seminars
Teachers can create professional learning within
schools
Create a technology PLC Group that will help those
in need
All teachers will need to be trained at some point in
time
Reflection
I was not very attracted to Safari Montage due to
the fact that it isnt free and there are many other
free solutions, but considering all of the different
aspects that are offered, Safari Montage is an easy
way to house everything needed for students and
teachers. It could help teachers who arent
technology savvy to go to one place for all the
technology they need for a lesson by collaborating
and other teachers offering their resources. It can
also then be shared with students and create a
more organized environment.
Quote to Leave On
John Dewey If we educate our children today
the way we did yesterday, we are robbing them
of their future.