Nifty

Comcast, DPS mull partnership

'Denver Public Schools officials are looking at using Comcast's on-demand video technology to train teachers and help students with classwork at home.

The cable giant has told DPS Superintendent Michael Bennet that it has the ability to give access to selected content - such as, for example, a video on best practices in teaching third-grade math - to any specified home in its service area.

"We've got a platform that people can access from any residence in town," said Scott Binder, senior vice president of Comcast Colorado. "I'm on the DPS foundation board and we've had a lot of discussions with Michael already about how do we use our technology to support DPS's reform efforts."

DPS is undertaking a series of reforms amid unspectacular academic achievement and dreadful dropout rates.

"As we move forward, we can be teaching teachers how to teach at home, whether it's during the summer they can take different courses, or whether it's during the school year, in the evenings, they can be looking at different content," said Alex Sanchez, a spokesman for DPS. "The end result is we're going to have better teachers teaching our kids."

Sanchez said there isn't a time frame for when the technology would be implemented.

Philadelphia-based Comcast, which has 820,000 customers in Colorado, would most likely offer the service free of charge to DPS, though the company said it's too early to determine.

Here's how it would work: DPS officials would provide to Comcast training videos and other teaching materials it wants its faculty to have access to at home. Comcast would upload those videos and grant access only to a list of homes specified by DPS. Teachers would be able to watch the recordings "on demand," or any time they want.

It would work the same way for students, giving them access to class materials from home.'