Lee Magnet High School Case Study

With “Shoflo experience” becoming a normal requirement on job descriptions across the country, some High Schools are allowing students to get ahead of the game by introducing them early to industry-standard broadcasting and production software. Read our interview below with Brandon Hilliard from Lee Magnet High School to learn how they are using Shoflo for their school’s weekly productions.

Stephen (Shoflo): Alright, Brandon, to get things started, what do you call your class?

Brandon (Lee Magnet): My class currently is labeled as TV and film production. In addition to TV and film, we also cover journalism and how to write compelling stories.

Stephen (Shoflo): What was the primary problem you were facing in your day to day that caused you to search for something like Shoflo?

Brandon (Lee Magnet): Besides Microsoft Word and Google Docs, we had no software that was able to create a rundown and also do scripts. Like Shoflo, Google Docs allowed students to see what others were typing in real-time, but it didn’t give you the things that you needed to be able to run a successful production – like a teleprompter and Show Caller Tracking which allows all of our students to follow along during a live production.

It’s also just so easy to use… I can tell my kids, “okay, you’ve got 15 minutes of a show, and you need to plan out your scripts, commercials, and videos.” Because of the built-in auto-time calculations, they know exactly what they can fit within that 15-minute segment. If they go over or under, then they have to have a valid reason. It’s a big deal because we have to build our shows around the time allotted by the school for announcements. Shoflo allows us to function in a way that is similar to a regular news station.

Stephen (Shoflo): How do you feel like the students have responded to it?

Brandon (Lee Magnet): They really enjoy the software because it’s a mobile app. Students in today’s world have their phones glued to their hands and understand how technology works, so it was easy for them to begin using Shoflo as soon as we introduced it.

Stephen (Shoflo): How is Shoflo helping your students when it comes to planning and executing a live production or broadcast?

Brandon (Lee Magnet): Because we reuse a lot of elements from show to show, we save a lot of time by not having to retype the same things for every single broadcast. It was a massive benefit for us and has helped remove a lot of wasted time in our class.

Stephen (Shoflo): How are you managing your student’s permissions?

Brandon (Lee Magnet): I manage permissions based on what their jobs are. For example, if they’re a producer or if they’re writing content, they have greater permissions to create and edit whatever they need. Other roles, like camera operators, follow the rundown once we are live, and our anchors follow the script that is on the teleprompter that we have set up in the studio. If I need to, I can upgrade anybody easily by going to their profile and changing their level of access.

Stephen (Shoflo): Do you have any final thoughts that you would want to share with other teachers who are considering Shoflo?

Brandon (Lee Magnet): Shoflo is a great tool that allows you to keep things as straightforward or as complicated as you want. It also is an excellent way for students to lay a foundation so they can prepare for jobs in many areas of live events, broadcasting, and production.

About Brandon: Brandon Hilliard is in his second year of teaching at Lee Magnet High School. He teaches TV and Film along with Cyber Literacy. With experience in the media field both as a journalist and a filmmaker, he has worked on multiple films and just had his first film published to Amazon Prime.