Dade schools had tele-visionary: The school district's instructional television network exists because of Don MacCullough.(Miami-Dade County, Florida)

Byline: Tania Deluzuriaga
Mar. 14--When Don MacCullough joined Miami-Dade Public Schools in 1954, he intended to be a teacher, not a pioneer. After all, most of the technology MacCullough used to build the school district's public television empire hadn't been invented yet. "Nobody had a clue," said MacCullough. "I was stumbling around trying to do what I could at the time. We saw a need and we tried to fill it." When he retired in 1995, MacCullough oversaw one of the largest and most comprehensive educational broadcast systems of any school district in the country.
"He was the visionary that saw there was so much potential for education in instructional television," said district spokesman Felipe Noguera. "He really was ahead of his time." MacCullough spent more than half of his career as the WLRN station manager. Under his direction, the district gained control of all 20 instructional television channels available in Miami. "It was what any teacher would do," MacCullough said. "I just figured whatever was there, we ought to use." At first, the system was used to broadcast live instruction in black and white. As technology advanced, so did the programming. With the advent of video technology, the system allowed teachers in several schools to watch the same program on the same day without the district having to buy numerous copies of the same program. "The idea of having enough copies was not possible," MacCullough said. "This was an efficient way to save the school district money and provide the materials teachers needed." MacCullough prefers not to think of himself as a visionary. Rather, he says he was simply in the right place at the right time. "It was the best job anyone ever had," he said. "I was extremely lucky." Though he has been retired for more than a decade, MacCullough will be watching closely as the School Board debates what to do with any excess bandwidth left after converting the system to digital. "Just like we did in the first place," he said. 'I hope they'll look at this and say, 'How can we use this to solve problems?' "
Copyright (c) 2007, The Miami Herald
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my say:

Technology in the early 50's was dull and boring, especially in the school system. But one person had a idea, and it was brilliant. Mr.MacCullough came up with a county school channel for all his kids, so they could learn by visual stimiuli. From that point on it became a hit and I think we took big steps toward making technology work in this classroom. Who didn't love the famous writing shows and painting sessions we watched in the early days. These stations have developed and have become a big hit in schools all over the country. I think such things as distance learning have developed from these channels.

In conclusion, I believe these channels have helped generations of kids in school and even though it is over 50 years old, it was a start of generations to come in technology.