This charts the making of Just Call Me Tim, a short film produced by the students of St. Marks Community School in conjunction with DCTV. The production process was tied in with a training programme that provided the students with various production skills through workshops carried out by the DCTV crew.

The first episodes of Beyond the Classroom – the new community education series co-produced by DCTV and the Aontas Community Education Network have now been released online. Links are below.

Available to stream (watch in your browser) and download (for viewing later) the two episodes were first broadcast on DCTV on Wednesday 3rd March and repeated on the Fresh block later in the week.

Beyond the Classroom - The Communities. Episode 1 - Kilbarrack

Beyond the Classroom – Communities Ep1 from DCTV on Vimeo.

Directed by Donnacha O’Briain the 4 short form documentaries that make up the “Communities” section of Beyond the Classroom are thoughtful, engaging stories from the depths of another, earlier recession. This first episode tells the story of the young mothers in Kilbarrack who established a community education centre in the early 1980’s, of the learners interviewing the teachers, of the transformations both personal and community. Beautifully told this is one of the many success stories of Dublins Communities.

Introduced by Bernie Brady from Aontas the total piece is 20 minutes long and well worth putting the headphones in and having a cup of tea and watching.

Beyond the Classroom - The Practitioners. Episode 1.

Beyond the Classroom – The Practitioners Ep1 from DCTV on Vimeo.

http://vimeo.com/10052319

Currently being broadcast in three half hour episodes, The Practitioners section of Beyond the Classroom is the document of a live, 90 minute studio based discussion on Community Education. Inspired by the practices of Community Education the set was modeled on the Learning Circle which is so central to community education. The film-makers brought footage they had shot while researching the series and a group of insightful, experienced and committed practitioners discussed many of the key issues in Community Education using the clips as jumping off
points for an honest, deep and at times challenging exploration.

Facilitated by Anne Louise Gilligan this piece does not just look at the shape and boundaries of community education – it develops a new format of community television based on the tools and practices of community
television.

DCTV would love to hear from people who have viewed this material. A DVD version will be released later in the Spring with Aontas and the series will be released in a number of formats over the next few months. For
the month of March each week will see two new episodes released each Tuesday the week after they have been screened on DCTV – NTL 802. Please help the development of community television by passing these links onto
those you think may be interested.

Contact us at CE@dctv.ie for details on DVD and other media availability, to get help organising screenings or to let us know what you think.

Dublin Residents produce a programme on their experience of change. This is an output of the Media Literacy Training delivered by DCTV and supported by DICP.

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During the nearly two years that this series was in production the DCTV crew were privileged to meet many impressive, thoughtful and articulate people who spoke to us of Community Education. There is an ongoing, honest and exciting conversation taking place across the centres and offices and classrooms and kitchens that CE inhabits and the sharing and open nature of the practitioners meant that we were welcomed quite quickly into this.

This programme attempts to document this – to capture the essence of the discussion around the practice and impact of community education here, today: Dublin in 2010. But when DCTV asked some of these same practitioners what they wanted to make television for they instantly requested the production of a learning tool – and this is more than a document. All involved in making it hope that it is a relevant and useful tool for those who are seeking to develop their own practice and theory of community education.

Presented both as a 3 part series and a single, ‘as live’ document of the 90 minute conversation, DCTV invites groups and individuals to record and re-screen this important advance in educational programming. As a snapshot of the state of thinking about community education in Ireland this is important television that has not only learnt about, but subsumed itself into the community education process and principles. From the round table set to the care and attention to their words from these inspiring educationalists and activists this is not television that talks down to an audience but rather an opportunity to consider some of the most important questions for our communities today.

Episode 1

Episode 2

As Dublin has grown wealthier we have become carcooned, basing our personal and city transport system on the car. We know this isn’t working – but what is the alternative and how do we get there. Speaking to academics and elected officials, council planners and staff, campaigners and cyclists – Two Wheeled City constructs a convincing case and viable plan to recast Dublin as a cycl

Healthier, cheaper, friendlier, faster – the case for normalising cycling has never been more powerfully put. And as a bonus, in an effort to tear away at sterotypes, a series of ten cycling shorts (get it?) were made alongside the project.

When you picture a council junket you never see the fold up bike, the ferry and the cycle cafe. DCTV goes on a whirlwind (read cheap and quick – the way we all travel now) trip to look at models for European cycling along with the Dublin City Council cycling officer Ciaran Fallon. Along the way they meet bloggers and fashion designers and activists who all, incidentally, cycle bikes. And see how normal cycling is all across Europe.

The establishment of a cycling office in Dublin City Council is part of a visible commitment to cycling as a transport solution in our city. This programme gets inside not only what the cycling officer is doing but what he’s thinking, what he thinks Dublin can look like and what he’s basing some of this on.

A documentary on homelessness in Cork.