MURFREESBORO, Tenn. — The June episode of “Out of the Blue,” Middle Tennessee State University’s television magazine program, features a conversation about the expanding work of the Center for Educational Media in the College of Education and its impact on K-12 educators across Tennessee and beyond.

Program host Andrew Oppmann, vice president for marketing and communications, spoke with Laura Clark, director of the center, who shared an annual update on its programs, including statewide partnerships, summer training initiatives and new digital learning tools.

Clark said the center currently works with 137 of Tennessee’s 140-plus school districts and reaches educators in 35 states.

“Word gets out, and they find our content to be relevant to their work in classrooms — that’s what we’re going for,” Clark said.

She highlighted the center’s Summer Academies, which include ELL, School Counselors and Special Education collaboratives that bring educators to campus for hands-on training sessions that are also recorded for broader use.

Clark also discussed the center’s AI in K-12 Collaborative, launched in 2025, which brings together educators from across Tennessee to explore how artificial intelligence is being used in schools while also addressing ethical concerns and student data security.

“When people talk about AI, they talk about their fear of ‘oh, you can use it to cheat’ or ‘you can use it to be dishonest,’” Clark said. “This is a perfect opportunity for teachers to guide students… to begin to think about the ethical questions.”

Clark also featured CEM Online, the center’s new learning management system designed to expand access to professional development for educators unable to attend in-person trainings.

You can watch the segment below:

To watch, listen

• “Out of the Blue” is available anytime on the university’s YouTube channel, the True Blue TV channel, Roku, Apple TV and Amazon Fire TV.

• It also airs on Murfreesboro cable Channel 9 daily at 6 a.m., 11 a.m. and 1:30 p.m.; NewsChannel5+ at 6:30 p.m. Sundays; WKRN+ at 7 p.m. Thursdays and noon Sundays; and streamed on the MTSU Jazz Network through WMOT.orgat 7 a.m. on the first Sunday of each month; and on other cable outlets in Middle Tennessee, so check local listings.

• It is also available as a podcast on iTunes and Google Play and as individual interview segments on Spotify athttps://spoti.fi/453hxg3.

Watch previous episodes of “Out of the Blue” at https://mtsunews.com/out-of-the-blue.

— Karli Sutton ([email protected])