New High-tech Chalkboard Gives Students, Teachers a Powerful Learning Tool
education, elementary school, high-tech, learning, liberty drive elementary school, students, thomasville,
When Thomasville teachers direct students to look at the board, they’re not talking about the large, green slate covered in dusty chalk.
Now, students are eyeing the Activboard, part of a high-tech system that incorporates an interactive whiteboard tied into a computer system operated by the teacher. Students are connected to the system through electronic devices at their workstations. It allows the teacher to move around the classroom and interact with students, as well as monitor student progress.
Over the past few years, the Thomasville City Schools have been installing Activboards throughout the system. The interactive boards now are in around 110 classrooms, or 75 percent of the system, says Mike Ingram, director of technology.
“All the classrooms are done in the middle school, and about 60 percent in the high school,” Ingram says. “And we’re finishing up in the primary school.
“They’re wired into our high-speed network and the Internet, and each has its own surround sound, video and DVD capabilities, so the teachers can use the Activboard for pretty much any type of teaching situation,” he says.
The Activboard rollout began in 2003 with some grant funding, an initial trial that went so well that administrators decided to install them throughout the system, says Jennifer Buck, instructional technology facilitator.
“We put 17 Activboards at Liberty Drive [Elementary School], and the teachers were really excited about it, and the kids were so much more engaged that it just basically took off from there,” says Buck, who was a classroom teacher at the time. “The superintendent got on the bandwagon when he saw the difference in terms of learning, and so we have just kept on adding them.”
The results were definitely a part of his decision to expand the program, says Dr. Daniel Cockman, superintendent. “They’re going to be expected to go out and compete in a global marketplace, and comfort with technology is going to be at the top of the list of what they’ll need,” Cockman says. “The Activboard and classroom really makes it seem like every child has his own computer. They can use the board to manipulate things, go to Web sites … it’s a great tool for instruction, and raises that level of comfort with technology.”
Because the teacher can move around and use a handheld device, he or she can immediately respond to students who are struggling with a question or problem, rather than waiting for an assignment to be completed, explains Buck.
“It really maximizes teacher time on each task, because they can go back immediately and review instead of waiting to grade papers, then do remedial work,” Buck says.
And because each system can handle an entire classroom’s needs, it’s also cost-effective for the school system.
“A typical child might have 30 minutes once a week on a computer, but in this situation, they’re using them all day, five days a week,” Cockman says. “It’s just a huge difference in terms of availability.”
Story by Joe Morris
Photo by JCI
