Regional Schools Are Going High-Tech

By Jenny DeHuff
The Bulletin 
April 13, 2007  

Regional Schools Are Going High-Tech

 Photo by Jared Gruenwald / The Bulletin Rachel Reddy using an Activpen to control the calculator on an interactive whiteboard.

Philadelphia - It has been widely acknowledged that children learn at different speeds, different styles and different levels, and new technology in classrooms across the East Coast is helping with this differential.

Now test scores, grades and homework assignments can be viewed on the Web, making it easier for parents to keep track of their child's academic performance and students to complete their lessons.

That's right, the days of the chalkboard are over. They've been replaced by "smart boards" or "Activboards," and teachers can pinpoint something on them from the comfort of their desk.

Technology in the classroom, however, does not come without consequences. Some parents can think of better ways to spend school money, but the professional academics argue there is no other way.

One example of a school that is jumping forward with technology is one public school in Mount Laurel, N.J. Larchmont Elementary School offered a public media invite where students demonstrated using the new materials. Teachers showcased how the products work and how the students respond.

Students learn there from an interactive whiteboard used along with a projector and laptop. Using technology from the software brand Promethean, teachers can digitally create and animate their lesson plans with visual aides, sounds and movies while integrating Internet research and developing their lesson plans.

Jeanette Nistad teaches second grade at Larchmont, where, at the end of every question or equation, she is able to see exactly who answered correctly. The beauty of the technology is, although though the program shows the class how many correct answers were submitted, the students don't know who answered wrong. For Nistad, it is a brilliant way to eliminate test stress and anxiety among peers.