Hartland Teachers Marvel at Possibilities for Latest in Interactive Technology

Imagine breaking apart and rearranging our country's most famous quotes in history class to study them or downloading a video a presidential debate to spur a discussion — all by touch screen in the classroom.

It can be done using a smartboard and this fall, one will be in every Hartland School District classroom and teachers have been spending recent days at learning the basics.

Like giant iPads, these interactive computerized boards can surf the Internet, play multimedia and send email, such as notes or presentation made to students after a lecture. Those in training are excited about the possibilities about a project that makes the district one of the few statewide to feature the technology in every classroom.

"It's really useful, especially because there's so much on the Internet that you can use in your classroom," said Cheryl Vaughn, who teaches math at the district's alternative high school, LEGACY, before a recent session. "It's just very, very easy to get on the Internet and put it on the blackboard."

The training is the district's second year with the technology. Last school year, 40 teachers throughout the district, such as Hartland High School History teacher Paul Scheidler, learned how to use them as part of a pilot program. Over the summer, the district began installing 280 more — a process that will be complete in the next few weeks. (There was a delay for and schools because of summer construction on their joint parking lot).

"Kids are much more media savvy," said Scheidler, one of teachers who now is helping train others. "If you just stand there and talk like something out of Ferris Bueller that's going to kill them, so the more interactive it is, the better it is."

Move part of larger tech plan

The original price tag for the devices — at about $6,000 each — was $1.8 million, but Scott Usher, the district's technology direction, said they've come in under budget.

The project is part of Hartland's $28 million bond voters approved in 2010 and puts Hartland with Pinckney as the only districts in Livingston County with this technology in every classroom, Usher said, adding there is only a small number statewide.

Adding them is just one piece of a larger technology plan made possible by the bond, he said. Other projects include replacing each computer in the district over the next five years, installing wireless Internet throughout the entire district including public access and hooking into network with other school districts, police and fire and municipalities, he said. The cooperation could allow for enhanced distance learning like offering a foreign language class, such as Chinese, that otherwise wouldn't be available because of low enrollment or not having a teacher available.

Usher said smartboards have been around for 20 years and research shows with the right teaching methods they enhance learning, but the higher costs has keep them from most schools.

But Usher said parents shouldn't expect every teacher to jump right into using them. It takes time to adapt and not every teacher will be as confident right away, he said, but when they do, it should bring innovation to the classroom.

"I am thrilled with the embrace that the teachers have for this project," Usher said. "They are going to create better lessons and instruction."

Teaching the teachers

Scheidler, who recalls chalkboards and mimeograph machines when he started teaching, said he's advising most teachers to use it when creating something new to allow for a seamless transition.

He said he was a little wary at first, comfortable with his dry erase markers and an overhead projector.

"We didn't want to let go of the old technology because we didn't understand the new technology," he said. "Once I went through two or three of the smartboard lessons, my overhead started collecting dust. I put all my dry erasers away except for one. … Clearly, the smartboard technology is going to be the new thing."

He said it's important to realize the essence of teaching doesn't change but the new tools, such as remotes that allow students to be polled or answer questions on the screen will help convey the lessons.

"(In history, students) still like stories. They still like anecdotes. That's how they learn history through the soap opera of life, but smartboard allows you to get them up at the board doing things, working in teams, all kinds of things.

"These days anything kids use with their thumbs. They are over it."

Kent Wabel, who teaches American literature and yearbook at the high school, has used the smartboards to revise and edit papers on the board as well as work on grammar. But in doing so, he sees a possible limitation. He said such lessons work well only a few times and what's important is to stay interactive otherwise a teacher may lose their attention.

"That's the trick is how best to implement it. How to make it work."

Click to watch a video on how a smartboard works.

Editor's note: This story is the third in a weeklong series focusing on the upcoming school year.