Schools on the Cutting Edge

The Educational Technology Report delivered at the Board of Education's last meeting left little doubt as to whether or not Wilton's teachers and students are plugged in to the cutting edge.

Director of Technology Mathew Hepfer walked the board through a presentation on one of the new SMARTBoards that have become so prominent around the school system. Hepfer's presentation included video clips of various teachers commenting on their individual applications of new equipment and methods and other samples of the innovative strategies and tools being put to use in district classrooms.

With so many new tools at its disposal, Hepfer said one of the greatest challenges Wilton now faces is keeping its staff up to date on how to use and implement them. This will partially be accomplished by an Enhancing Education Through Technology federal grant the system recently received that will "offer higher level courses in SMARTBoard integration taught by staff at Cooperative Educational Services."

In effect, this grant will allow for "training the trainers," or furthering the skills of those individuals in charge of teaching faculty and staff how to harness technology and implement it effectively in the classroom. The grant allows for eight days, two for each district school, of intense training on SMARTBoard integration and best practices.

Hepfer's report also stated that the school system "must replace 313 outdated computer and monitors" so as to keep the system-wide number up to par with enrollment. This includes 38 new machines at Miller/Driscol, 52 at Cider Mill, 111 at Middlebrook, and 112 at Wilton High School.

The SMARTBoards (many of which were donated by the PTA) are an interesting addition to classroom life, allowing teachers to engage students with a variety of mediums (maps, videos, websites, etc.) and even bring Web 2.0 practices (such as blogs and wikis) into the fray as learning tools. Hepfer mentioned that such devices are believed to be more engaging for students with learning disabilities, as well.

Other technological advancements include document cameras, which the SMARTBoards can use to capture student work and display it for interactive discussion (replacing outdated and difficult to use projectors), and various databases that allow teachers to take attendance and use electronic gradebooks. The effect is a digitized network of data that was once separated and relegated to hand-written gradebooks.

Lastly, Hepfer discussed setting up a wireless network for WHS and said the school system will be starting a free trail in the library in the near future.

"There will more to come soon on this front," he concluded.