TechExpo 2.0 Shows the Future is Now

Much of Wilton’s recent education budget debate has centered on how much is being spent on technology in the schools, and on whether that technology is meeting the 21st century needs of its students. So it isn’t surprising that the district’s technology director Mathew Hepfer is eager to show off everything hi-tech in the schools.

He got his chance at Thursday evening’s TechExpo 2.0, the broad public demonstration he and several teachers organized at Cider Mill to show how Wilton educators use technology in the classroom.

“There’s definitely a lot to see tonight at every grade level, kindergarten through high school,” he said as he helped direct parents who were eager to see the advances in technology their children learn with each day.

Chris Moya, a Wilton High School grad from 1979 who has a son in Middlebrook’s 6th grade and a daughter at Cider Mill in 4th grade, was impressed by what he saw. Moya, who works as a computer programmer, watched a programming demonstration given by two current high school students.

“When I was in school, we used an ancient software, that was pretty rare for a high school to have in those days,” he described. “But we never could have done anything like what the kids have today.”

He added, “That’s why we came home to Wilton. The schools are great.”

The demo Moya had been watching was led by high schoolers Jonathan Saleh and Doug Fisher. They explained how "Alice," the programming platform they use in class, sets the stage for higher level skills once they take college programming courses.

“We learn the mindset now, and it makes it that much easier to move on to C++ and Java programming. We’re a step ahead,” Saleh explained.

A key focus Thursday night in other classrooms was showing the technological applications available for special education students, specifically the iPad and thousands of apps targeted for children with special needs. Parent Mark Spellman, who has two children with special needs in the Wilton district, volunteered as a demonstrator, and explained how these new technologies are actually “disruptive”—in a positive way.

“I call it ‘disruptive’ because the advances have absolutely revolutionized SPED learning; it’s upended everything in an amazing way,” he said.

Spellman showed a communication software created by speech pathologists called "proliquo2go," which is used in the district’s classrooms to help facilitate communication for students with verbal expression differences. In addition to how portable it can be on the iPad and smaller devices, the program is especially good at engaging and holding the attention of the students.

But it’s also cost effective, according to Spellman.

“The software is about $150-$190, and a device is $200-$300. With all the talk now about budgets and taxes, and you look back to when my son got his first speech device 11 years ago—it cost $9,000. It broke three times a year, so we had to have another one as backup—for another $9,000—each time the first got repaired. Think about that kind of savings implication for a school district.”

Other evening offerings included high school video production and 3-D animation courses highlighted in one classroom next to a student-led demonstration of school usage of Wiki technologies in another.

One of the things teachers pointed out as a benefit was how the technologies they’re using to teach actually enable their students to take an active part in teaching themselves. Mrs. Kiernan, an 8th grade Social Studies teacher who helps her Middlebrook team’s students produce a documentary using multi-platform digital technologies said, “It helps them be collaborative, it helps with their critical thinking.”

Her demo partner, Middlebrook Spanish teacher Ms. Rio echoed, “Their generation is used to using the technology, but it makes them even hungrier for the end result.”

During the TechExpo, the district was making available to everyone a software program that had been purchased as a part of an effort geared to special education students. According to Ann Paul, the district's director of special services, the "Read and Write Gold” text-to-speech program is something the entire student population can find useful.

The program reads aloud any digital media from preloaded books or scanned materials. Anyone in the district can contact Ann Paul, director of special services, to arrange getting a copy of the software.