Education on the big screen

Every morning, Sean Kelly's fifth-graders start their math lesson with five warm-up questions.

The routine is familiar to generations of students: They work with pencils and scratch paper and solve problems on the board in front of the class.

But previous generations didn't key in their answers on wireless remotes. They didn't see their responses tallied on a screen right before their eyes. And they certainly didn't solve problems on an interactive whiteboard using digital ink.

For Kelly's class and the rest of the students at Edgerton Elementary School in Kalispell, however, the high-tech equipment is part of their everyday educational experience.

Nearly every classroom, as well as the library and music room, is equipped with a Smart Board, an interactive whiteboard manufactured by Smart Technologies. In addition to functioning much like a typical dry-erase board, Smart Boards can be used to show videos, PowerPoint presentations or Internet sites.

The boards' touch-screen technology allows teachers or students to navigate sites and files on screen rather than using a mouse, keyboard or remote control. In Kelly's classroom, the board is connected to Senteos, the wireless remotes students use to key in their quiz responses.

The new technology has revolutionized instruction at Edgerton, Principal Darren Schlepp said.

"It really keeps kids motivated, keeps them engaged," he said. "Smart Boards can be used for any content area. There no longer is much need for VCRs, DVDs, overheads. Everything can be scanned and shared."

Teachers use the boards at every grade level. First-grade teacher Wendy Bumgarner plans her entire day on the computer and then pulls up the pages and activities she'll need on the Smart Board.

She displays the Pledge of Allegiance on the board for her students to read along with each morning. From that page, she can follow links to patriotic songs.

Stacks of visual aids she used to hold up for her students have been scanned and are now accessible on screen. Even her old overhead projector screens are now in the computer, which makes them more interactive, she said.

"It makes sense, because kids are more visual these days," she said.

She uses her Smart Board to teach everything from movie-making to writing. Her first-graders make videos using cameras and a video-editing program, and then the students watch their productions on the Smart Board.

In printing lessons, instead of demonstrating the proper way to make an R on a regular whiteboard, Bumgarner can write the letter on her Smart Board with digital ink.

"It's allergen free - no more chalk dust," she said.

Fourth-grade teacher Brad Nikunen uses his Smart Board all day, every day. Lunch is the only time it's ever turned off, he said.

"The kids are just so into it," he said. "They need that stimulus to keep their attention, and they're motivated to learn because of it."

The students miss the boards when they have a substitute teacher, he added - and he hears about it when he gets back to class.

They say, "We didn't get to use the Smart Board all day yesterday," Nikunen said. "It's a tool we use all the time."

Because it has so many different functions, the interactive whiteboard has made several other pieces of equipment obsolete at Edgerton.

"We have the overhead projector graveyard," Nikunen said. "The ability to access videos, photos and anything online at the touch of your fingertips - it's huge."

He confessed that he does have filmstrips and a record player in the classroom, but they're not crucial pieces of his educational toolbox.

"The kids think the record player is funny," he said.

It's only been a few years since Edgerton got its first Smart Boards. Nikunen and Kelly saw the boards while attending professional development training and immediately recognized the benefit they would be to their students. The school's technology team and then-Principal Rebecca Dahl got behind the idea, and the school purchased four Smart Boards.

Four teachers, including Kelly and Nikunen, took the lead in learning how to use the boards - a task Nikunen readily embraced.

"I love technology," he said. "I just sort of jumped into the challenge."

But other teachers wanted to use the boards as well. For two years, they hauled the Smart Boards from room to room, which was less than satisfactory, Nikunen said.

"The mistake was thinking we could share them," he said. "Everybody wanted one."

Because of that, teachers and administrators were willing to make buying interactive whiteboards a priority, librarian Sandy Streit said.

"We had it as a school goal: Wouldn't it be nice to dream about having one in every classroom?" she said.

Boards can cost anywhere from $1,500 to $5,000, so teachers expected their goal to take five to 10 years to accomplish. But the Edgerton Parent-Teacher Organization raised money to buy a few, and Dahl funneled a large portion of the building's technology funds toward buying boards.

Nikunen applied for several grants to help purchase interactive whiteboards. Earlier this year, Smart Technologies designated Edgerton a showcase school and donated $29,000 in software and hardware, which almost allowed the school to reach its goal of a board in every classroom.

The only room without one is a kindergarten classroom added at the last minute to accommodate the unprecedented number of kindergarteners enrolled in the Kalispell School District - and even that room will have a board by spring, Schlepp said.

As a Smart showcase school, Edgerton is a destination for educators across the state who want to see how interactive whiteboards can enhance classroom instruction. Teachers can visit the school and watch students use the boards.

Teachers who want to learn more about Smart Boards may do so at a training session Kelly and Nikunen are hosting Dec. 14 at the Northwest Montana Curriculum Cooperative.

They hold a brief weekly training with Edgerton staff to go over Smart Board tips and tricks, but teachers have learned "through osmosis, mostly," Bumgarner said.

Each teacher uses the boards differently, Streit said. In the library, she uses hers for instruction and research. Students use it to access information from sites such as World Book Online.

"The kids do it, that's what's cool," she said. "It's a way to get kids interacting who might not be. Yes, we can teach without them, but we've got their attention with them."

Schlepp agreed.

"It's important to meet the needs of 21st-century learning experiences," he said. "You do need to balance the use of it so it doesn't take the place of direct instruction, but giving kids the skills to interact enhances that direct instruction.

"Teacher-student interaction has been enhanced by Smart Boards. There's enrichment through Smart Board experiences."

Reporter Kristi Albertson may be reached at 758-4438 or by e-mail at kalbertson@dailyinterlake.com.