Challenge West Virginia

By Keenan Cummings

Clarksburg Exponent Telegram

Harrison County schools are putting stimulus money to use by offering innovative technology for students and faculty, officials said.

As teaching continues to evolve, technology becomes more and more a centerpiece in the everyday classroom.

And through the stimulus funding, Harrison County will bring a new world of opportunities to its students, Technology Coordinator Jim Eschenmann said.

“It’s a very exciting project, and this is the biggest technology project we’ve done with the board since I’ve been here. It will open up new doors and learning opportunities for students, and it’s only limited by the teacher’s imagination,” he said.

Through a mixture of the $1.8 million in stimulus funding allocated toward technology, and state funding, the county will be able to provide an additional 1,086 computers for both students and teachers, mobile computer and iPod labs, 368 projectors, 330 iPod Touch media players, 259 white boards, 89 mini-slates, 286 document cameras, 13 large format printers and 290 wireless access points throughout all the county’s schools, Eschenmann said.

“Through this money we will be able to have wireless networking in all of the county’s schools,” he said. “Most of this we had already planned. But the stimulus money has allowed us to complete a project, which would have been five to 10 years, in a one-year period.”

The majority of the technology will be traveling to the elementary school level, with the expectation that all of it will be put into place by early January, Eschenmann said.

But many teachers already have begun using some of the equipment on a daily basis.

“We can bring the world into our classroom,” said Karon Freeland, fifth-grade teacher at Adamston. “It’s just so interactive. Technology is the future and will eventually become the standard.”

Freeland uses the interactive white boards to project lessons or math problems, research and show students different countries, and to reconstruct events.

“It’s not just sitting down at a desk and copying it down,” she said. “They can see it, and they want to learn that way.”

Cheryl Skinner teaches second grade at Lumberport Elementary and has more than 25 years of experience in teaching. She is a big proponent of the equipment and has noticed more interest from her students.

“I use it every day. It keeps the children more interested, and when you see the children getting excited, you get excited,” she said. “It’s especially helpful to the visual learner.”

Jenna Williams, a third-grade teacher at Lumberport, agreed.

“It motivates the students and engages them,” she said. “They don’t just have to watch me, they’ve already seen a lot of it and they are really excited to learn this way.”

Through the use of a document camera, digital projector and a computer, Skinner has been able to show videos, have story books read to the children from online and provide visual support for her lesson plans, she said.

Teachers are also provided with real-time results from their students from online quizzes and assessments, Skinner said.

“And we’re still waiting on our mobile labs, iPod labs and smart boards,” she said. “It’s just an exciting time.”

Nutter Fort Elementary has already installed two mobile computer labs and two iPod labs, said Samantha Michael, technology integration specialist at the school.

The mobile computer labs allow teachers to take computers into their rooms so they can use them at their desks, Michael said.

“The computers have both Windows and Macintosh operating systems so the students can do anything,” she said.

The iPod labs have quickly become a favorite within the school, Michael said. The labs consist of one computer that is synched to 30 iPods. Teachers can offer applications such as grammar rules, president review, math facts, periodic tables and the most popular of all, podcasts, she said.

In fact, one teacher already has recorded a podcast of her students reading a book, Michael said.

“They are very interested. Most of the days the iPod labs are checked out,” she said. “By learning this material, it will allow teachers to present their material in many different ways.”

But teachers have to first learn how to use the equipment. On an individual basis teachers are being trained on how to operate the technology, with an additional countywide training session scheduled after all of the equipment has been installed throughout the county, Eschenmann said.

Still the teachers are up to the challenge.

“A lot of teachers are new to technology, but are willing to learn,” Williams said. “We’ve all been really supportive of one another, and once it’s all in place, we will work as a support for one another.”

-READ MORE STORIES BY CLICKING THE ARCHIVES TAB ON THE www.challengewv.org HOMEPAGE-