New technology – Whiteboard communications in Classrooms

These are some lucky students, and this could work very well in any classroom, medical schools, universities too. It sure looks and reacts so much better than the old proverbial blackboard.

One interesting comment here was the fact that teachers are offered training on the board every week; however, students required little or no training and adapted quickly. Also, no chalk on your hands! The technology uses very similar touch screen and pen attributes found on Tablet PCs. BD

An estimated 65 percent of middle- and high-school classrooms and 24 elementary schools in Montgomery County, Md., will be fitted with computer-activated touch screen whiteboards, projectors, student response indicators, speakers and computer software by December. All of the technology was purchased from Promethean, a learning technology company started in the United Kingdom. The county received $3.3 million for the upgrades from the Federal eRate program, a Federal Communications Commission initiative to ensure schools and libraries have the latest technology.

For example, the board has a tickertape feature which allows a message like 'homework due tomorrow' to scroll along the bottom of the screen while a lesson is in progress.
"It's like subliminal messaging while you're teaching," Raman said.

For Palmiere's seventh-grade son, who she says is normally apprehensive about asking questions in class, Activotes gives him an anonymous way to show the teacher he may be having trouble understanding.
"To him, it's more interesting because they are involved in the teaching process," Palmiere said. "He says it's not as boring because he can see it up on the screen and can use the clicker to answer questions."