Pflugerville ISD equips classrooms with digital whiteboards

Pflugerville ISD equips classrooms with digital whiteboards

By Amy Stansbury Friday, 06 February 2009

Pflugerville ISD recently launched a $785,000 pilot program to outfit 104 classrooms across the district with interactive whiteboards, document cameras, and wireless slates and response systems. Four classrooms at each PISD school became model technology classrooms as part of a project funded in the $125 million bond package passed by voters in 2007. A phased implementation of Promethean ActiveClassroom technology began at the end of October and was complete in early December.

Teachers who applied to be part of the model technology classroom program were notified in September by the district’s instructional technology staff, who went to each school and announced in a Publisher’s Clearinghouse-manner that they had been selected for the pilot.

PISD Chief Academic OfficerKeith McBurnett said that some districts have implemented model technology classrooms focusing on a certain population of student, but adding technology to four classrooms at every school the PISD program allows every campus to benefit.

“By doing this, we also get a chance to collect data from across the district on how boards are being used, how they’re affecting student achievement and how they truly are affecting engagement or interaction among students and teachers,” he said.

While interactive whiteboard technology is fairly new, McBurnett said there are a number of solutions available. PISD selected the Promethean ActiveClassroom, which Round Rock ISD is also using in more than 200 classrooms.

Fifth grade teacher Kathleen Crowe said she never wants to teach without the technology she is now using daily in her model technology classroom.

“It is so life changing because of the way you’re delivering your instruction and the way you’re able to engage the kids like you can’t otherwise,” Crowe said. “I mean, nobody wants to come up to the overhead anymore and write on it. That’s not that big of a deal. What they do want to do is write, or use the slate, or do a clicker or see it really large.”

Crowe said the interactive technology makes it easier for her to teach to a broad range of students performing at different levels.

“When you’ve got kids that are low-performing or extremely high-achieving — which I’ve got everything and in between — it meets everybody’s needs and they’re so incredibly engaged,” Crowe said. “It really is something everybody should have.”

The pilot program will be reviewed in late spring, and McBurnett said PISD administrators will make decisions based on the data they collect from the teachers.

“This is a pilot for us, and we definitely are looking at the possibility of expanding it in the future,” McBurnett said.

Round Rock ISD

In December, Round Rock ISD demonstrated its Promethean interactive whiteboards for other school districts. RRISD first implemented SMART Boards interactive whiteboards in 100 classrooms in 2000. Later, 3M donated 43 Digital Boards for all eighth-grade math classrooms, and over the past two years the district has added 209 Promethean interactive whiteboards. Today, 352 classrooms in RRISD are outfitted with interactive whiteboards.

As technology continues to change and improve, RRISD Communications Director JoyLynn Occhiuzzi said it is important for students to have access to it so they are prepared to enter the workforce.

“When you think of how many jobs require no computer skills, you can’t think of many,” Occhiuzzi said. “Moving into the 21st century, we want to do anything feasible that we can to improve and enhance the classroom experience. When you think about technology, students are so used to going home and playing some type of X-Box or GameBoy. They’re used to that type of interaction and technology. So now, with the digital whiteboards they’re using a tool at school similar to what they use at home.”