SmartBoards, PIN systems in schools

Technological advances are evident nearly everywhere in local schools, from innovative SmartBoards in classrooms to PIN systems in cafeterias to Internet programs that allow parents to access daily grades from home computers.

Despite major cutbacks to school budgets over the past two years, technology has continued to grow in education through alternative funding sources like community organizations and grants.

Perhaps more than anything else in education, that growth has expanded the ways teachers are able to present lessons and has piqued a new interest in learning for students.

Even at the elementary level, computers and the Internet are playing a more significant role in educating students. Orchard Elementary in Jackson installed a new computer lab in 2003 that allows students to access learning programs and do research on the Internet.

"The kids love it. They're more at home on a computer than we are," said Clay Vangilder, principal at Orchard. "They're learning and don't even know they're learning."

At Jefferson Elementary in Cape Girardeau, a new greenhouse, worm farm system and digital microscope are opening up a new world of technology in science.

The digital microscope, purchased with grant money, connects to a computer and allows students to view magnified images on a SmartBoard in Grammer's classroom.

"The whole class can view larger than life picture of these tiny creatures that they can't even normally see with the naked eye," Grammer said. "It's just one way we incorporate technology into learning."

Grammer said he's amazed by the students' grasp of technology terms like word processor and mouse.

"Technology is so much a part of what we do, it's hard to think of ways we haven't incorporated it into the classroom," he said.

In the Scott City School District, a new computer lab was added in the past year for elementary students and programs at the older grade levels were expanded and upgraded.

Federal funding paid for hand-held computers for administrators, and the school board approved a technology curriculum for the elementary school.

Scott City's technology coordinator, Martha Nothdurft, said technology has had a tremendous impact on education in her school district.

"Students of all ages are just more technologically savvy," Nothdurft said. "All our students, elementary to high school, have the resources to work with inquiry-based, interdisciplinary activities that make them more productive in the classroom and successful in their daily lives."

At Central Middle School in Cape Girardeau, a new program paid for by the PTA allows students to access 130 Internet research resources at school or from their home computers.

The program is called eLibrary Elementary, and it allows students to sort search results by relevancy, reading level, date or publication, said librarian Vicki Howard. The program also contains a reference desk component which will help students develop their reading comprehension skills through access to a dictionary, thesaurus and encyclopedias.

Parents in the Jackson School District now have access to information like grades, attendance and lunch account balances through an Internet program called ParentLink, which was implemented earlier in the school year.

The program is accessible through the district's Web site using a personal identification number assigned by the school and has been expanded this semester to include a daily breakdown of grades.

"As a parent, this is an incredible tool," said Dr. Sam Duncan, director of state and federal programs at Jackson. "You can have conversations now with your kids about missing assignments or low grades instead of finding out about them when you talk to the teacher."

More than 1,500 parents have signed for the program so far, and Duncan said that number continuing to increase.

Most cafeterias in Jackson schools have also seen an increase in technology. Elementary and middle school students now use PINs to pay for their lunches, which has created a cashless lunchroom. High school students in both Jackson and Cape Girardeau use student IDs with bar codes to pay for their lunches in debit-card fashion.

cclark@semissourian.com

335-6611, ext. 128