Learning 2.0: Interactive Whiteboards, Video Projectors Arriving in Classrooms This Fall

The classrooms of will be getting a digital makeover during the first months of the new school year.

Hundreds of thousands of dollars have been spent to equip Birmingham classrooms this fall with new interactive whiteboards and video projectors as well as learner response systems—all of which is intended to promote greater interactivity in the classroom.

The district has established a graduated installation plan for the various new systems, based on a spotted history of districts making successful use of systems such as the interactive whiteboard and video projectors. Some do, superintendent David Larson said, and some don’t.

“I am confident we have a good plan going into this,” Larson said, noting Birmingham’s plan is take it slow to ensure teachers are eased in the transition and know how to adapt.

Installation of the whiteboards and video projectors will begin with Berkshire Middle School and Derby Middle School in mid-September, Larson said. Administrators plan for the remainder of the whiteboards and projectors to be wrapped up by mid-November.

Teachers teaching each other

Around 50 whiteboards have already been in classrooms across the district, installed last year as part of a test case. Larson said having these whiteboards already in classrooms—as well as many teachers and students already proficient in using them—will make the transition easier for everyone else.

In addition, several teachers in each building have been named Interactive Classroom Opportunity (ICO) coaches, Birmingham’s executive director of technology Joe Hoffman said.  There will be one coach in each elementary building, he said, two at each middle school and three at each high school.

“The coaches will show them not only how to use their technologies but also how to leverage it to get the most interactivity,” Hoffman said.

Though ICO coaches will be sprinkled throughout the buildings, each teacher is still required to go through extensive training when they receive their boards or projectors, as well as attend a district-wide training session in addition to five to 10 hours of additional professional training throughout the year.

Larson said he understands there will be a learning curve for teachers, but he expects to see a huge change by the end of the school year.

“It’s going to take time, attention and capacity,” Larson said. “With most technologies there’s an initial workshop overview session and then the professional trainer from the company leaves and the individual is left on their own. We will be providing different levels of support.”

Hoffman and Larson said they believe that the teachers will steadily learn different aspects of the technology, and be able to pass that along efficiently to their students.

“What we see in our professional development plan is every month they should be growing in sophistication,” Hoffman said. “As they learn more aspects of it, it should now turn from the teacher driving the board all the time to students interacting with the board.”

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