December 2005 — Smart Classroom
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Plasmas: A New Angle on Learning
Hladun finally got his plasma monitors last year, along with a centralized multimedia distribution system from Educational Technology Resources Inc. (www.etr-usa.com) and Sampo Professional (www.sampoamericas.com). And he got 240 of them, one for every classroom in the district. They were delivered the third week of July, and almost all of the plasma monitors had been installed by the end of August. The first day of the school year—traditionally a teachers’ conference day—was devoted primarily to training the teachers in the new technology. Hladun says, “We didn’t want to just drop the equipment off in the room and say, ‘Here, use it.’”
Needless to say, the monitors have been an overwhelming success.
The screens are placed in the front of the classroom, and even students sitting on the sides can see things clearly. They’re used for PowerPoint presentations, for demonstrations, for interactive response exercises, and for an array of other activities. “You just walk down the hall,” says a vindicated Hladun, “and there’s something different going on in every classroom.”
The skeptical townsfolk are now true believers. An open house that featured students showing off their work—much of it technologically inspired—really helped. So has the boundless enthusiasm of the teachers, and the way they’ve integrated the technology into their classrooms. Hladun says he had no idea the environment would change this quickly.
That changed environment is being experienced in many districts, as plasma monitors are winning over the educational community. They’re long-lasting, more and more affordable, easy to install, don’t take up much space, hook up to a variety of multimedia systems, and—perhaps most importantly—they can be adapted to fit many different pedagogical strategies. Although the data on student achievement is not quite in yet, the value of the students’ (and, for that matter, teachers’) renewed engagement in their schoolwork can’t be overstated. And motivation is a fundamental part of learning.
Kincaid ends with an almost plaintive wishfulness that is, in effect, a wholehearted endorsement of the plasma monitors he brought to his school: “Anything we can do to get the kids interested in school and coming to learn….”
Neal Starkman is a freelance writer based in Seattle, WA.
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