Students are excited about interactive whiteboards: electronic learning tools which extend and enhance classroom collaboration

Hilton students are increasingly involved in and adapting to new electronic learning tools such as the electronic whiteboard system ["Smartboard"] which acts like a huge touch screen for group work as well as a screen for projected learning units.  Hilton students are employing technology from kindergarten through high school in a myriad of ways in computer labs, libraries and in classroom settings in their education. Currently there are about 92 whiteboards in the Hilton School District which cost about  $3,000 installed according to the District's Learning Through Technology Department. 

Merton Williams Middle School Seventh Graders, from left, Alex Noel and Danny Kiersbilck, solve the Pythagorean Theorem using the Geometer Sketchpad installed on an electronic whiteboard in teacher Alexandra Pink’s Pre-Algebra class. “Technology brings it alive,” Ms. Pink said. “Students can manipulate math concepts by moving points on a triangle, so to better understand it. It helps students make meaning in math and they are eager to come up to the whiteboard.”

SHARED INFORMATION SPACE  Experts say that tools such as the electronic whiteboard break interesting ground in education allowing students to move within information spaces rather than merely gaze at them. In addition, these shared  information spaces become more a part of the classroom experience rather than private, individual computer experiences. The whiteboard's touch technology is based on detecting user input.  Digital writing utensils 'write' with 'digital ink' replacing traditional whiteboard markers. The digital ink works by using an active digitizer that controls computer input information for drawing or handwriting.  "Buttons" along one side of the whiteboard launch a popup keyboard and a right-mouse-click menu for more input options.

SCIENCE BEHIND THE WHITEBOARD  The interactive whiteboard accepts touch input from a finger, pen, and solid objects. Each contact with the board is interpreted as a left-click from the mouse. Whiteboards comprise a flexible plastic front sheet and a hard backboard. The back of the flexible sheet and the front of the backboard each have a thin coating of resistive film. The resistive sides of each are separated by an air gap of two-thousandths of an inch, or about the width of two human hairs. Pressure applied to the surface of the front sheet closes the gap, registering a contact point that is converted from an analog signal to a serial data stream and then sent to a computer for further processing. This technology can process contact from a finger, pen tool, or any device.

Learning Through Technology supports instruction through technology integration in Hilton