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 Jennifer Keith, an English teacher and Speech Coach at LCHS,
oversees the technological services for student and teacher use
within the school. These include the computer labs, the use of
laptops and iPads, and the Promethean Boards. Keith elaborated on
these uses, beginning with the computer labs.
LCHS has two computer labs on the second floor of the building.
Between the two labs, there are eighty desktop computers for
students to use. Each computer comes equipped with wireless Internet
access and software for student projects, such as moviemaker
software. The labs are open until 4:00 each day.
Board president Jim Mammen said that last year the school activated
a public Wi-Fi network within the building. In addition, LCHS has
recently implemented a Bring-Your-Own-Device policy.
“There are some students who are more comfortable using their own
laptops, E-Readers, or phones,” said Keith. “But we still make sure
we provide access for those who do not have it normally.”
“None of the computers are more than four years old,” said Keith.
Keith said that starting the 2014/15 school year the students are
using the computer labs to take part in PARCC testing. The PARCC, or
Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers,
will be testing students as part of the new Common Core educational
standards that are being implemented in forty-seven states,
including Illinois.
Keith said that during the previous school year, students took
practice PARCC tests, and everything seemed to go well so far. “They
will be taking PARCC tests four times a year,” said Keith.
In addition to the computer labs, in recent years the school has
acquired portable labs, which are carts with a number of laptops
that can be moved from classroom to classroom.
“Each set has between twenty-five and twenty-seven laptops, and
there are three sets,” said Keith. Each cart also comes with a color
printer. The laptop carts were first used in the foreign language
classes, but their use has spread to all of the departments in the
school.
Another new piece of technology LCHS has worked to acquire has been
a number of Promethean Boards for the classrooms. A Promethean Board
is an electronic white board hooked up to a projector, featuring a
number of computer programs and a mouse (of sorts) in the form of an
electronic marker. The boards also come with built-in speakers for
video and audio needs. Keith said that currently the school has
twenty of these boards, and they planned to acquire five more.
Christine Randall, a math teacher at LCHS, said that she enjoys
using the Promethean Board in giving lessons, and students like to
work with the board and take a greater part in exercises, rather
than just sitting back and watching. “I will usually put a PDF file
on the board and give a handout of the same thing so they can follow
along,” said Randall.
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Keith said that there are teachers at the school who get a little
caught up in the learning curve that comes with these boards. The
boards become a learning experience for both the teachers and the
students, and some teachers will allow the students to come forward
and help in class when learning how to use the boards. “Some of our feeder schools have these boards, and some of
them don’t. We have to try to keep the balance in experience,”
said Mammen, who said it wouldn’t be good for students who have
seen these to come here and not continue to use them.
Keith added that the Promethean Boards are useful for all of the
departments in the school.
Keith said that in addition to all of these various
technologies, she has enjoyed using online testing during final
exams, especially for the sake of expediency. “I was finished
with exams at 2:00, and grades were in by 2:30 this year,” said
Keith. Keith said she imagines more teachers will take to online
testing in the coming school years.
Keith said the school Tech Committee will be working towards
acquiring another portable lab or another set of iPads in the
near future. “Ideally, everyone would have access to one of
these,” said Keith.
Mammen said that the school is working hard to stay up to date
with the needs of the people around them. “If there is an
industry that comes here, we will work to provide an education
for that industry,” said Mammen.
As said by Mammen, “It’s not about just buying boxes of chalk
anymore.”
[Written by Derek Hurley, Photos by
Jan Youngquist]
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