by Mark Waldron

Technology in today’s classrooms means more than teachers using overhead projectors and calculators to impart their lessons. Students in metro Atlanta public and private schools are benefiting from an influx of hardware and software aimed at enhancing the educational experience. Language arts, math and phonics programs are just a mouse click away. With the accessibility of the Internet not only at home, but also at school, children from kindergarten to graduation are soaking up education in ways their parents never imagined possible.

Parents of public school students can thank a major benefactor for the influx of classroom technology. According to the Georgia Lottery’s official website, $1.8 billion, in the form of technology grants, has been appropriated to Georgia schools since the lottery’s inception in 1992. Those funds have been used solely for instructional technology (computer hardware and software, automation and networking for all media centers) and teacher/administration training on how to incorporate technology in classrooms. Here’s how the technology bug is spreading across the area.

Contemporary Classrooms Changing

The wireless technology that’s become commonplace in colleges and universities is making its way to the K-12 arena. The change truly creates a classroom without borders for teachers and students alike.

Teachers aren’t just filling chalkboards with math and language lessons anymore. According to Kathleen Curran, assistant principal at Frey Elementary in Cobb County, the teacher’s “tool box” has expanded beyond textbooks and pop quizzes. Websites like Cobb County’s “Picasso” offer teachers a multitude of resources right at their fingertips, including lessons, on-demand video streaming, and strategies to use with at-risk students in every subject at every grade level.

A growing number of teachers now have laptop computers, and high-speed Internet access in classrooms is becoming the norm. Teachers also use tools like PowerPoint and video streaming to replace the traditional overhead projector and chalkboard. Student book reports on topics like space or the Civil War are now more likely to be video presentations created on video editing software in school computer labs.

“In the past five years we have gone from one or two InFocus projectors in a school to nearly one in every classroom,” says Cindy Crews, a second-grade teacher at Bascomb Elementary School in Cherokee County. “We have seen more and more hardware available to students.”

School systems and private schools alike are purchasing Internet-based programs like “Beyond Question,” which allows teachers to create assessments for entire classes or even individual students.

Technological advances don’t stop there. Some classrooms have incorporated handheld “voting” devices students can use to respond to a teacher’s questions; the answers are sent electronically to the teacher’s computer. The instructor can instantly determine student understanding of the topic and refocus instruction to better meet the needs of individual students.

Online blogs (websites with lesson text written in journal style) and lecture Podcasting (digital sound recordings of lessons) have become the norm in many schools, including private schools like The Walker School in Marietta and Holy Innocents’ Episcopal School in Atlanta. Teachers at Holy Innocents’ use interactive “smart boards” during their lectures. The boards essentially combine the traditional whiteboard with a computer. Teachers control their computers by touching the whiteboard to access the lesson, and can even write on the board with “digital ink,” then save the lesson for distributing later.

This technology has also been a blessing for parents. Forget writing a note and crossing your fingers that your child will remember to take it out of his book bag and deliver it to his teacher. Contacting your child’s teacher is now as easy as firing off an e-mail. In fact, e-mail has become the preferred method of communication between most teachers and parents.

“I’ve been impressed with how easy it is to contact our teachers with e-mail,” says Matt Morrison, a Woodstock parent with a daughter and a son in Cherokee County schools. “In most cases, we get a response back the same day, during class hours. And that’s something we never expected.”

Other, more traditional lines of communication between parent and teacher are beginning to experience technological changes, too. “Picasso” in Cobb and “Parent Connect” in Cherokee and Fulton counties are just a couple examples of Web-based programs that allow parents to access their child’s classroom file. Once logged in, they can see current grades, daily assignments, attendance and discipline records, as well as school communications like newsletters, bulletins and notes from the teacher.

The Technology Challenge

While technology may provide teachers with additional means for instructing students, it doesn’t come free of challenges. Funding for all this hardware and software remains a challenge for schools, both public and private. While the Georgia Lottery has allowed public schools to invest a significant amount of money in new technology, it’s nearly impossible to keep pace financially with the computer age.

“Technology changes so rapidly that more and more tax dollars are needed to keep our classrooms updated,” says Crews.

Many private schools have ongoing fundraising campaigns to meet the financial demands of keeping pace with technology on campus.

Training for teachers continues to be an issue, both financially and feasibly. “Professional learning and teacher-training departments will be hard pressed to keep up with the demands,” says Crews. Some schools have hired technology teachers to help bridge the gap between the required curriculum and today’s computer-age learning resources.

Mary McPherson, director of academic technology at St. Martin’s Episcopal School in Brookhaven, isjust one of those. She says accessibility is important in implementing technology. Because she works full-time, she’s there when teachers are trying out a new program in the classroom.

Teachers – both now and in the future – will be challenged to use the technology available to them and integrate it with their individual teaching styles. “Technology is simply a tool; it is one more resource for teachers,” says Curran. “It is only as good or as bad as the individual using it.”

“We teach teachers how to implement the programs and use it appropriately,” says McPherson. “We don’t use technology just for the sake of using it, but using it appropriately in the classroom.”

Crews points out that taking advantage of available technology can only help teachers better reach their students. “Students today are accustomed to receiving and processing information so much quicker than adults ever did [when they were kids],” she says. “They demand the fast pace of a video game, cell phones, movies and computers. That is exactly why teachers cannot ignore teaching with technology – the one way to grab children’s attention and get them to love coming to school.”

Schools of the Future

What does the future hold for metro Atlanta’s schools? Expect to see whiteboards and handheld devices spread to more public and private schools, along with updated desktop systems with flat screen monitors. Mobile laptop labs with wireless Internet access may eventually become the classroom standard.

In response to the continued growth in technology, more teachers will become computer savvy with the help of school district computer certification programs like Cherokee County’s “Teach 21.” And, as more teachers become comfortable with communication tools such as video streaming and Podcasting, students will have education on demand, from any computer with an Internet connection – much like what many colleges and universities offer now.

Parents of even the youngest students will be able to download homework assignments when their kids are absent. “‘The dog ate the homework’ won’t work anymore, unless of course the dog eats the computer,” Curran says. Given the speed of innovation in technology, it’s likely that many of these changes are no more than five years away, which means what’s cutting edge today soon will be as common as the chalkboards and erasers of our youth.