03/24/08 —

Think “pyramid” — that’s how local leaders have been encouraged to envision the future of their schools.

“Think of this as a framework as to how we are going to teach in the 21st century,” said Ann Noonen, coordinator of technology of Crawford Central School District. “At the top of the pyramid is our goal — student achievement. At the bottom is our education standards and desired outcomes, and we want whatever we do to be based on those standards.”

During a presentation at a recent Crawford Central School Board meeting, Noonen introduced members to the critical role technology plays in the 21st-century educational landscape.

“We’re excited for our students,” she said. “While some teachers elsewhere are still making trasparencies in their multi-media classes, we can give our teachers new tools that will give them different modalities.”

The Classrooms For the Future Grant, which is being considered simultaneously in Crawford Central, Conneaut and PENNCREST school districts, offers them the opportunity to transform high school education.

In all, the Pennsylvania Department of Education is making $20 million available to school districts to pay for technology, equipment and teacher development.

“Our commitment is to improve teaching and learning in English, math, science and social studies and to prepare students for tomorrow’s postsecondary and workforce opportunities,” Noonen said. “This grant would allow us to teach our students to think abstractly, work in teams and to distinguish good information from bad.”

The CFF grant would provide portable wheeled carts containing 25 student laptops and one instructor laptop. Districts also have the option of selecting either Mac or Windows platforms.

Additional grant options include printer/scanners, imaging software, productivity software, a Web cam, an interactive whiteboard, computer-linked projector and digital camera.

The grant limits the schools to three digital cameras and five video cameras per school.

In addition to making the technology hardware available to students, the state Department of Education grant provides a $6,000-per-buiding allotment to cover infrastructure improvements, such as the installation of bracket to hold overhead projectors and the establishment of wireless networks. Districts would be responsible for expenses that exceed the $6,000.

Included in the grant is funding that is earmarked for the professional development of teachers. Support is a key mandatory component of the program because it ensures that instructors realize the maximum potential of the technological investment.

PDE already has a plan in place designed to teach participating personnel how to use the technology. To comply, districts must designate a coach who will oversee the technology.

“Through interactive technology, teachers can implement a variety of teaching methods at once for students to learn,” said Jennifer Galdon, director of secondary curriculum. “For example, a teacher who is doing a lesson about ‘similies’ can use video clips and visual images simultaneously giving students the opportunity to see, hear, etc.”

Noonen and Galdon explained how rapidly the world is changing and the need for classroom environments to adapt through the introduction of new technology.

Noonen and Galdon played an eight-minute video presentation demonstrating statistics of how technology is expanding exponentially.

“The amount of technical information is doubling every two years. In 2010, it is predicted to double every 72 hours,” according to Karl Fisch, who produced the video.

The video also included mathematically-based predictions including “For children born in 2007, at the age of 6 a supercomputer’s computation capabilities will exceed that of the human brain ... by 2049 it will exceed that of the human race.”

“Seeing what lies ahead goes right to the heart,” said Crawford Central board member Stuart Rothman. “It’s 180 degrees away from the way our kids are learning. If we don’t go the route of technology then they are going to be left behind.”

The goal of the Classrooms For the Future Grant is to teach students 21st-century skills that go beyond the three R’s of reading, writing and arithmetic. Through the utilization of technology and the Internet, students will move from a teacher-centered to a learner-centered classroom.

Through the use of the Internet and the mobility of laptops, students will become linked, improving their collaboration and problem-solving skills. The teachers of today become facilitators who guide students through technology and also provide a forum where students can learn from one another.

According to Rothman, there are many advantages in multi-sensory learning.

“Through the senses students use different parts of their brains,” he said. “This gives students a greater chance of relating the information and then retaining it.”

During all three districts’ March work sessions, technology directors purveyed Fisch’s video. In a nutshell, the video emphasized the need to not just teach students facts, but to teach them how to master technological resources.

“We are currently preparing students for jobs and technologies that don’t yet exist in order to solve problems we don’t even know are problems yet,” Fisch said.

While the grant provides funding for the majority of the initial program start-up costs, school districts are saddled with future sustainability costs.

As the third and final year that school districts throughout Pennsylvania are eligible to receive funding under the Classrooms For the Future Grant Program, districts are finding themselves under tremendous pressure.

With the April 11 grant application deadline looming, Crawford Central, Conneaut and PENNCREST must now determine what each district’s costs will be above and beyond the funding provided by the grant and how they are going to pay for it.



Penni Schaefer can be reached at 724-6370 or by e-mail at pschaefer@meadvilletribune.com.