Tony Radcliff ’14
This academic year, The Episcopal Academy has acquired 11 new SMART Boards, funded by an Innovation Grant and the technology budget, in order to increase and facilitate interactive learning at Episcopal.
Episcopal distributed the SMART Board SB260 units throughout the school: five in the Lower School, two in the Middle School, and four in the Upper School. These 77-inch, touch sensitive whiteboards typically costs over $2,000, excluding the cost of accessories. According to Catherine Hall, Academic Dean at Episcopal, “The boards are paid for in part by money from the EAPA Wish List, and the remainder of the costs were covered by EA’s technology budget.”
According to Hall, “the deciding factor in the SMART Boards coming to EA was that Innovation Grants that EA facility applied to for the 2011-2012 year.” Hall says that the grants “were intended to fund innovative ways of teaching and opportunities for teachers to try new tools or resources in the classroom.”
Both students and teachers are enthusiastic about the new SMART Boards. According to Grace Wingfield, Head of the Math Department, these “interactive whiteboards” facilitate her teaching because, “in classes, I can post the notes right after…When I’m able to use [the SMART Board] in class, I already have the notes so it makes the class quicker and it’s easier for the students to follow along.”
Megan Kilcullen, V Form, says, “we use SMART Boards in my English class with Dr. Forste-Grupp and math with Mrs. Anderson… I really like them because I can easily get the notes that I misses in class off Blackboard.” Maria Burke, IV Former, agrees, state “I like SMART Boards. They’re very helpful for taking notes!”
Although no definite decisions regarding the purchase of more SMART Boards have been made, according to Hall, EA “will be evaluating how effective the SMART Boards are in the different classrooms this year and will make a decision based on this evaluation, which will include teacher and student feedback.”