Pictured are MSAD #58 Technology Director Angel Voter and Supt. Brenda Stevens. (BJ Bangs photo) (Editor’s note: This is the first part of a five-part series on how laptops, smart-boards and other technology are changing teaching and learning in MSAD #58)

PHILLIPS — To say technology is revolutionizing the classroom, the way instructors teach and the way students learn, is an understatement.

One-to-one laptops for grades 5 to 12, smart-boards (interactive white boards) with wireless slates, I-pads, and the Tamdberge video conferencing system are changing education and the entire learning experience at MSAD #58 as well as throughout the country.

That as well as textbooks coming as PDF files, interactive education websites, and the ability to save all the steps from a math problem to a computer file, have changed how teachers teach, and how students learn.

But it is not done just for the sake of having technology and being on the cutting edge. “It’s easy to be mesmerized by new technology… You have to peel back the layers and find out whether it’s transformational,” MSAD #58 Supt. Brenda Stevens said. “If a class can do the same thing with posters as they can with the software design program PowerPoint, they use posters.”

“If something can’t be done any other way, then laptops are used. We look at what are you doing with that tool that you can’t do any other way. For example, students can take a virtual tour of a museum. There’s no way the district could afford for them to take that same tour,” she said.

MSAD #58 Technology Director Angel Voter added that laptops are used if it’s appropriate for the activity in the classroom. If it’s not, they are put away. It depends upon the subject matter and teacher’s style. Different kids have different learning styles.

Some may prefer a book over a computer.

There are one-to-one laptops in grades five through 12. That means a laptop is assigned to every student. It doesn’t mean they get to take them home. In grades five and six, laptops are left at school. In grades seven and eight, they can be taken home when the teachers say they are needed for homework, and in high school students are pretty much attached to them 24/7.

Grades kindergarten through four have access to laptop carts which need to be scheduled in advance, Stevens said.

There’s an invisible layer of technology in every building, something that seems absolutely seamless until it doesn’t work, Voter said. “If we’re doing our job, and everything is running smoothly, they don’t know we’re here. But when the computers go down, they know we’re here, and cry out for help.”

With two and a half people on MSAD #58’s technology staff and five buildings to cover, being able to see someone’s computer screen from afar, even in another building, some 30 to 40 miles away, is a savior. Many times, you can diagnose and fix the problem just by looking at their screen and seeing what they are doing, Voter said.

That ability also helps teachers and administrators monitor what students are doing.

There’s an inherent understanding that there’s no privacy on laptops, whether they are taken home or left in school, Stevens said. “The history is left intact. At least one person can access the screen and see what the student is doing. I can control his mouse, and shut it down. I can take a screen shot of what the student is looking at.”

Permissions are taken very seriously at MSAD #58, and on this particular day, they were off to find out the pros and cons of the Kuno Tablet, only allowing instructors and students to have access to certain websites through the cloud. Voter pointed out that she sees the pros and cons of this technology. It creates a protective layer of not landing on an inappropriate website, but it also could prevent a student interested in welding having access to information about that field.

There’s no doubt laptops will become passé in three to five years, Voter said. Tablets, notably I-pads, are becoming a force in educational circles, and the district’s special education department takes full-advantage of their language development and voice recognition abilities. If someone has a physical disability, touching the screen is easier than using a mouse or keyboard.

Younger kids react well to the touch screen, Stevens said. “Kids have little fingers, and they find the tablets very engaging.”

Voter said, “It’s not my philosophy to change for the sake of change and have everything cutting edge.” She’d rather see what shakes out. Version two is always better than version one.

The learning experience has changed. It’s more about content, and less about how to use the computer, Stevens said. These kids grow up with technology. They are wired before they get to school. They are at home with their Nintendos, I-pods, WII games, X-Boxes, I-Pads. For them, it’s not unusual to be using a touch pad.

Voter added that it’s like learning a foreign language. “The younger you are, the easier it is.”

“They are not afraid of breaking the computer, or of it freezing. They’ll troubleshoot, while we’re afraid we might break it,” Stevens added.

Technology and computers have shifted how you do business. Some teachers use laptops very well. Others struggle, Stevens said. “Some say, ‘I’ve used the same teaching methods for 10, 15 or 20 years. Why do I have to do things differently?’ It’s tough and very frustrating for some. But by and large, most teachers are intrigued by the possibilities.”

Teachers need to consider how to manage computers. They need to know what to bookmark, what to print and what to save. They need to interpret good sources on the internet, and figure out how to set up the classroom so they can interact with students on laptops and keep track of what they are working on.

Many times facial expressions or body language will determine if a kid is gaming. For that reason, many teachers have students work on laptops in pairs. Chances are they both won’t be playing games, she said.

Ten to 15 years ago, Voter said the philosophy was that computer time was special. It was an activity like art or physical education. Now computers are mainstream in the classroom. Gone are the days of the computer lab with desktops and wires. Everything is wireless, and it’s changing by the minute.