Athens Area School District unrolled its “Classrooms for the Future” initiative to the public Friday by holding first hand looks, as well as on-hand experiences with technology purchased this school year through a state grant.
    An event called “Flip the Switch” officially launched the program, which involves new laptops, computers and other technology, but more importantly is changing the way students, educators, and parents look at education.
    Choosing a slightly different path than other districts, Athens used its grant money to purchase both Mac and PCs, meaning students will be equipped to use a variety of technology when they graduate high school.
    The “duel platform” has allowed the district to fit various technology with specific academic courses, further expanding the knowledge in those courses.
    For example, the MacBooks, laptops from Apple, are being used to make movies, design newsletters and use music-creating software to make learning vocabulary and other lessons more fun — activities that might be used more often in the English department.
    The PC laptops, in turn, can also support various types of media and are also aimed at helping students with more mathematical learning.
    Athens chose to purchase enough laptops and other equipment to outfit two areas of study with English and Math. The district has already applied for a state grant to fund similar equipment for the social studies and science departments for the 2008-2009 school year, according to Terry Bustin, a social studies teacher and the “Classrooms for the Future” Coach for Athens High.
    Classrooms for the Future is a initiative developed by Gov. Ed Rendell and is aimed at putting a laptop computer on the desk of every English, math, science and social studies student, but also to provide teachers with computers and training to better educate their students.
    Through the $215,000 grant it was awarded, Athens Area School District was able to purchase, for both the English and Math departments, six teacher MacBook laptops, three laptop carts with 168 laptops in each cart, six ceiling mounted LCD projectors, six Polyvision Interactive Whiteboards, six digital camcorders, and six digital cameras. The math department also received six Promethean Interactive Whiteboards. Part of the process of preparing the high school for the new technology included making the building wireless, however this was not part of the grant.
    The expertise of Clint Nichols, director of information technology, made the purchasing process much easier, said Bustin.
    It was the school districts CFF leadership team of Superintendent Doug Ulkins, High School Principal Beth Schulze, Coordinator of Education Jane Montague, and Nichols, who chose to make the technology duel platform, she said.
    Friday she and Nichols, as well as Ulkins and other staff, took Bradford County commissioners Mark Smith, John Sullivan and Doug McLinko; state Rep. Tina Pickett, R-Wysox; Athens Magisterial District Judge Michael Shaw; and others on a tour of the technology their teachers are using.
    In Advance Calculus, student Joel Dulin told visitors about the textbook discs his class was using. When asked why using the computer was easier than using a textbook, Dulin said the disc allows him to visualize what the outcome of his problem will be.
    “It helps us visualize some of the rotating graphs,” he said. “Helps us think and see what we’re doing with the calculus.”
    Teacher Tina Larson is using a Polyvision Walk n’ Talk Board for her English class. She laughed and said, “I don’t know,” when asked how the information was transferred from her laptop to the screen for the students to view.
    Her joking comment was a true reflection of how teachers who weren’t experienced with technology before this year are learning along with students from the use of the computers.
    Larson can simply touch the large screen and bring up examples for her lesson. She can also take a pen and “write” on the screen and students can do the same. The writing will either appear as handwriting or will transfer into computer type, she said.
    Visitors were able to try out the equipment themselves and Pickett penned “Thank you Athens” on the board, saying with a smile later that she’s ready to return to school now and use the new technology being utilized by students.
    “This is changing the way education is delivered,” said Bustin of the new technology.
Under the requirements for the grant, teachers must complete a 30-hour class each year of the grant. The course for the first year is called “Teaching in the 21st Century.”
    This initiative is changing the way teachers look at education, but also students.
Friday, students said the computers and the technology makes their work “more fun” and keeps them “engaged” in their lessons.
    Teachers said the technology not only saves them time, but also makes their lessons even more well-rounded.
    Under the initiative, Rendell plans to put aside $90 million to purchase 83,000 lap tops, bringing 254 more high schools into the program and training more than 12,000 teachers to help them facilitate the learning of students.
    ———
    Lisa R. Howeler can be reached at lrhoweler@morning-times.com.