When the lights go down, the learning cranks up at Vans Elementary in Tinley Park. These second graders are getting their lesson with the help of interactive technology. They don’t sit and try to absorb what’s being taught. They get out of their seats and learn by doing.

These active classrooms as they’re called involve white board screens what about projector, and digital lesson plans. Students use remote controls for popsies, giving teachers instant feedback on how well students are learning.

Watch video below…

After 4.5 years acting as the agency of record for Promethean in North America, Sensible City withdrew its services as of September, 2009. Today we have signed on with PolyVision, makers of the eno interactive whiteboard. eno offers a lifetime guarantee and dozens of classroom specific features that you can get with no other provider. But here’s the best part for Sensible City’s environmental commitments: this is the only IWB to achieve the coveted Cradle 2 Cradle Certification. As well, eno reaches Gold Standard under the SCS Indoor Advantage Certification. This makes eno the most environmentally sustainable classroom technology product we’ve found on the market in the USA.

For SRS/LRS, we are now proud to represent Qwizdom - the company that gave birth to an entire market segment over 25 years ago and continues to produce the most enriching interactive experience available for classrooms worldwide. We’re positive that between these two values-driven companies, we now represent the most promising technology available for today’s classrooms. Check them out:www.polyvision.com and www.qwizdom.com.

‘Activboards’ Being Rolled Out In Several Schools

Interactive Whiteboard Key Part Of Educational Future, Teachers Say

[Read about it at MSNBC or watch it on CNN]

Walt Gardner / Monday, November 17, 2008

With education expected eventually to become a front-burner issue in the Obama administration, it’s important to bear in mind in our zeal to reform schools to meet the demands of the new global economy that no nation in history has been able to create good public schools for all children.

We tend to forget that because of our frustration and anger over the glacial progress made in reducing the huge disparity in educational quality.

Given the realities, what steps can schools now take to better serve their students?

For starters, they need to improve instruction in traditional core subjects, but with far heavier emphasis on teaching strategic foreign languages. English may now be the lingua franca, but Arabic, Farsi and Chinese will be indispensable in the future.

Next, schools need to use modern tools to teach cultural understanding and ethical awareness. For example, schools in England from elementary to secondary, and from secular to religious, have quietly put in place systems that allow teachers to leverage their ability to meet the needs and interests of all students. Even though the schools involved sometimes are thousands of miles apart, lessons on related subject matter are frequently conducted simultaneously. As a result, global classrooms are instantly created that allow students to interact with each other as if they were enrolled in the same school. When done properly, interactive technology engages students, supports teachers and enriches instruction.

[read entire article at sfgate.com]

Twenty-five Brevard County schools participated in the monthlong contest that ended Sept. 15. Schools racked up points based on the dollar value of receipts turned in to the mall’s customer service counter.

Robertson said the prize money will go to the school’s classroom technology fund, most likely to purchase a Promethean Activboard, an interactive white board with Internet connectivity.

[Read more]

Superintendent Paul Vallas, a well-known reformer, has made technology pivotal in his recovery plans for New Orleans schools

New Orleans schools chief Paul Vallas recently passed his first major test when fourth and eighth graders in the city’s public schools posted significantly higher scores on the state exam–and his plans for using technology to help spur achievement might lead to even further gains.

[read more at eschoolnews.com]