Schools in the Eastern Upper Peninsula are bringing more technology into the classrooms as new tools make lessons more understandable and give teachers a better idea of how well their students are learning. The Internet continues to bring course subjects into the rural schools that cannot afford to teach them, and advances in technology allow teachers and parents to access information faster and more efficiently. Internet classes, interactive computer whiteboards, hand-held voting machines used for testing, and digital overhead projectors are some of the new gadgets now being used to facilitate learning in local schools. The digital age is also introducing interactive teaching aides, classroom lessons, and homework assignments, some of which can be accessed from home.

Eleventh and 12th grade students at all EUP high schools, except Tahquamenon, are able to take courses via the Internet. The courses are offered through Michigan State University's Michigan Virtual High School program and include foreign languages, personal finance, and video game programming.

Students enrolled in the program at Cedarville High School are supervised by a classroom teacher, but are allowed to work individually on their online courses. The students communicate with an instructor in Lansing by e-mail and instant messaging and can access the program from any computer with an Internet connection.

"They take courses that, because we're small, we can't offer here," Cedarville Principal Amy Scott said. "Those are really great courses that we would love to offer to our students. We just don't have the staff."

The Internet courses are the newest generation of long-distance learning here. For more than 20 years, the Eastern Upper Peninsula Intermediate School District (ISD) has offered long-distance learning through live interactive television to all high schools. Cameras, microphones, and televisions are set up for students to view and interact in a live classroom setting with other students and instructors at neighboring schools.

"It gives students an opportunity to learn subjects that are not offered at the smaller schools," said ISD Superintendent Pete Everson.

Mr. Everson said the ISD supports new technology in classrooms, within proper limits, if it enhances teachers' abilities to teach and does not waste school funds.

The intent of technology combined with proper training, he said, is to enhance the learning process. He thinks new technology items have the potential to greatly aid teachers in educating students.

On-site technology

aids in classroom

Schools are also using interactive whiteboards, digital overhead projectors, and Internet-based software.

Computer programs such as Microsoft Class Server and Achieve Data Systems are used to track Cedarville students' assignment and test scores. Students and parents can also use these Internet-based programs to view grades online as soon as they are posted by the teacher.

St. Ignace Area Schools uses a similar program called Power School.

"Almost anything you can imagine is right there in terms of the student's progress," said Superintendent Michael Springsteen. "It really has improved the communications between the school and home."

Interactive whiteboards, a form of interactive projector screen that allows teachers to operate a computer from a whiteboard during lessons, are being used in many EUP classrooms. Teachers can also use the boards to browse the Internet to access online learning software in the classroom, Cedarville Superintendent Rod Goehmann said.

Marcia Sweeney, a fifth and sixth grade teacher at Gros Cap School in Moran Township, uses the interactive whiteboard in her classroom in combination with interactive simulations, called Gizmos by one producer, ExploreLearning of Virginia, which are pre-made mathematics and science lessons available online for every grade level. Her class recently used a plant growing Gizmo on the interactive whiteboard, in which students could simulate light, water, and soil levels to see how they would effect the growth of a plant.

Typically a six week exercise in the classroom, she said, the Gismo allowed her to demonstrate the principals in a single lesson.

Her students also use Senteo handheld devices, which look like television remote controls and are used in an interactive response system that tallies student responses, posts test results, provides individual feedback, and records attendance, to answer questions from pre-made lessons available online. By using the devices, made by Smart Technologies Corporation of Canada, she can see each student's answers on her computer and know right away if any student is struggling or slacking off.

She said the lessons force all students to participate.

"It makes it easier for me to concentrate on what do we do next," Mrs. Sweeney said about the advances in technology in the classroom.

Every classroom at Gros Cap School is outfitted with the interactive whiteboards, Superintendent Bill Peltier said. The school first started using them four years ago in some classrooms and this is the first year for all classrooms to be outfitted with them.

St. Ignace Area Schools ordered two more interactive whiteboards from a company calling them SMART Boards in October to add to the two it already has. All four boards are on portable stands and able to be used in every classroom. Depending on the make and model, interactive boards cost between $2,000 and $5,000.

Computers in the classrooms

Gros Cap School has a computer for every student. Students in grades three through eight carry school-owned laptops and there are also enough desktop computers for students in kindergarten, first, and second grades, Mr. Peltier said.

St. Ignace middle and high schools are also working to get schoolowned laptops into students' hands. This year, seventh and eighth grade students were issued laptops, and over the next three years, the remainder of students in grades six through 12 will be issued school-owned laptops, Mr. Springsteen said.

The middle school purchased digitized versions of textbooks for students who have laptops. Mr. Springsteen said it reduces the number of items students carry home daily.

At Brimley Area Schools, all students in grades five through 12 are also using school-issued laptop computers.

Other technology being used in classrooms includes digital overhead projectors, which are basically a mounted camera projecting the image of any piece of paper onto a projector screen for the whole class to see. The projector allows teachers to identify specific topics as well as make notes on the sheet being projected.

"The benefit of that is, you don't have all the overhead slides that you would run, that are expensive. You can also write whatever you want to, because it's an actual piece of paper," Ms. Scott said.

The new projectors also save teachers a lot of time outside the classroom by not having to make transparencies for traditional overhead projectors, she said.

"It's more with the times. We need to be able to move quickly," she said.

Trustees at Les Cheneaux Community Schools approved spending $95,000 at its October 27 meeting to buy two new digital overhead projectors and eight new interactive whiteboards, as well as security cameras and network upgrades. The approved spending is the second part in a two-phase spending budget; the first phase funded two new computer laboratories in the elementary and middle schools.

The ISD helps the individual school districts to procure bid prices on wanted technology items, but each district makes the final decision on which items to purchase, according to Mr. Everson. The ISD uses grant, local, and ISD funds to make sure a certain level of technology infrastructure is in place in all EUP schools.

The ISD also purchased subscriptions for all school districts to Discovery Education's library of thousands of video clips streamed on the Internet. Teachers can select videos based on subject, grade level, and curriculum through the Web site. The video library is a division of Discovery Communications, which also owns the Discovery Channel.

Students are much more engaged and motivated through the use of technology, said St. Ignace Middle School principal Gregg Fettig. Last year, Mr. Fettig taught a paperless social studies class, in which students had digital textbooks on their laptops and could e-mail their homework as well as turn in a printed copy.

He said the response from parents was very supportive.

"Parents thought it improved communication at home. It really took out the excuse of what was homework and what was expected of the student," he said.

Ms. Scott said the rate at which students comprehend technology is astounding. She described students as "tech-natives," because they grow up learning with advanced technology, not realizing how different classrooms were not all that long ago.

"We didn't have it [technology] necessarily, growing up. Some of the younger staff did, but we've had to learn it," she said. "Our kids' minds are geared differently. They like it, and they're fast at it."