EPHRATA — Last year, the Ephrata School District received a grant of about $110,000 to ensure all of their classrooms were equipped with Promethean digital boards — the digital descendent of a chalkboard — and the training for staff to utilize them in the classroom. 

“The whiteboard (feature) is really handy, because you can save it and don’t have to erase it,” Grant Elementary fourth grade teacher Laura Collins said. “My neighbor(ing teacher) and I team-teach. So, I teach math and science and she does (English language arts), so it’s really handy for me to be able to save what one class did and pull it up to show them again the next day instead of having to erase the board or try to hide things.” 

Collins said the Promethean devices are filled with helpful features that can facilitate teaching. She has a customizable spinner to help choose which of her 27 students she’s going to call on to answer a question. There’s a number line that helps students — most of whom are visual learners — see how math concepts such as counting by twos, threes or fives look. Videos help delve into various science topics she introduces students to. The students themselves get to use the Promethean digital whiteboards to show written work, solve math problems by hand and generally just have fun learning.

Technology and Career and Technical Education Director Sarah Vasquez said the Promethean boards are a relatively new sort of device that utilizes the Android operating system. That means it is a standalone device that can work in conjunction with a computer or on its own. It’s an improvement in many ways on smart boards that came before it, because that operating system makes it so it isn’t dependent on a computer. 

“Whereas the smart board, it was dependent on what you’re projecting,” Vasquez said.

Training, experience and a bit of serendipity helped her get prepared for implementing the digital device in the classroom, Collins said. During the pandemic, she taught virtually, so her lesson plans were set up digitally for presentation to students through the internet. That prep work translated well over to the use of a Promethean. 

“For about a year and a half, I had to create everything to be online, and so everything I was already running was slideshows and things I could send out to the kids. So, I just put that up (on the Promethean) instead. It was a pretty smooth transition because I had already created it all for them to do at home on their own,” Collins said.

Now, using the Promethean, she has those digital tools available to work with students in person and can share lesson materials digitally as well. 

There was an adjustment for other staff, Collins said. While students today are digital natives, some of the faculty in the district had initial challenges with using the new tech. However, the school district provided access to online training and the district’s IT staff have been able to help teachers figure out how to use the new digital boards to deliver their lessons. 

Vasquez said the Promethean devices have had advantages at all levels of education and across a wide range of topics. Every Ephrata School District classroom has a board in it. So, traditional classes use them alongside CTE courses that work on professional development for students. Thus, a biology class might learn about the anatomy of a frog while a programming student can get help troubleshooting code and a shop student can figure out how two parts go together – all using Promethean devices.

Students can also link their Chromebook devices to the boards and share their projects, Collins said. In all, the devices just make teaching more convenient and efficient, she said.

“These never run out of marker,” she said. “My Expo markers that are super-duper expensive, they dry out in a couple of months.”

More information on the Promethean devices and how they can work in interactive learning can be found at www.prometheanworld.com.

R. Hans “Rob” Miller may be reached at [email protected].

    Vibrant colors help to engage students in learning, especially for today’s digital natives who are visual learners. Showing concepts in multiple visual terms – three-tenths, a visual representation of 30% or 0.3 in this case – helps students grasp concepts in the way that works best for them, improving their learning experience.