Educating a diverse population of learners presents unique opportunities to teachers, as some students are visual learners, others audio learners, and yet others tactile learners. Fortunately for both students and faculty, advancements in classroom technology help enhance learning experiences at Proctor.
 
For Proctor's math department, the acquisition of Smart Boards for every classroom has been crucial to augmenting the learning environment for Proctor's students. Academic Dean, and former math and science teacher, Doug Houston helped drive the first Smart Board purchase in 2001 by proposing the idea to former head of school Steve Wilkins. Since the first Smart Board arrived, Proctor's math department has since outfitted every classroom with the dynamic technology.

The Smart Board technology allows teachers to project content (problem sets, diagrams, examples, etc.) to the board. Teachers and students can then solve problems, make notes, or additional comments on the projection screen and then save the altered projection as an electronic file for later use as notes or review material. The following short video clip shows Sarah Whitehead and Lindsay Brown using a Smart Board with their students.

As Math Department Chair Patty Pond comments, "One of the biggest benefits of having Smart Boards in the classroom is the ability of students to supplement notes with exercises from class. While it is a misnomer that we do not require students to take notes, the Smart Boards certainly do help our auditory learners find a balance between listening to discussions and copying down every note."
 
Patty adds that Smart Boards simply get students more excited to engage in math class, "Students are generally excited to use technology because everything comes alive with technology. For some older students, the novelty of the Smart Boards has worn off, however, the functionality of the technology remains impressive."
 
Calculus teacher and Proctor alum, Josh Norris mentioned, "Not only is the technology more engaging for students, but Smart Boards have numerous tools that allow you to visualize and truly demonstrate the concepts you are teaching. Particularly in Calculus, I now have the ability to manipulate the material and give students a visual reference to how a tangent line follows a curve."
 
Patty Pond notes that not only have Smart Boards positively impacted student learning, but they have been equally beneficial to teacher development. "I can import every example I will use in class, along with a few of last night's homework problems, and have them projected in class. I then do not need to spend much time in class with my back to the class. I can be more engaged with my students, walk around the classroom and ensure each student is learning instead of writing problems on the board."
 
Whether it is access to the internet for student research, the use of cell phone text-in polls used by Social Science teacher Ben Rulli, student exploration of Geometers Sketchpad on their personal laptops, online textbooks, the use of Fathom (a statistical analysis software) in Chris Rogers' AP Statistics class or emulators that allow graphing calculators to integrate with Smart Boards, technology remains a learning tool, not an end-all, be-all solution.

While we would love to say that every student completely embraces the technology before them, it simply is not the case. Patty provides insights into this challenge, "The majority of students in my classes have responded well to technological advances, but there are some who simply prefer the 'old school' approach and don't want to adjust. They don't want to change their habits and do not take advantage of the tools before them." In reality they are simply slower to embrace the technology. They have a preference for their hard cover book versus an online version, and are hesitant to fully utilize the tools made available to them.
 
Perhaps the most insightful comment lies in Patty's note that, "Technology is not, and will never be, a substitute for student work, but rather a tool that will help facilitate student learning."

This is an important idea for all students (and faculty) to digest. Technological advancements may appear daunting at first, or, conversely, may seem like a magic solution to all the world's problems. The reality is somewhere in between. Changing habits and altering behaviors to accommodate new technologies is hard work. However, the learning opportunities available because of new technologies can be incredible.

As Proctor's faculty and students endeavor to embrace new technologies in the classroom, challenges will continue to arise. The beauty of the situation lies in the teaching opportunities that accompany each of those challenges as we all work to understand, apply, and best utilize the tools afforded us.