Chadron High School in Chadron, South Dakota, is entering the age of classroom technology through the implementation of interactive hardware, software and web-based connective services, according to the Rapid City Journal.
Students with access to an interactive whiteboard, tablet computer or
DLP projector receive comprehensive yet individualized instruction from teachers who are able to adapt lesson plans to an individual student's learning style while also addressing more universal gaps in comprehension. Digital data and teaching methods are inherently more organized, allowing educators to cover more material in less time with a higher retention rate.
At Chadron High, the source reported, students share documents with Google Docs, use their smartphones to answer multiple choice questions and keep track of homework assignments and extra credit questions with Twitter. Many of the school's classrooms use interactive whiteboards and projectors, and teachers note that integrating open-source cloud-based software and the students' own technology has made classes more engaging and organized.
Novel approaches to enhancing lesson plans, like using Twitter to summarize chapters in a book, is just one way Chadron High is embracing technology.
"Every kid in this high school has never been without the Internet," English teacher Heidi Beguin told the source. "I always learn better if something is fun to me. We have to bring teaching into the 21st Century."
