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PHOTOGRAPHY COURTESY OF LITTLE ROCK SCHOOL DISTRICT
Computers are an essential tool for students at Central High School.
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Large or small, Central Arkansas school systems are going high tech B Y D WA I N H E B D A
There was a time when the height of school technology was the latest Trapper Keeper and a pen that wrote in five different colors. Not so anymore. Today, students as young as preschool are learning on laptops buttressed by an endless array of learning software. Study groups are linked by the cloud, parents are downloading forms and even entire administrations are operating without paper. And it’s all happening in schools large and small right here in central Arkansas. “The whole idea is—and I had this conversation with a teacher from another district who had issues about using technology—there’s a time you use pencils, there’s a time you use chalk on a blackboard and there’s a time you use vocal teaching. Students in this technological world have to be able to use technology to succeed,” says Debbie Miller, director of instructional services for the Conway School District. “The point I make to students is, nobody in the world today would hand in a handwritten resume or cover letter or hand-write a presentation to a group of leaders. That’s not the world we live in and what education is about is providing tools for students to practice the types of things they’ll have to do in the real world.” Some of the technology Conway employs in the classroom includes Chromebooks in core classrooms as well as specialty learning areas. Even more
16 AUGUST 2015 | THESAVVYMOMS.COM
impressive, the administration runs without paper. Miller said this sets an example for teachers to follow and is in step with parents in the workplace. “We do all policies, meeting agendas, everything is paperless. Even the student handbook is all online now,” she says. “We’ve made a concentrated, substantial investment in technology and we offset that cost by the way we change our practices. We don’t have this technology and then still make copies.” The Little Rock School District supports a similarly robust set of technological tools, including the aforementioned Chromebooks as well as iPads and a variety of software to allow students the broadest array of educational resources. “We’re starting to teach classes differently,” says Travis Taylor, instructional technology specialist. “Kids are not only able to take classes the way they normally do, but we also offer them some online attributes, such as turning in homework, and that introduces them to the concept of learning online. In the next couple of years, that should really become the way it’s done.” Taylor says blended learning—traditional classroom instruction accentuated by online resources and linked by technology—is not only an effective way to master content, but is in and of itself teaching important life skills. “These skills, particularly when you start looking at devices and working on the web, are what’s taking place in the business world,” he says. “There’s a collaborative piece that goes along with this and that’s what a lot of businesses are really looking for. They’re looking for employees who can come in and work