By GINA KINSLOW
HORSE CAVE — Caverna school officials are hoping installation of ActivBoards for the district’s kindergarten, preschool and special education classrooms will begin soon.
The school district is on a waiting list, so when the new ActivBoards will be installed depends on how far down the list they are.
Caverna received $80,000 in federal stimulus money to fund the purchase.
“We are finishing up our project to do the whole district,” said Melinda Bull, chief information officer. “We started at the high school and worked our way down. The stimulus money allowed us to finish up our project ahead of schedule. Now all K-12 classrooms have ActivBoards.”
The school district began an initiative to install ActivBoards in every classroom two years ago. So far every classroom in every grade has them, except for the preschool, kindergarten and special education classrooms.
ActivBoards are replacing dry erase boards in classrooms. Teachers can still write on the boards with markers like the dry erase boards, but they can also use the boards like giant computer screens to pull up articles or to even show videos.
“I know within our collaborative model the teachers are able to pull (in) videos and do different things to enhance their lessons and make them more applicable,” said Alisha Richardson, director of special education. “They are also able to use different printing techniques so students with disabilities can have their notes printed for them. Anything you can Google or do on your computer can be pulled in on these boards.”
Teachers can also use ActivBoards as an interactive tool in the classroom for quizzes and games, she said.
