Archbishop Stepinac High School in White Plains has turned two classrooms into cutting-edge, high-tech learning centers with more to follow.
Rev. Thomas Collins, the school”™s president, said the new learning centers “once again firmly place Stepinac at the forefront of secondary education in preparing students to succeed in a globally competitive market.”
Collins said the school has received recognition from educators across the country for its prior initiatives, which have included a digital textbook library, courses that incorporate one-of-a-kind technology platforms and an honors academy.
The learning centers are equipped with interactive displays capable of being used as whiteboards, video monitors, internet browsers and more. Touchscreens enable students and teachers to select software, images and text or write and display their own words, numbers, drawings, numerals and scientific formulas. Wireless systems allow easy sharing and conference capability allows lecturers to speak to students from anywhere in the world while also allowing students who are absent from school to participate in what is taking place. Each screen has multiple inputs for all video formats as well as front-facing speakers for high-quality sound. The systems run software that is designed to help enhance lesson planning.
Patricia Murphy, director of instructional technology at Stepinac, told the Business Journal, “The new classrooms are designed to foster collaboration, concentration, experimentation and innovation.”
Murphy explained that multiple boards in a classroom can either display the same material or put up separate content so students can work in groups on different subjects.
“Each board can grid four shared screens simultaneously so that students can compare and contrast their work. The premier Steelcase furniture in the room is all mobile to further support a collaborative environment where students can smoothly transition from one activity to the next,” she said.
Stepinac”™s learning centers have been modeled after classrooms at Columbia University.
“This will ensure a smooth transition for Stepinac students as they enter modern university classrooms and transformed cutting-edge workplaces,” Frank Portanova, vice principal for academics and curriculum, said.
Portanova said the “innovations help improve academic performance in the school”™s project-based learning environment by heightening interactivity between the student and instructor and between students themselves when they collaborate in problem-solving assignments.”
Murphy said not only does the equipment allow guest speakers to come into Stepinac”™s classrooms, it also allows Stepinac students to become visitors in any similarly equipped classrooms anywhere in the world. Using multiple whiteboards encourages “brainstorming sessions in small group settings,” according to Murphy.
In 2010, the U.S. Department of Education started promoting the National Educational Technology Plan which, in part, promoted the upgrading of classroom technology. In 2014, New York state encouraged schools to invest in classroom technology. Back then, a report by the state”™s Smart Schools Commission called for utilizing “transformative technologies, such as tablets, laptops and interactive whiteboards to deliver differentiated instruction tailored to students”™ specific abilities and needs that lets them learn and advance at their own pace.”
It also urged connecting every school to high-speed broadband and extending connectivity beyond the four walls of the classroom.
