Runde “Activ”ly Helping East Dubuque High School

Alice Pearson loves teaching with the new board

How awesome would it be if you had a teacher in high school that let you play games in class? In a society being driven by a formula of technology and entertainment, it is important to teach our kids with something that integrates this formula to interact and visually communicate with our kids. The “Activboard”, by Promethean, is a perfect solution for the seamless integration of fun and technology in the classroom. These boards are a fully interactive and totally immersive means to teaching using an up-to-date and involving method of course structure. Runde is helping out in this exciting new way of teaching by donating the money needed to purchase one of these boards to the East Dubuque High School.

Students at the East Dubuque High School can claim as to how “awesome” it is to play with the board as they have had one for about a year and a half now. According to Greg Herbst, principal of the school, the school plans on getting 3 or 4 more (including the one Runde Auto Group is funding) installed by the summer time.

The screen, itself, has a 5×4 ft active screen area and can be viewed from all angles without image loss. The teacher using the device operates it with a special pen that controls the different elements displayed on the screen by touch. The screen is being projected to a whiteboard, of sorts, by connecting the projector to a computer which is running the programs the board needs to run.

The tablet lets the teacher control the screen from anywhere in the room

The school also opted to purchase a few peripherals called “ActivExpression” which is a handheld unit that enables the students to respond to quizzes and other questions given from the Activboard. The school purchased enough of these handheld devices to equip every student in the classroom with one. Beyond this, the teacher has another peripheral that enables him/her to sit anywhere in the classroom and control the on-screen functions of the Activboard via a tablet device that wirelessly links with the Activboard.

The students use these handheld devices to answer questions and interact with the board

The school plans to teach English, History, Current Events, Social Studies, Spanish and English and more courses that will implement the Activboard in the learning curriculum. The response to the system, according to Alice Pearson – teacher at the East Dubuque High School, has been outstanding. Kids are eagerly wanting and asking to take quizzes instead of dreading them. This is partly due to the fact that the Activboard sustains each students privacy through assigning each students handheld unit a number that only he/she knows. The students, in return, save themselves from any kind of embarrassment that could result from test or quiz scores being broadcasted to the class. Instead, the scores will show up as that student’s number, not his/her name.

The teachers that use the board are having a great reaction to it as well. After some training and a few troubleshooting scenarios the teachers use the board as a versatile tool that does everything from quizzes to general lecture layouts (called flipcharts). Beyond the classroom, the teachers can access an online database where they can submit their teaching plans as well as view the teaching plans of others for inspiration and convenience.

Runde wishes all students and faculty at the East Dubuque High School the best. This is a very exciting development in the education field and hopefully will enable better learning for our future leaders. Check out the videos below to see short demonstrations, from Alice Pearson, of the boards in action.