Scott is having big trouble with his assignment.
The high school student can’t figure out a question in the computer lab, but he’s too shy to put up his hand and confess that he’s stumped.
But if Scott, Maria, Trinh or any other student is sitting in teacher John Schwengler’s class at St. Francis High School, help is only a quiet click away.
The 2,300-student school is the test hotbed for Calgary-based SMART Technologies Inc., which has provided the school with its SynchronEyes computer lab instruction software for the past year and this week is supplying the latest version of the technology to the northwest school.
“It’s fantastic,” says Schwengler, the self-described “computer dude” at the school. “From a classroom standpoint, it’s heaven on earth. You can actually sit at one machine and see what they’re all doing.”
When a stalled student clicks a help icon on their desktops, Schwengler hears a soft “ding” on his own computer. He has thumbnail images of every student in the class on his desktop, and if one of them has a question, a small hand appears above the student’s image.
Schwengler can then click on the student’s photo, monitor what they are doing, type a response or even take control of the student’s computer, manipulating the mouse and keyboard from his own desk.
“The nice part is that the shy kids can ask questions without having to ask them in front of the whole class,” he says. “The kids don’t like to stand out in high school, they want to be part of the group. And any time you have a situation where a kid has to say: ‘I don’t know this,’ they would rather sit there and suffer and fail. This is a way for getting around it.”
While remote control of desktop computers and interactive software is common technology for help desks, SMART president and COO Nancy Knowlton says the SynchronEyes 2.0 version for Mac and Windows users is uniquely designed for group training or teaching environments. The teacher is able to monitor and control up to 80 work stations from a single computer.
“With the growing use of computers in the classroom and integration of computers in all curriculum areas, teachers need a tool to both monitor and help students,” she said.
Schwengler first encountered SMART technology when he was teaching at St. Helena junior high school and the privately-run Calgary company provided a SMART interactive whiteboard for a school learning project. After he moved to St. Francis, one of his students won a SMART board for the school in an essay contest.
Later, when talking to SMART about upgrading their software, Schwengler says Knowlton enquired whether his school would also be willing to test-drive a beta version of computer lab software.
“I come from the public-sector school system,” laughs Schwengler. “If the word is ‘free’ the answer is ‘yes’.”
The software can also see what Internet sites a student is surfing, or if they’re doing any work at all. While the separate school board has installed software to block Internet porn, Schwengler argues there’s no fail-safe system and no point in constantly spying on the students.
“Part of being a Catholic school system is teaching ethics. And if we want them to demonstrate ethics and values, we have to give them the opportunity — if we’re blocking everything, that’s not exactly teaching them anything.”
Schwengler is quick to note the software won’t replace traditional student-teacher interaction in the classroom, but is helpful for quick questions and for kids who don’t like to admit they’re having a problem.
“And I’m not standing over top of them, which is really good,” he laughs, “considering I’m six foot one and 250 pounds, so I’m somewhat intimidating and our classrooms aren’t that big.”
Test marks can also be handed out privately through each student’s computer, or one student’s work can be displayed to the entire class.
Knowlton says while the company exports most of the $499 US software packages to schools in the U.S. and abroad, it’s likely the company will donate another few copies to Calgary schools.
What do the kids think about the in-classroom technology? “They’re ambivalent,” sighs Schwengler. “It’s just one more thing they’ve got. It’s got nothing over chat lines or e-mail and all those other toys. This is just another learning thing.”
