Teachers in the Ackerman Elementary School District may not have eyes in the back of their heads, but they do have virtual eyes in the back of their classrooms, thanks to new technology implemented this year.
The one-school district in Auburn uses the latest in educational technology to monitor students' computer screens on campus and to better engage students in learning, said Ian Byerrum, the district's technology coordinator.
Computer-monitoring software was installed in the computer lab at Bowman Elementary School. SynchronEyes connects the teacher's computer with each of the 33 student computers in the lab, allowing the teacher to control students' access to the Internet and specific computer applications. Teachers also can use the classroom management software to make sure students stay on task and to work with students individually or in groups from their desktop, Byerrum said.
"We knew we needed something to monitor computer lab usage, and we heard by word of mouth that this (software) seems to be the best option," Byerrum said. The computer lab serves about 500 students each week.
Ackerman tapped into its technology funds to install SynchronEyes, which cost about $780 per classroom of computers. The technology upgrade is part of a larger plan to equip a majority of Bowman Elementary classrooms with Smart Boards, interactive white boards that connect to computers.
Three Smart Board systems were purchased for the school last year, and eight were bought this summer for $2,000 to $4,000 per system, Superintendent Marilyn Gilbert said. The goal is to have the high-tech teaching boards in every third- through eighth-grade classroom, she said. The district will assess whether Smart Boards should be used for the younger grades.
"Children today are tech-savvy, and they are used to a visually stimulating environment," Gilbert said. "Smart Boards are an incredibly powerful tool to maximize kids' interest in learning."
Smart Technologies reports an increasing number of schools in every U.S. state using interactive white boards and computer monitoring software. About 120 California schools use SynchronEyes, said Chantal Brenton, a spokeswoman for the company, which is based in Calgary, Alberta.
Bowman Elementary and Sierra Community College are the only Placer County schools reported using SynchronEyes. SynchronEyes also is used by Robert J. Fite Elementary in Sacramento, Sunrise Elementary in Rancho Cordova and Capital Christian School at Capital Christian Center in Sacramento.
The Bee's Lakiesha McGhee can be reached at (916) 773-7630.
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