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Classrooms Teachers laud
in-class benefits of computers State program
provides new process for learning By
Robert Alan Glover / Special to The Detroit
News
Ricardo Thomas / The Detroit News
West
Bloomfield High School teacher Amy West works on one of the
400 ThinkPads the school district gave to teachers for use
in classes this fall.
About the
ThinkPad The 400 laptop computers being used
by West Bloomfield teachers have these programs and features:
* Microsoft Office 2000
* Microsoft Photo Editor and Publisher
* Netscape Navigator *
Internet Explorer * Quicken 2001
* IBM Standard TTI Software
* IBM Serial Mouse *
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WEST
BLOOMFIELD TOWNSHIP -- The West Bloomfield School District gave 400
of its teachers a highly useful going-away present this summer: new
computers. The teachers have the IBM ThinkPad,
which connects them to the Internet and each other across the district.
Each computer has a printer, docking station, mouse pad and other
accessories that make it easy to use. The ThinkPad
"puts my desktop computer to shame," said Amy West, a fourth-year
English, drama and literature teacher. With the
ThinkPad, "(I am now) able to do tasks when I want to, like printing
something off or giving a presentation," West said. "With this computer,
you can store 20 different programs." The
ThinkPads "have transformed the learning process, because now teachers
have instant access to the Internet and anything else they need right at
their desks," said Joseph Hoffman, the district's director of
information technology. "With this computer, for
example, a teacher who might be teaching about volcanoes can e-mail a
scientist studying Mt. Etna's eruption and arrange a time for the
students to actually see the person and volcano," Hoffman said.
All teachers and students at all grade levels can
benefit from advanced computers and information technology, he said.
"Most people assume that only older students use
computers. But in our district that is not true. Right down to
kindergarten, the kids use them on a daily basis," Hoffman said.
In elementary school, computer software is used
"as a teaching tool, with teachers applying it to give presentations and
such," he said. The district bought the computers
largely through the state's Teacher Technology Initiative, a program
designed to give teachers better software to use as research and
educational tools. Although "the program's
criteria excludes social workers, media consultants and librarians, we
were able to provide computers for reading consultants and many other
full-time professionals" in addition to the teachers, said Steve Wasko,
West Bloomfield's chief spokesman. "The district
made sure teachers received them by the last day of school so that they
could take them home and get comfortable with them over the summer,"
Wasko said. "When teachers return this fall, the ThinkPads will allow
them to grade papers and keep attendance records right in the system."
The district, which has six elementary schools,
two middle schools and a high school, spent some of its own money to
help the teachers get the computers. "We took $1
million from (a $52 million bond issue) and added that to the state
stipend's amount of $200 per teacher," Wasko said.
Robert Alan Glover is a Metro Detroit
free-lance writer.
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