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The world of teaching as we know it has
definitely changed. Gone are the chalk-
boards, the white chalk, erasers and even
the whiteboards and markers.
Once you try the real thing, there’s just no
going back.
ActivBoards have now been installed in
almost all classes throughout IC.
Only a few weeks into the school year,
teachers are now quite obviously hooked.
“I can’t imagine going back to regular
boards,” said middle school teacher, Val-
erie Aoun. “The things that we now can
do are amazing.”
Basically, an ActivBoard is a large interac-
tive presentation panel that connects to
a computer and projector.The projector
launches the computer’s desktop onto the
ActivBoard. Teachers or students then
control the computer by using a stylus
pen called the ActivPen.
By simply clicking on an icon, teachers
can manipulate the text, colors, and font
– much like a regular computer screen.
Images are dragged, downsized, upsized,
superimposed, labeled, written on, etc.
Moreover, teachers can embed videos,
text, images, PowerPoint presentations,
and PDF files.The built-in activities
on the board allow today’s digital savvy
students to interact with the board them-
selves. It’s a great time saver as everything
can be saved, retrieved later, emailed to
students or pulled out whenever needed.
The hundreds of features make the pos-
sibilities endless.
“This is so much more fun,” said Karim
Dana, 12, a middle school student.
While ‘fun’ may not be the impetus that
drove IC’s Educational Technology Pro-
gram Administrator, Mahmud Shihab, to
bring ActivBoards to IC, it’s certainly a
welcome student perception.
“This has been an ongoing project for the
last few years,” he said. “And we finally
found the perfect tool for us.”
Shihab has been testing various interac-
tive white boards for the past six years.
In several pilot projects involving various
teachers, he experimented with several
models and several brands. First came
the Smart Boards in 2004, then came
the Digital Boards in 2006. Shihab
wasn’t satisfied. Finally he came upon the
ActivBoards in 2009.The educational
software alone – such as the digital math
tools – was enough to get his attention.
After a pilot study for a year, Shihab was
convinced that he had found the perfect
digital board model.
As IC began installing ActivBoards in
its classes (all except 20 classes now have
them), Shihab intensified the on-going
training sessions for teachers.
IC has come a long way technologically
since Shihab was first hired in 1996. Back
then, the most teachers had to work with
were overhead projectors and cassette
players. At first, computers were installed
in computer labs and teacher work areas.
That gave way to multimedia carts –
containing a computer, a DVD, VHS, and
stereo equipment.The teacher would have
to push the cart to class, waste a consider-
able amount of time hooking up every-
ActivBoards
IC classroom
in the 1960’s
10
WINTER
2011