Schuylkill Valley High School welcomed local business members into the school and into the classrooms for the first Technology Showcase on April 23.
Organized by Michael Billman, Director of Instructional and Information Technology, administration and staff, the showcase was to show how the school and students are using technology on a daily basis in an instructional and educational setting as well as to receive feedback from community business members and build partnerships.
“We are very excited as a school to present the Technology Showcase to share our goals and vision with the community,” said Patrick Sasse, Schuylkill Valley High School principal.
Attendees for the day came from various careers such as banking, furniture making, technology repairs and more, all of which have seen the role technology plays in the working environment today. Among the attendees were former teachers, graduates and administrators of Schuylkill Valley.
“It’s very satisfying to see the allocation of resources going into building a school district that is working toward preparing our students to live and work in a technological driven and global society,” said Kevin Raudenbush, Chair of Curriculum and Technology Committee and school board member. “Some of the coolest things we get to see are the creative ways our teachers are integrating technology into the curriculum.”
Following the welcome, attendees were invited to visit select classrooms to see firsthand how students are using technology in the educational setting. Billman encouraged the business members to interact with the students and teachers during the visits.
Attendees were able to see Computer Education, English, Fine Arts, Family Consumer Science, Mathematics, Science, Social Studies and Technology Education classrooms.
One of the projects that students were working on was helping to set up a retirement plan in groups by using Google Docs which allows for multiple people to be on the same document and edit it all at one time with indicators of who is typing what. Another classroom was having a debate on the Kennedy and Lincoln assassinations by using a discussion board that allowed all students to contribute and have their thoughts heard as they popped up on the laptop screens.
Following the morning classroom visits was a panel with the business members, teachers and students. Business leaders commented on how amazed they were to see the students so easily adapting and using the technology that they had at their fingertips and how the leaders wish that they would have had something like that in the classroom during their schooling. They shared conversations with students about what is working and what the students think can be done differently. Questions were asked to teachers on how it has changed the way that they teach and what obstacles and challenges they are currently seeing with the addition of technology to the classroom.
Students were able to offer their own perspective on how comfortable they are adapting to various technology devices and systems. An interesting discussion was had on the attempt of a bring your own device to school program that so far has not been successful at Schuylkill Valley. The administrators were impressed with the ideas brought up by students with the business members getting in on the conversation as well.
“There is so much out there that it’s hard to pick a direction,” said Raudenbush during the panel.
Following the panel were more classroom visits including the library which features the school’s television studio, music lab, and Technology Education classrooms to see how students are using technology in those area as well.
“Our vision, we want to empower our kids,” said Sasse. “First and foremost, we want to make sure our kids have the best experience that they can. You’ll never hear us say that it has to be technology and nothing else, but we really do feel that technology plays a significant role in being a helper along the way.”
Based on the reactions from the attendees and open discussions between attendees, administration, teachers and students, the Technology Showcase was a success that led to not only great feedback for the district, but also opening up new partnerships with the community and sharing different perspectives to help use technology in the district in the best way possible.
The district is hoping to make this an annual event.
