Technology Integration Fueling Innovation
The East Williston School District is a small, K-12 public school system that focuses on personalized approaches to educating their students. They believe that all students can learn and all students deserve high-quality instruction. To accomplish this, they keep classes small, provide strong student support services, and focus on innovation that will inspire their students to get involved and actively engage with their lessons.
Challenge
The East Williston School District wanted to integrate more interactive technology into their school buildings that would improve both classroom instruction for students as well as professional development for teachers. Outside of the one or two departments, each classroom only used projectors which required teachers to turn the lights off to use and had limited features available when it comes to instruction.
In order to improve classroom instruction and provide the best experience possible for their students, the East Williston School District wanted to start incorporating interactive flat panels in their classroom spaces. They would consider price, ease of use, and flexibility to determine the best fit. East Williston School District also considered the people behind the interactive flat panel, and hoped to find a provider who would be responsive and able to help provide support to their campus and their teachers.
Solution
After considering their options, the East Williston School District purchased several RS Series interactive flat panels from Newline Interactive. They were won over by the product itself, but also by how responsive the Newline team was to answer questions, provide technical support, as well as professional development.
The Newline RS Series interactive flat panel is designed entirely around ease of use, using intuitive home screen icons to help anyone quickly navigate to whichever part of the panel they need to reach. Any teacher or student can walk right up to the panel and immediately access any connected sources such as a teacher’s laptop or a built-in computer, access Cloud storage, the embedded whiteboard, and more – no training required!
With an industry-leading brightness, the RS Series panels provided a screen vivid enough that teachers no longer had to turn the lights off in order to present on a large screen. Built-in wireless casting features also allowed teachers and students to share their screens on the RS Series panel, cutting down time of connecting devices to cables that slowed down class.
Results
The teachers were thrilled with their new RS Series interactive flat panels. A Newline representative came to the school to provide on-site training for the teachers, helping them feel no only comfortable with integrating the RS Series panel in their classroom instruction, but also excited about the ways the panel would get students engaged. The elementary school teachers in particular went all-in and started using their panel for everything they did in the classroom.
Both students and teachers can easily use the software they have always used in the classroom, now on a bright, big screen that allows multiple students to interact with the material at once. With seamless wireless casting, teachers are also no longer stuck behind their desks to lead lessons. They are now free to move about the room and help students one-on-one, as well as let the students drive their own learning.
The East Williston School District hope that teachers continue handing in their desktop computers, citing they no longer need them as long as they have Newline’s RS Series panels.
“Newline has enabled us to provide a seamless experience to kids without interference. The panels are not in the way, they are part of the process. Different teachers have different opinions on technology. But all of our teachers have found their niche and love how easy it is to use the panel.“– Ed Kemnitzer Director of Technology, Innovation, and Information Services
