HUGHESVILLE - With technology continually evolving, it can be difficult to keep up, but East Lycoming School District recently gave a presentation at a state conference about how technology has been implemented in the district.
At the Pennsylvania School Boards Association Leadership Conference held last week, curriculum director Patti Wylie talked to other districts about the usage of Apple TV, iPads and other devices in the classroom, which she shared with the school board at Tuesday night's meeting.
East Lycoming School District started using the iPad initiative early in 2011. Since then, 330 iPads have been used in the district throughout all grade levels.
And in all subjects, too.
At the conference, Wylie was near students who used an iPad while exercising.
"Who would have thought (about using them in) phys ed?" Wylie said. "The art department wanted to play with it. It's fun."
To support the usage of iPads, the district installed projectors and AppleTVs, which wirelessly allow the iPad and teacher laptop screens to be displayed with whole classroom audio.
"We're so grateful the district made this investment," Wylie said.
While some of the districts that Wylie talked to at the conference were not interested because of the costs, Superintendent Michael D. Pawlik explained it cost about $800 a classroom, compared to the SMART boards, which are interactive whiteboards, which cost about $2,100 to $2,300 a classroom.
By networking with other districts, recommendations can be made about the different applications to download to best implement learning in the classroom, Wylie said. Teachers also have been working together to find applications to use.
Different applications are available to help particular grade levels, such as Counting Money for the primary level and Calculus Flash Card for the secondary level.
The district also has begun using its new digital production studio. The first football game to be broadcast will be against Muncy on Nov. 2, with a half-hour pregame show. The show is "100 percent" student run, Pawlik said.
