Even the Classrooms are "Smart" at White Mountains Community College
Katharine Eneguess, President of White Mountains Community CollegeWhen I was growing up, our visual learning aids were rolled up above the blackboard and when the teacher needed to illustrate a certain topic, say, "Magellan's route around the world," she would pull on a string and down would come a big colorful map. I loved those maps, which were so much more interesting than the chalky lines and loops that the teacher wrote on the blackboard, hence my strong interest in history and maps.
Occasionally we'd be treated to a film strip or a movie, usually about some scientific subject, like the sun or electricity. Even the normally rambunctious boys who the teacher made sit in the front of the classroom were quiet during those times, and I bet they still remember as clear as I do, the animated character of Father Time in the movie about the sun.
Technology in the classroom has come quite a ways since those days.
Film strips long ago gave way to TVs and video tapes and DVDs. The personal computer is over a generation old now and most public school classrooms have at least one. Keyboarding is taught starting in the early grades, and children now surf the internet instead thumbing through an encyclopedia.
We here at White Mountains Community College have kept up with the advances in computer hardware and software. Besides allowing us to offer online courses, this revolution has transformed our learning facilities, and we now have "smart" classrooms, classrooms that are technology enhanced. We have projectors that allow material usually confined to the small screen of a personal computer to be displayed on whiteboards for the whole class. Teachers can control computer applications with just a click or a touch, in a much more interactive manner than they could scroll back and forward those film strips of old. They can also use a digital pen to add content to the material up on the screen, and to draw circles around information they want to emphasize. They can illustrate their lectures with their own PowerPoint presentations, too, or present student projects.
Needless to say, the possibilities of creative use of the hardware in our smart classrooms are endless. The very latest in research in any subject can be quickly accessed and put in front of all students, as the computers are connected to the internet, too. No more waiting for the state library loan program to send a reel of "Our Mr. Sun," no more decade old film strips with out-dated information.
If you're interested in what makes up a smart classroom and in how it can help you meet your educational goals, stop by our main campus at 2020 Riverside Drive in Berlin, or stop by one of our Academic Centers. Our Conway center is located off of Route 16 at 53 Technology Lane. In Littleton we are at 646 Main Street, in Woodsville at 9 High Street. We are never further away from you than a click of the mouse.
Back to News List12/12/2008
© White Mountains Community College. 2020 Riverside Drive, Berlin, NH 03570. Tel: (800)445-4525 or (603)752-1113.