HMS SMART Board Proposal 11
Purchase of
SMART Board Interactive Whiteboards
for the
Helen Morgan School Library Media Center,
Sparta, New Jersey
Mary Gardner
INFO 520
Grant Proposal
December 7, 2008
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The Helen Morgan School Library Media Center, located in Sparta, New Jersey, proposes to purchase sixteen SMART Board interactive whiteboards for use in regular and special-needs classrooms to support and enhance the learning of its rapidly increasing student population. The Library Media Center seeks funding in the amount of $62,882 to purchase the SMART Boards and related accessories, and to provide necessary teacher training, by the start of the 2009-2010 school year on September 5, 2009.
THE HELEN MORGAN SCHOOL LIBRARY MEDIA CENTER
Our Community
The Helen Morgan School (HMS) is one of two public elementary schools in Sparta, New Jersey, serving the needs of close to 700 students in preschool through fourth grade. HMS opened its doors in 1958 and is celebrating its fiftieth anniversary this year. Sparta Township, located in the scenic Highlands area of northwestern New Jersey, has grown rapidly in recent years from a rural lake resort to a vibrant suburban community of 19,000 people. With an almost ten percent increase in district-wide student enrollment from 2002 to 2007 (SBE, 2008), the nine-member school board and district administrators actively focus on cost-effective use of resources. Sparta spent $2,289 less per student than the New Jersey average for K-12 districts for the 2006-2007 school year and has one of the highest student-teacher ratios out of 103 similar K-12 school districts in New Jersey; only 20 similar districts had lower total administrative costs. (SBE, 2008). With close to half of all Sparta households having children under the age of 18, Sparta schools enjoy a high level of support from the community. Concerned residents recently founded the Sparta Education Foundation, a non-profit community organization whose goal is “to generate additional sources of revenue for educational programs and services that enhance the curriculum and learning environment.” (SEF, 2006-2008).
Our Library
In 2007, the Helen Morgan School Library Media Center (LMC) revised our mission statement to align with the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions core school library services. Our mission statement affirms our call to:
· Support and enhance educational goals as outlined in the Helen Morgan School mission and curriculum, and the New Jersey Department of Education Core Curriculum Content Standards;
· Develop and sustain in children the habit and enjoyment of reading and learning, and the use of libraries throughout their lives;
· Offer opportunities for experiences in creating and using information for knowledge, understanding, imagination and enjoyment;
· Support all students in learning and practicing skills for evaluating and using information, regardless of form, format or medium;
· Provide access to resources and opportunities that expose learners to diverse ideas, experiences and opinions;
· Work with students, teachers, administrators and parents to achieve the mission of the school;
· Promote reading and the resources and services of the school library to the school community and beyond.
The Helen Morgan School Library Media Center fulfills these functions by developing policies and services, selecting and acquiring resources, providing physical and intellectual access to appropriate sources of information, providing instructional facilities, and employing trained staff.
The LMC houses a specialized collection of 9,000 juvenile fiction and non-fiction print works, a 20-station computer lab providing access to the Internet and selected online databases, and the school’s audiovisual equipment collection. A certified School Library Media Specialist provides instruction to students in the library, administers the library’s resources, and collaborates with the school’s highly qualified teaching staff to identify appropriate resources to enhance classroom curriculum. The School Library Media Specialist is assisted by a Library Aide and our dedicated parent volunteers.
Our Students
The HMS student population for the 2008-2009 school year includes 694 students in Preschool through Grade 4, an increase of 63 students since 2002. The rapidly increasing population includes many students with special educational needs. The Preschool classroom serves the needs of children aged three to five with physical, sensory, emotional, communication, cognitive, and/or social difficulties. Fifteen percent of students in grades Kindergarten through fourth have Individualized Education Plans (IEP’s) requiring modifications to the standard educational program. Modifications may include accommodations in the regular classroom as well as specialized mathematics or language arts instruction in the Learning Resource Center (LRC). Students requiring extensive modification to the standard educational program may spend all or part of the day in the Learning and Language Disabilities (LLD) classroom.
Our Teachers
Each teacher on the HMS teaching staff is rated Highly Qualified by the State of New Jersey. All special classroom teachers (Preschool, LLD, and LRC) have master’s degrees in various aspects of early childhood and/or special education.
STATEMENT OF NEED
A SMART Board is a presentation device that projects images from computers and other digital media onto a large interactive whiteboard surface. Instructors and students can draw directly on the surface of the SMART Board, or on the accompanying Airliner wireless slate, with a pen tool, erasable pen, or even a fingertip. Participants can manipulate and highlight text and images, diagram, label, make notes, and interact with software applications. Our youngest students can “read” a story by tapping each word to hear it read aloud, trace or draw numbers and shapes, or arrange letters to make words. Older students can participate in a presentation by a visiting children’s book illustrator by highlighting the elements of line, color and pattern used by the artist, or project an image from a USB microscope and label the components of a plant. All work done on the SMART Board or Airliner wireless slate can be saved to disk, and distributed via print copies, the web, or e-mail, allowing students, particularly those who were absent or those with learning difficulties, to compare or augment their own notes.
The SMART Board has unique capacities to accommodate multiple learning styles and varying physical and mental disabilities. Visual learners can easily see text, moving images, and other colorful displays, even from the back of a large classroom. Auditory learners can experience the lesson through sound provided by the SMART Board’s USB speakers. Kinesthetic learners, an often-neglected group, can physically manipulate text, images and other data directly on the screen with the touch of a finger (Beeland, p. 5, 2002). Hearing-impaired students, who rely heavily on visual learning, benefit from the large display area and the ability to highlight portions of text or images (Carter, 2002). Students with impaired vision can manipulate objects and perceive large-font text on the ample display surface of the SMART Board, as well as listen to accompanying sound. The Airliner wireless slate allows full participation by mobility-impaired students who may not be able to reach the board. The Bluetooth wireless component eliminates trailing wires that can make it difficult for students in wheelchairs to reach the SMART Board (Speight & Slater, p. 33, 2006). Student unable to use a pen or mouse can draw on a SMART Board with a finger. Height-adjustable wall mounting brackets and mobile floor stands allow the SMART Board to be lowered to be within the reach of students in wheelchairs or raised to enable vision-impaired students to see more clearly.
Research has shown that SMART Board lessons are extremely effective in holding students’ attention (Beeland, p. 5, 2002), even among those with ADHD (Jamerson, 2002). Teachers can use the Airliner to retain control of the SMART Board while moving about the classroom and paying attention to individual student needs, a crucial benefit in crowded classrooms.
HMS educators are continually seeking innovative methods to engage a rapidly increasing population of students with a wide range of special needs in ever more crowded classrooms. The SMART Board interactive whiteboard is a flexible, efficient tool that addresses the diverse abilities and multiple learning styles of all HMS students.
PROPOSED INITIATIVE
The HMS School Library Media Center, in accordance with its stated mission of “selecting and acquiring resources, [and] providing physical and intellectual access to appropriate sources of information”, proposes to purchase 16 SMART Board interactive whiteboards and related accessories for use in individual classrooms to support and enhance the learning of all students in the school. One SMART Board will be permanently installed in each of the four LRC classrooms, the LLD classroom, and the Preschool classroom. Ten additional SMART Boards plus ten mobile floor stands will be purchased for use by classroom teachers in Kindergarten through Grade 4. Each SMART Board will be accompanied by a USB audio system, a Bluetooth wireless connection, and two Airliner wireless slates. Purchase of the SMART Boards and accessories will be completed by August 1, 2009 to allow adequate time for delivery and installation for the start of the 2009-2010 school year. Mobile SMART Boards will be administered by the Library Media Center staff. Teachers will be permitted to check out mobile SMART BOARDS in half-day increments, on a first-come first-served basis. Checked-out SMART Boards will remain in the receiving classroom until checked out by another classroom teacher, due to a lack of sufficient storage space in the Library Media Center.
Thorough training is a key factor in the successful implementation of any new technology. The School Library Media Specialist, the classroom teachers assigned to the Preschool classroom, the LLD classroom and the four LRC classrooms, and two classroom teachers from each grade level from Kindergarten through Grade 4 will be trained in use of the SMART Boards during a full-day, on-site “Train the Trainers” session provided by SMART Technologies on September 2, 2009. Teachers attending the on-site training session will in turn train the remaining teaching staff during a “Teacher In-Service” day on October 13, 2009. Ongoing training is provided in the form of free online interactive orientation sessions (20 – 30 minute computer and telephone conferences) and downloadable training materials, in addition to the SMART Board’s on-screen Help menu and tutorials. Teachers will also have free online access to teacher-developed lesson plans correlated the New Jersey Core Curriculum Standards at the SMART Technology Education website, as well as numerous other reputable websites such as Scholastic.com.
It is anticipated that a successful implementation of SMART Board technology in HMS will result in:
· Mobile SMART Boards checked out for 60% of available half-day increments for the 2009-2010 school year as tracked via the LMC circulation system.
· Increased enthusiasm, discussion, interaction, and retention of material by students during SMART Board lessons, as well as ease of use and increased teacher efficiency and productivity as reported in qualitative surveys of all students and general classroom teachers.
· Measurable progress towards academic and behavioral goals set forth in the IEP’s of students in the general, LLD, and LRC classrooms, as reported in surveys of general classroom, LLD, and LRC teachers.
Results of the use tracking and surveys will be used to determine whether further grants will be pursued to purchase a SMART Board for each classroom in the school. Results of the HMS SMART Board implementation in the Preschool classroom will also be analyzed and reported by the Preschool classroom teachers in a study concerning the use of SMART Boards in special-needs preschool classrooms, which they hope to publish in the Journal of Early Intervention or a similar scholarly or professional journal, as well as on the website of the SMARTer Kids Foundation. In addition to this study, the HMS Library Media Center’s acquisition of SMART Boards with the generous support of The Missy Harvey Foundation will be shared with the community in the following ways:
· Press releases to local and regional newspapers, and professional organizations such as the New Jersey Education Association and the New Jersey School Library Association;
· Announcements at school assemblies and Parent Teacher Organization and Board of Education meetings;
· Banner articles, with appropriate links to the granting entity, on the school and district websites.
CONCLUSION
“More than a diverting gadget or game, interactive whiteboards successfully promote the computer skills students require for success in the 21st century.” (SMART Technologies Inc, p. 7, 2006). The SMART Board interactive whiteboard offers a truly effective way to integrate 21st century technology into the Helen Morgan School, while making learning accessible, appropriate, and just plain fun for students with diverse learning needs and styles.
Appendix Materials
A. Proposed Budget
B. Resume for School Library Media Specialist
C. White Paper by Smart Technology on Total Cost of Ownership for SMART Board Interactive Whiteboards
D. Informational Brochure for Smart Technology’s on-site “Train the Trainer” session
E. Resumes of Preschool classroom teachers
PROPOSED BUDGET
Item Description / Unit Cost / TotalRequested
Funds / Total
Matching
Funds / TotalIn-Kind
Funds
(16) SMART Board 680i3 77” with UF55 projector with connecting cables and mounting hardware / $1,499 / $23,984(16) Wireless Bluetooth connection / $226 / $3,616
(16) USB Audio System / $299 / $4,784
(32) Airliner wireless slate / $399 / $12,768
(10) Mobile floor stand / $749 / $7,490
Shipping costs / $3,840
Installation of (6) wall mounted units by school district personnel. / $150 / $900
Internet access (included in annual operating budget) / $600
Initial librarian/teacher training (funded with matching grant from the Sparta Education Foundation) / $14,000
(17) Substitute teachers for (1) day to replace staff in SMART Board on-site training session / $75 / $1,275
Ongoing librarian/teacher training (online interactive or self-guided training included with purchase of SMART boards) / $0
Technical support (e-mail and telephone support included with purchase of SMART boards) / $0
Software upgrades (free ongoing availability with purchase of SMART boards) / $0
(16) Replacement bulb for UF55 projector / $400 / $6,400
TOTALS / $62,882 / $14,000 / $2,775
REFERENCES
Beeland Jr., W.D. (2002). Student engagement, visual learning and technology: Can interactive whiteboards help? Retrieved November 23, 2008, from http://chiron.valdosta.edu/are/Artmanscrpt/vol1no1/beeland_am.pdf.