Technology revolutionizing classroom learning

There is one thing that distinguishes La Cañada High School math teacher Mike Upton from his like-minded colleagues — chalk dust. Or rather, the absence of it. His hands, shirt and pant legs are clean of the white powdery film that for decades was the tell-tale sign of a school teacher.

That is because Upton has spent the last 18 months delivering lessons using the “mimio,” an interactive, digital white board that, along with other key pieces of educational technology, is transforming classroom instruction in the La Cañada Unified School District.

Previously, Utpon said, he spent precious minutes writing out and erasing algebra equations and geometry proofs. Now, he has practice problems already designed and stored, digital slide by digital slide, that he can pull up with a quick tap of a electronic wand.

“It doesn’t take long, as a teacher you realized this is so much more productive . . . It is just not easy to be undoing and redoing [math problems], and getting students to be able to see what you just did,” Upton said.

With the financial support of the La Cañada Educational Foundation and school PTAs, La Cañada Unified continues to make technology development at every level a priority. In January 2009, the district launched a new website to foster external communication, allowing students and parents online access to everything from teacher e-mail addresses to registration materials. Traffic doubled in one year — last month the site received 66,000 visits and 167,000 page views, according to the district.

There are currently 1,100 district computers for a student body of roughly 4,000. Schools continue to offer technology and computer programming courses, including AP Computer Science at La Cañada High School.

Shortly after being hired by the district in 2003, Director of Technology Enoch Kwok created the Tech Leaders Integrating Technology in Education (LITE) team. The five Tech LITE teachers, two from the high school and one from each of the elementary schools, serve as digital gurus for their respective campuses, introducing new technology tools and providing instruction to colleagues.

Some teachers are tech savvy enough to code web pages in HTML, Kwok said, while others have only basic skills. The district is working to bridge the literacy gap between “digital immigrants” and “digital natives.”