The key to Brookfield’s success is its strategic view of how technology can be used in a school. They start with teaching and learning goals first, and then look at how technology can help.

Technology from an HP Technology for Teaching grant expanded the options for teachers at Brookfield High School in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. Now, their creative teaching, along with their new role as facilitators for learning, has given students numerous advantages.

The initial grant in 2005 was based on studying the environmental health of Brookfield and the surrounding community. The school received five HP Compaq tc 1100 Tablet PC notebooks, five HP digital projectors, five HP Photosmart M22 digital camera and a printer photocopier/scanner. In the following year, the school’s success led to a mobile cart with 15 Tablet PCs and wireless access.

With such tools at the ready, technology integration quickly moved beyond the environmental study. Multimedia Internet access is now a regular part of all classrooms with the technology, from carefully planned presentations or scavenger hunts to spontaneous discussions of daily news.

Student research regularly combines hands-on work with computer simulations. Lecture notes and background materials are easily accessible, freeing students to listen well—a feature that has proven to be especially beneficial for ESL students. And, no longer tied to the blackboard, teachers roaming around the classroom have a better sense of individual comprehension.

Handwriting recognition on the Tablet’s is particularly useful for special education students who can’t write or type well. The Tablet can interpret their handwriting, and teachers are especially pleased to be able to have that assistance for evaluating these students more accurately.

Students create PowerPoint presentations, combining words, music, digital pictures and online resources. Teachers are also gathering online resources and banking them for future classes and other teachers.

Students in Beverly Wilkinson’s biology class, for example, might be given a digital photo of a virus and asked to identify it. With select web sites, they discover the virus photographed, then go on to search for symptoms and other important characteristics. “They become so excited to be on the hunt for this information,” says Wilkinson, “that they are essentially teaching themselves.”

The grant included training from the International Society of Technology in Education (ISTE). Hilary LaMonte, who led that professional development, explains, “The key to Brookfield’s success is its strategic view of how technology can be used in a school. They start with teaching and learning goals first, and then look at how technology can help.”