By Sophia Lashmar, Year 11
As any LGB student will have noticed over the past two years, the teachers do not know how to use their smartboards. Following the replacement of all of the old smartboards (which were still in good condition), and that the teachers knew how to use, we are now stuck in a school environment brimming with state of the art technology that no one knows how to use!
Last year, many of the teachers were shocked to find new whiteboards in their classrooms, and were even more surprised when they were offered no lessons, advice or instructions on how to use these new additions. Of course, many teachers have improvised, and taught themselves, however this leads to the feeling that perhaps we are not getting everything that this technology has to offer.
If the school felt it necessary to introduce new smartboards, why did it not also prioritise the provision of instruction on how to use them? It is a common experience shared by LGB students when teachers attempt to annotate text on their boards, and the screen ends up a cluttered kaleidoscope of red, green and blue illegible scrawls. Other common whiteboard mishaps are the sound not working, the boards systematically blinking on and off, and the supposedly frozen screen not living up to its name.
One would assume that given many teachers struggle with using these ‘smart’ boards, that the school would have taken some action. Unfortunately, this is not yet the case.
Perhaps most outrageous of all is the school’s claim of financial issues following the 2020-21 school year. In Ecolint’s Annual report, Director General Dr. Hawley stated that due to Ecolint’s commitments to students, parents and teachers concerning tuition fees and salaries, it “has placed Ecolint on an unsustainable financial pathway. Rebalancing this is part of the work ahead of us”. While this is an admirable mission of the school’s to honour agreements and to work with parents and teachers to keep conditions stable, it does beg the question: If the school is attempting to “rebalance” its “unsustainable financial pathway”, why did it replace every single smartboard in LGB?
If the whiteboards were a truly necessary investment, then the school should see that they are adding value to the LGB educational experience. If spending on smartboards is the best use of the school’s money, then they should at least make sure they are being used properly and as best they can to improve student learning.
