Emerging Technology PresentationAngela B. Burgess

Kennesaw State UniversityITEC 7445, Fall 2012

What is the ActivTable?

The Promethean ActivTable is “an interactive table with a 46-inch HD LCD touch-sensitive display that supports up to six students at one time” (Promethean Ltd., 2012).

The table is designed to promote cooperative learning experiences that engage students collaboratively.

Students are empowered to “lead their own learning” while working individually or in small groups (Promethean Ltd., 2012).

FCS and ActivTable

The technology vision of Forsyth County Schools is “to use classroom technology to engage students in asking questions and choosing tools to facilitate real world problem solving” (Forsyth County Schools, 2011).

Every classroom in FCS currently has a Promethean ActivBoard, and Promethean student response systems at a ratio of one for every six classrooms.

While the ActivBoards focus on more of an individual interaction with knowledge, the ActivTable would allow students to collaborate to discover new information together, increasing engagement and cooperative learning.

Engaging and Collaborative

Activities designed for use with the ActivTable require group collaboration.

Students begin activities by each pressing a “Start” button that allows the table to know how many students will be participating.

As the activity progresses, students must collaborate and learn together. Many activities require group consensus before moving from one stage of the activity to the next.

Some activities require students to work on different “parts” of the same activity, such as Collaborative Storytelling or Newspaper Maker. In these activities, students work on separate parts to create one finished product. Each student is therefore assigned a different role to work on, but with the ability to still share what they learn throughout the design stage.

Who should use the ActivTable? Promethean’s ActivTable is currently

designed for students 4-11. Activities have been designed to meet

Common Core Standards for both content and technology.

However, the ActivTable is still in development and could be adapted for use in some secondary classes.

Sample Elementary Activity

Making CVC WordsStudents will: Recognize consonant and

vowel consonant sounds Form consonant-vowel-

consonant (CVC) words Match CVC words to

corresponding images using sight and sound cues

Work as a team to help classmates recognize, think of, and spell CVC words

Bloom’s Taxonomy: •Comprehension (Understand): compare, distinguish, represent•Application (Apply): choose, use, construct

Sample Middle School Activity

Christopher Columbus WebQuest

Students will: Collaborate to answer

specific questions Use online resources to

find relevant information Share useful information

to help others in the group complete their assignment

Bloom’s Taxonomy•Analysis (Analyze): research, discover, examine, inquire, interpret, choose •Synthesis (Create): compile, organize, incorporate, blend, design, publish•Evaluation (Evaluate): consider, conclude, reject, select, revise, support

Possible Adapted Activities for High School

Opposites Bingo Currently developed for Grades

3-5 Could be adapted for all levels

of high school English Language Arts, English as a Second Language, and World Language classrooms

Times of Day Currently developed for Grades

1-2 Could be adapted for use in

Special Education classrooms and/or level 1 World Language classrooms

Let’s Go Shopping Currently developed for Grade 2 Could be adapted for Special

Education, English as a Second Language, World Language and Business classrooms at the high school level

Collaborative Storytelling Currently developed for Grades 2-

5 Could be adapted for all levels of

high school English Language Arts, English as a Second Language, World Language, Social Studies, and Special Education classrooms

What is needed to use the ActivTable?

Promethean recommends that the ActivTable be installed by a Certified Promethean Installer.

The table requires access to electricity and internet (wired or wireless). For set-up purposes, a keyboard and mouse are required (but not

provided). Because the ActivTable activities use sound as well, it is recommended

that schools also purchase the Headphone Accessory Kit, which allows up to 6 students to hear the same sounds without disrupting other learning activities in the class.

The ActivTable comes pre-loaded with 25 customizable activities, with more being developed by Promethean and teachers around the world. These new activities will be available for download on Promethean Planet as they are ready.

Available Technical Support

Promethean offers a standard warranty for non-registered products. This includes free access to the online Knowledgebase and paid telephone support for 1 year.

Registering products with Promethean upgrades the warranty to ActivCare, which provides free access to online, telephone, and email support, as well as extending the warranty.

Promethean also offers a customizable Professional Development series known as Promethean Academy. As the ActivTable is still in the development phase, more support will be available as needed.

Accessibility

The ActivTable is designed to meet accessibility standards by providing easy access for students both in chairs and wheelchairs.

The ActivTable comes with wheels for an easy way to move the table to the student, if the student is unable to come to the table. However, the table is large and heavy, so it may take two adults to move the table (a plus, since the weight means that students will not use the table as a rolling bench). The wheels also lock to prevent the table from moving when undesired.

Activities with the ActivTable can be differentiated based upon student skill level as decided by the teacher.

Cost and Funding

The Promethean ActivTable is currently estimated to cost $7,999.00 per table.

Similar to the Promethean ActivExpressions (currently with a ratio of 1 set of Expressions for every 6 classrooms, to be shared), I recommend a purchase of 1 table for every 7-10 classrooms to be shared across classrooms and departments.

As with funding for the classroom ActivBoards, funding for the ActivTables could come from renewing the bond referendum voted upon in March 2011, or a SPLOST for Forsyth County.

Grants are also available from the US Department of Education, The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the NEC Foundation, and more.

Effectiveness of the ActivTable

While the Promethean ActivTable is not yet in schools, the ActivTable has been presented at several technology conferences across the United States and the United Kingdom.

In his review published in October 2012, Terry Friedman says that the Promethean ActivTable could easily be a revolutionary solution for integrating technology into education, although there are concerns regarding the number of activities and cost.

In the review published by KQED’s MindShift in June 2012, the author noted that much time must still be spent on developing engaging and creative activities that focus on learning, not just on using “cool” technology. When used appropriately, the ActivTable will not replace creative, effective teachers, but will instead give teachers the tools they need to develop great lessons, and to prepare students for the future.

Recommended Implementation Due to the cost of the ActivTable, and the fact that it is still in

development, I would recommend beginning with select teachers in all three levels of schools who can work with Promethean to develop activities for use with the ActivTable to meet content and technology standards.

Teachers should be chosen to meet each content area at each level (elementary, middle, high), as well as selecting ITS staff from each level. (Recommended Time: 1 year)

Once the Trial and Development Team is comfortable that the ActivTable is ready to meet FCS’s standards of technology integration, more ActivTables can be purchased and the T&D Team can work with the teachers at each school on training and activity development. (Recommended Time: 2 years)

Reflection

As a daily user of my Promethean ActivBoard, I love the idea of being able to engage more students while getting them to truly interact with the learning in a hands-on way. One downside to the ActivBoard is that while students can work together to complete an activity, only one student at a time can “touch” the board and interact with the information. With the ActivTable, it truly becomes an interactive tool, allowing students to collaborate and discover new information.

My biggest disappointment currently lies in the fact that the ActivTable has not yet been developed for middle and high school students. Perhaps this is because the size of the table. Perhaps the next ActivBoard will be the board part of the table, but larger, and meant to hung on the wall, as the ActivBoard is now. In the meantime, I am excited at this new trend and hope to see it in action one day soon.

References

Forsyth County Schools. (2011, December 19). Instructional technology. Retrieved from http://www.forsyth.k12.ga.us/page/1526

Freedman, T. (2012, October 4). Promethean activtable review. Retrieved from http://www.pcpro.co.uk/reviews/peripherals/377383/promethean-activtable

MindShift. (2012, June 25). [Web log message]. Retrieved from http://blogs.kqed.org/mindshift/2012/06/an-ipad-on-legs-is-this-the-next-interactive-whiteboard/

Promthean Ltd. (2012). Promethean world - interactive displays - activtable. Retrieved from http://www.prometheanworld.com/en-us/education/products/interactive-displays/activtable