The Information Technology Services student program granted the College of Education new Promethean and Smart boards.

The College of Education technology committee and Leah Peterson, assessment coordinator of education, wrote the grant proposal to help get the new technology that is now installed in the college.

Education majors are given the opportunity to take a training class on the new Promethean boards. Cynthia Vavasseur, associate professor of education, is teaching the training classes.

“All the students pay the technology fee, but they don’t know where it goes,” Vavasseur said. “Now they can finally see where it goes.”

Education majors were emailed about the training classes to have the opportunity to be trained on the new boards. These training classes are free to attend.

“I have been keeping a head count on who is signing up, and we have at least 40 to 50 students,” Peterson said. “Students are jumping on board, and I plan to sit in on a lot of the trainings.”

Professors also have to be trained because they have to teach on the new boards.

“We are able to send teachers out now because they are prepared to teach,” Peterson said. “There are schools in Terrebonne and Lafourche parish that already have these boards. It was a necessity for us to get these things. We are back on pace.”

With other competition in the field of education, receiving the boards has made the college technologically equipped, so students can be prepared to teach after graduating.

“This has been a godsend to us,” J. Steven Welsh, dean of the College of Education said. “It is directly relevant to students training and the skills they are going to use when they go out to do student teaching. We are very happy about the grant.”

The Promethean and Smart boards are housed in the classrooms of Polk Hall.

“All of the programs in the college benefit from the new technology,” Welsh said. “It is a win-win for all of us.”

The Promethean boards look similar to the Smart boards, but they are different in how they are set up and how they function.

“Smart boards are 10 to 15 times more popular in the United States than Promethean boards,” Vavasseur said. “In our area, Promethean boards are hugely more popular.”

The Promethean board uses ActivInspire software, which is available to download free online. Students can create assignments on their computer and show them in class on the Promethean board.

“I think it is really good that we have the Promethean boards because our future in education is more driven to technology now,” Jessalyn Bourgeois, middle school education junior from Raceland, said. “I feel more prepared that I can go into the field because I am practicing on the Promethean board.”

Students who know how to work a Smart board are adjusting to learn the new technology of the Promethean board.

“Most of the schools that I have visited are using the Promethean,” Bourgeois said. “I am a little more excited now because it is more relevant to me.”