Standing at her newest investment, math teacher Jillian Young etches out the day’s notes to a class enchanted by the way the high tech pens magically print onto the Smartboard.

Mrs. Young, who first started teaching at Shiloh Christian, is used to teaching with high-tech devices. “I started my teaching career with a Smartboard and want to stay consistent,” she said of why she felt the need to purchase a Smartboard of her own for her classroom when she saw hers was not already well equipped.

In a high-tech age full of tech-savvy teens, Mrs. Young feels that the use of interactive technologies not only helps her as a teacher, but helps her students learn as well. “I like to plan out and display the notes as I teach, and the Smartboard allows me to do that in addition to adding interactive features,” she tells of the many benefits.

But while Mrs. Young feels it helps her teach, AP Psychology teacher William Boyd feels that technology helps what he cannot teach.

“There’s an offering there that we just don’t have within the walls of the classroom,” said Boyd, but he does offer that, “with some students, they get so wrapped up in the project, that they neglect the learning of the content.”

To translate, students often got so wrapped up in adding new-fangled and dynamic aspects of their project, that they often forget that the whole point was to develop a better understanding of the material.

“The learning that is supposed to take place, in that project, takes a backseat to the technology that they’re involved in,” said Boyd.

One unique piece of technology that Mr. Boyd does say that he would like to see is electronic textbooks, but he knows that it all comes down to the money.

“Money will be a guiding consideration,” said AP Government and AP World History teacher Wendel Nothdurft of the potential to improve our technologies. With that being said, what does our school spend the money dedicated for technology on? Important innovations like the AV Rovers and the few and far between Promethean boards, but also the needless and neglected televisions on the cafeteria are the focus of the budget.

In response to this, Mrs. Young said that she feels, “money does need to go towards technology,” but also that, “the technology does need to be meaningful and accessible to all.”

The Smartboard gives, “a visual representation of the assignment,” said senior Kylei Caballero, who feels that though the technology is expensive, it’s worth the cost.