Be Heard | School Grant Transforms Multimedia Learning at Houston-area Elementary School

Apply now for a 2010 grant and kick-start your school technology initiative today

With the Calypso School First Foundation’s 2010 Be Heard | School Grant initiative in full swing, one of last year’s grant winners shared how classroom amplification transformed a 1950s-era elementary school into a 21st century learning oasis.

Rod Dunklee, technology integration specialist for McWhirter Elementary School in Webster, Tex., is a 2009 Be Heard | School Grant winner. He first discovered the grant program through the Texas Computer Education Association (TCEA) newsletter in early 2009 and decided to apply after evaluating his school’s needs.

“Before applying for the grant, we struggled with helping our students hear better in class,” Dunklee said. “We always knew multimedia learning would make a tremendous impact on student attentiveness and class participation, but we soon realized that the visual media presence alone wasn’t enough – we also needed sound.”

Sound field reinforcement often overlooked
As new classroom technology becomes an everyday part of learning, many schools prioritize visual presentation tools over audio enhancements. But according to Dunklee, amplification is a missing piece of the technology puzzle for thousands of U.S. schools.

“For years, educators have understood the importance of teaching and learning with digital tools, but even flat-screen TVs or digital whiteboards won’t be effective in the classroom if students can’t hear the audio or if teachers have to shout to be heard,” Dunklee said.

Academic research and conventional wisdom has long supported the notion of learning synthesis, or transforming knowledge by allowing students to share what they’ve learned in their own words. Audio enhancement, Dunklee says, encourages learning synthesis by emphasizing students’ own voices and critical thoughts about classroom lessons.

“When you make something your own to the point that you can talk about what you’re learning, you retain it for a lifetime,” Dunklee said. “Recording or presenting what you’ve learned, in your own voice, is a very powerful tool to ensure students don’t simply copy and paste someone else’s thoughts and ideas.”

Installation details
Located in Webster, Tex., McWhirter Elementary is a bilingual school with more than 850 students, 15 percent of whom are involved in the school’s English-Spanish immersion program and 10 percent of whom are special needs students. The teachers’ ability to model precise sounds, patterns and pronunciation is crucial to effective learning at McWhirter Elementary.

Calypso Systems WCM-RF classroom voice amplification systems were installed in thirty-five classrooms in November 2009. Since then, Dunklee says, both teachers and students have been clamoring for more.

“Recently, one of our kindergarten teachers told me her students always remind her to put on a microphone before beginning a lesson. She felt relieved that she no longer had to use her ’teacher voice’ every second – during story time, for example, she could use her entire range of communicative emotions instead of struggling to project her voice.”

Dunklee also remarked how teachers at McWhirter frequently use the Calypso amplification systems to help shy students express themselves.

“Audio enhancement can help a child who needs attention get noticed in a positive way and can help boost self esteem in children who need a little extra help communicating in the classroom. Plus, we don’t need a technology specialist in every classroom because the Calypso solution is so easy for teachers to use independently.”

Applications for the 2010 Be Heard | School Grant are being accepted until April 30, 2010. For more information or to apply online, visit http://www.calypsosystems.com/grant-apps/.

About Calypso
Calypso Systems, headquartered in Woodbury, MN, is a manufacturer of a full range of open architecture control, user interface, audio, microphone and connectivity products designed to create integrated classroom solutions for teachers, students and administrators. Calypso products are sold exclusively through commercial audio-video electronics dealers throughout North America and around the world.

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