By Lily Bermel

Tripping over wires is a nuisance. Sitting at your desk waiting for a dusty projector to turn on is anything but engaging.

With the arrival of new mounted projectors,the high school is starting to catch up with other schools in terms of having up-to-date technology.

According to Headmaster Deborah Holman, being behind in technology compared to other schools can actually be beneficial.

“We learn from a bunch of mistakes of some of our neighboring high schools and sometimes when you wait a bit longer you get the better, more updated products,” Holman said.

Educational Technology Director Scott Moore said that advancements in the school’s technology such as the projectors are possible because of other technology goals that have been met already.

“We want to have a strong wireless network throughout the building,” Moore said. “That was started a couple of years ago. Now there’s pretty much a strong signal everywhere you go—three years ago, that wouldn’t have been the case.”

Although the high school has begun implementing the new projectors, there are still obstacles before achieving complete installation in every classroom. English teacher Sarah Westbrook loves using the new projector and its speakers, but has been using a bed sheet in lieu of a whiteboard to project on to.

“That gets a little bit onerous when you’re also trying to use the chalkboard at the same time,” Westbrook said. “I would say that I really didn’t mind using the rolling carts, except that they were very clunky. I would have to ask the students to shift all their chairs around and people would trip over the cord. They were fine, but I think the new projectors are a lot better.”

History teacher Roger Grande also has a new projector in his room, but he has not reached a state of complete comfort with it yet. Grande, a big supporter of technology in classes, rarely gives out paper handouts in class and expects all of his students to submit work digitally. According to Grande, what inhibits his success with the new technology is that he has an old Apple laptop which is sometimes slow to connect.

“Sometimes there’s a little bit of a delay because I’m just trying to get my projector to make friends with the computer,” Grande said.

One of his students, sophomore Julia O’Connell, said that his class is regularly delayed and sometimes he has trouble projecting class notes. According to O’Connell, it does not negatively impact the class, but it does slow it down markedly.

Grande is optimistic about future technology use, and said that projection is a crucial tool for his teaching.

“I’m hoping the new projector will work just fine with the computer, and I have no reason to fear that it won’t,” Grande said.

According to Holman, the high school is thinking about instituting a bring-your-own device system in the future in order to enhance digital learning. The system would allow students to bring laptops, tablets, and other devices to school, and the school district would also be able to lend or loan devices to students without access to them. Ms. Holman said that this system is still quite far off, as a lot of thoughtful planning will be needed to create this new learning environment.

However, computer teacher Susan Stark is appreciative of the effort Brookline has made to support technology in classrooms so far.

“Some of the things we got last year were Finches, which are robots, and tablets,” Stark said. “So we will probably get more tablets so we can write some more apps. My smartboard died, so I am getting a new one. We have sufficient technology and Brookline has been supportive of buying stuff if I need it.”

Kendall McGowan, contributing reporter, and Lily Bermel can be contacted at [email protected]