Tomorrow’s Technology at Piedmont High School (PHS) Today

PHS Chemistry teacher Tom Huffaker utilizes an LCD projector in the presentation of coursework material in his chemistry classes. In this session, Tom is demonstrating the use of items in the joint Piedmont High School / California Department of Health Services implemented Flu study. This course involved all 200 chemistry students. As students move forward through higher education, they are exposed to teaching practices that increasingly utilize technology. The LCD projectors can readily use PowerPoint and web-based presentations, DVD and streaming video presentations for classroom instruction. A grant from the Piedmont Educational Foundation helped provide funds to purchase laptops for each teacher and ceiling mounted projectors for each classroom at Piedmont High School.

PHS Principal Randall Booker shared these thoughts about this major PEF grant.

Responding to last year’s WASC* Visiting Committee recommendation (“PHS needs to develop and to implement a long-term technology plan”), Piedmont High School, in collaboration with the Piedmont Educational Foundation and the Piedmont High School Parents’ Club, raised over $50,000 in order to dramatically alter the technological landscape for students and staff.

With the addition of ceiling-mounted LCD projectors in each classroom, teachers can now supplement their lectures and lesson plans with visual aids that include internet-clips, DVDs, streaming video, digital maps, digital photos, and PowerPoint presentations.

“I am thrilled we are able to respond so quickly to a WASC recommendation”, said Principal Randall Booker. “I envision a campus where teachers have better access to student attendance, families feel empowered to access grade reports at their convenience, class instruction can include internet supplements, streaming video, and lecture notes on the wall screen, and ongoing technology training remains as a consistent theme.”
As students continue their education in universities across the nation, their educational experience will most definitely include the utilization of broad technology features across the curriculum.

“Our goal is to introduce them to these very same teaching techniques; thereby preparing the foundation for future educational and career endeavors.” Principal Booker also noted, “teachers have responded with enthusiasm as each projector is installed. They usually fire it up on the first day. I think the students have also been impressed.”

Randall Booker
Principal
Piedmont High School

*Western Association of Schools and Colleges, the group that provides high school accreditation.