Jack Rich, a sixth-grade science teacher at Red Bank Middle, has been selected as a winner in the 2005 Promethean Enrichment Grant program. Mr. Rich was one of 80 K-12 educators across the United States to be selected from among hundreds of applicants who submitted essays explaining how they would use the collaborative classroom system to enrich, enlighten, and inspire student learning.

Mr. Rich will receive a Promethean Collaborative Classroom, the innovative interactive whiteboard system designed specifically for the K-12 education market. Valued at more than $4,000, the system includes an ACTIV board interactive whiteboard, the award-winning ACTIVstudio two lesson development software, and a set of 32 ACTIVotes, hand-held, instant student response devices. Promethean will also provide Mr. Rich with access to its comprehensive on-line training tutorial program developed by Atomic Learning, and a special version of Inspiration® software that allows teachers to brainstorm ideas graphically with their students on the ACTIV board.

This ACTIVboard will be installed on the wall in the teacher’s classroom connected to a PC and projector. The ACTIVstudio software comes with thousands of resources and tools for teaching on the ACTIVboard screen such a interactive maps, graphing paper, interactive rulers and protractors and a giant calculator. The handheld ACTIVote devices will allow the teacher to pose questions on the large ACTIVboard screen and let the students choose which answer they would “vote” on. The teacher can see instantly if each student understands the concept during the. Students can also respond to opinion-type questions to start discussions on the topic and encouraging more student participation in class.

The grant essays were judged and scored by a group of experienced instructional technology specialists on a three-point scale in nine categories including: content, enhanced pedagogy, student engagement, classroom management, innovation, assessment, organization, mechanics – Standard English conventions, feasibility and overall evaluation. Many schools around the country are beginning to install systems like this in their classrooms.

About the Promethean Collaborative Classroom System
Designed exclusively for the education market, the Promethean Collaborative Classroom System is the next generation of group learning environments for whole group teaching, interactive learning, and real-time assessment. The system includes the ACTIV board, an interactive whiteboard for Macintosh and Windows; ACTIVstudio2 software, which offers teachers an extensive library of images, background and annotation resources to present powerful, engaging curriculum to the entire class; ACTIVslate XR, an accessory which promotes real-time interaction by allowing teachers and students to direct and control the whiteboard from anywhere in the room, and ACTIVote response system, a radio frequency student hand-held peripheral that provides teachers with instant student feedback during instruction. Additionally, the Promethean Collaborative Classroom System includes the ACTIVtablet, giving teachers the flexibility to develop their lesson plans and flip charts when away from the board, or at home. Promethean also has a special application for the ACTIV board called ACTIVprimary, an exclusive, award-winning design for teaching young learners.

About Promethean Inc.
Part of the Promethean Technologies Group Ltd., Promethean, Inc., is a systems integration company, which specializes in the use of information technology to support learning and knowledge transfer. It specializes in supplying interactive teaching systems to K-12, Higher Education, and sells through a channel of resellers. The company sells complete solutions including its innovative Collaborative Classroom, featuring the ACTIV board interactive whiteboard, ACTIVstudio and ACTIVprimary software, and interactive learning devices such as ACTIVote and ACTIVslate. It also provides a comprehensive support service, through its professional training programs.

The company’s headquarters are based in Blackburn, UK; and offices in the USA (Atlanta, GA), France and Germany. For the rest of the world, Promethean International works together with a chain of over forty partners, providing ACTIV products to every continent in the world.