By Jessica Robison
Moapa Valley Progress
Mack Lyon Middle School has recently gone through a technology upgrade to aide in the education of students. They are eager to achieve the goal of “getting rid of paper and pencils.”
Most of the funding for the project comes from Clark County School District bond rehabilitation money.
“There’s a pool of money that any business would have, just to update computer systems and perform instructional maintenance,” Rod Adams, Mack Lyon Principal explained. “We want to push technology… but we need to have the right tools.”
The middle school’s new technological system begins with smart boards. These touch-oriented devices are now located in all core classrooms.
Another addition for Lyon Middle School students is the sound enhancer. Teachers keep a small microphone pinned to their collar and their voice is evenly distributed to the class via speakers in the ceiling.
“The teachers don’t have to raise their voices and the students don’t struggle to hear,” Adams commented.
New and improved projection units have also been installed in each classroom. The small machine hangs a couple inches from the ceiling and displays whatever the teacher has on her computer to the class from the white board.
“Most of the schools in [Las Vegas] already have this [technology,]” Adams said. “I think it’s helping us get close to what their classrooms have. Unfortunately, we will never have all the tools they have. Vegas had this equipment five or ten years ago and we’re only just getting it.”
The school also received about 190 new desktop computers. These computers replaced the few that were in the library and were distributed to various computer labs throughout the school.
“We try to bring in new technology every five years,” Adams said. “It has been eight years, so we were way past refresh. We only had eight computers in the library… now we have twenty.”
The school also received two carts of laptop computers, holding twenty-four laptops each. “The network isn’t the fastest… but they’re awesome and we’re grateful for them,” Adams said.
School librarian, Robin Fullmer, has been especially helpful with the new technology, Adams said.
“She turned our library from a 20th century library to one from the 21st century,” Adams said. “Everything she does is technology based. She has made such a big impact.”
Since the arrival of the new computers, students have been brought to the library more frequently. Reading classes come at least once every other week to learn how to use technology from Fulmer.
“I teach research skills and the proper tools to make their projects better,” Fulmer stated. “The kids pick it up easily… often easier than the teachers. They enjoy having the opportunity to use technology.”
