South Holland School District maximizes student and teacher engagement with Samsung Interactive Displays

Since implementing the initial set of Samsung Interactive Displays, South Holland teachers have innovated new ways to use them — and students have learned how to navigate many of the features. “Multiple students write on the board every day using the multi-touch feature,” said Bryant. They solve math problems, change pen colors, annotate and drag items around.

“I think the boards create a better learning environment for my students because everyone is in the community. Everybody is paying attention. Everybody wants to be the one that’s called up to the Samsung board,” said Bryant. One of her favorite features is Air Class, which lets students interact by voting and posting messages on the board. She said it adds a bit of fun to math class, offering an alternative to the usual hand-raising routine.

Small features such as the ability to adjust screen brightness and the included math templates, like coordinate grids and lines, are helpful to Bryant as she designs lessons. She also appreciates how the Samsung display operates independently with a familiar Android user experience. “It is its own computer,” she said. “I don’t have to share the same screen as my personal laptop.” This allows her to tend to other tasks on her computer, such as taking attendance, while students work on the display.

As a language teacher, Merriman said her class benefits from the high-quality, modern sound system. “The speakers blew me away,” she said. “I don’t have to play language recordings on my little CD boom box anymore.” Easily accessible features such as the stopwatch and spotlight and the ability to run educational apps, split the screen, open multiple windows, and annotate text and images give Merriman and her students diverse capabilities for interacting with the material. And the kids have learned quickly. “My students know how to access the pen, change the color and thickness, and write on the board,” she said.

Using the broadcast tool, teachers can push out an educational video to students’ laptops while ensuring that they cannot navigate away from the presentation. “I appreciate that because I can lock them in if we’re all watching something or if they’re trying to take a test,” said Bryant. “It’s a great way to minimize distraction and make sure they are doing what they should be doing.”

Teachers also learned how to effectively control their laptops from the interactive display so they don’t have to keep running back to their computers. “They’re able to be up in front of the class a little bit more instead of behind their desk,” said Swanson. This fosters interactive instruction and greater student involvement, untethering teachers and allowing multiple students to come up to the board and interact with the lesson simultaneously.

With the new boards, South Holland teachers are empowered to keep students more engaged through hands-on teaching, collaboration and smoother access and connectivity. The interactive whiteboards have infused the classrooms with fresh energy and enthusiasm. “There’s just been a lot of excitement about the tools they have that they didn’t have before because the tech wasn’t working for them,” explained Swanson.

The district plans to expand its adoption of Samsung Interactive Displays in the coming years. “We love the connectivity, flexibility, and size of the boards, with all the space students and teachers now have to work with,” said Lolkema. “We looked at other products, but this one ticked all the boxes to be an effective piece for our classrooms.”