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Cooliris Technology Enhances Learning for Denver Academy Students |
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Technology is transforming the way Denver Academy teachers and students interact with the subjects they are studying. Using the combination of Smart Boards and a new browser plug-in called Cooliris teachers are able to engage students in new ways and use information from the internet more efficiently.
Cooliris creates a "3D Wall" that allows users to view thousands of photos, videos, and other media content with ease and speed. It has a variety of applications, but this is one of the first instances of it being used in a classroom setting.
 "Cooliris is a resource database in a really cool package," said Kris Fritzsche, Arts and Technology Coordinator at DA. "The technology allows the students to interact with artwork in ways that were not possible before. For example, when we teach art history, we can use the slide show feature to pull up all the works from a particular period or artist."
Using Technology to Engage Students
 "The addition of the Smart Boards and Cooliris technology has transformed the ways students interact with the topic we are studying," said Evan Borg, Head of Elementary Schools at DA. "Using Cooliris in my classes helps engage the students and reinforces the subject matter because it allows students to associate terms with images. This has proven especially valuable for those students who are visual learners."
Smart Boards in the Classroom
DA currently has 24 Smart Boards on campus and received funding for an additional 17, which will be installed in March 2009. The Smart Boards were awarded through a grant from the Morgridge Family Foundation’s 21 st Century Classrooms Collaboration. The grant was created with the vision that interactive technology and multi-media curriculum will be used as tools to impact student achievement, teacher engagement and retention. |
