Kankakee School District is Enabling Competency-Based Education with BenQ Interactive Display Classroom Technology
  • BenQ
“We have been coveting the BenQ boards, so when we had the opportunity to transition to them, we were just jumping up and down”
Elizabeth Gibson, Assistant Principal, Taft Primary School
“The BenQ boards help us by allowing our teachers to be more flexible in their instruction”
Melissa Fierro, Technology Integration Specialist, Kankakee Illinois School District
“I don't think that I could function as a classroom teacher anymore without my BenQ board”
Tami Scheiwiller, 2nd grade teacher, Taft Primary School

Overview

Challenge

Kankakee School District looked to modernise their classrooms and give their students exposure to active learning. They were looking for solutions that would give teachers more flexibility in instruction, while making the learning more attractive to students. To enable the transition to be smooth, the new system would need to be able to run existing software.

Solution

BenQ interactive displays (a.k.a. interactive flat panels) can operate as a stand-alone solution, without a need to use a computer. Directly on the board, teachers are able to run already used software like Smart Notebook or Promethean's ActiveInspire. Classes can be recorded and shared, so the students can review the class any time. BenQ interactive displays, with their multi touch points, allow more than one student at a time to interact with the board. The panels allow easier access to new resources, and make instruction more flexible in terms of space, content, resources, and strategies. 

Result

The transition to BenQ boards was smooth. Teachers regularly use the boards to deliver classes. They feel the boards give them more flexibility as they are no longer stuck behind computer screens. Activities like maths, reading games, writing lessons, etc. are conducted directly on the board, with the use of EZWrite software. Some teachers use the display to play aerobic dance songs to students to bring physical exercise into the classroom. Some teachers point out that in-class presentations by students became more convenient as students simply plug in their computer, without the teacher needing to log in and out. Classes are recorded and shared directly to ClassDojo or uploaded to Google Drive. The community response to the displays has been positive. In addition, BenQ Displays are germ-resistant, and contain Eye-Care features- are low-blue light, flicker-free, and anti-glare.

About Kankakee Illinois School District

Kankakee School District in Illinois serves almost 6,000 K-12 students across nine schools. As part of the Illinois Competency-Based Education Pilot, the district focuses on a learning structure that incorporates real-world knowledge that addresses challenges, provides future career-related competencies, and helps their students learn and earn credits in other ways besides traditional coursework. These efforts are designed with the purpose of removing constraints within a conventional classroom.