SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE - K'alemi Dene School in Ndilo has received Smart Boards for each of its six classrooms, thanks to funding from the Department of Education's NWT Student Success Initiative.

"It brings the Internet to the front of the classroom for everyone to see," said Kevin Laframboise, technology instructor at the school. "We're living in the iPod age."

The boards are an interactive type of large display projected in the front of the classroom. It allows teachers to move windows with their hands, draw and erase items on the screen, magnify objects and save lessons.

"Before, if I wanted to show the students something on the Internet I had to get them to huddle around a computer," said Laframboise.

In addition to the boards, the school received 24 Smart Response controllers - wireless remote devices that allow students to submit answers electronically from questions posted on the board.

"It makes them feel like they're on a game show," said Laframboise.

Both the students and the teachers are excited with the new educational tools they have received, said Reanna Erasmus, a Yk1 school board trustee.

"The teacher will be able to see what student got it right and who got it wrong," Erasmus said at a trustee meeting in February. "The students won't feel embarrassed to put their hand up in case they get the answer wrong."

Students' responses are then anonymously projected onto the Smart Board, allowing teachers to see the percentage of students who got the right answer.

"As a teacher, it shows me whether the students got the lesson or not," said Laframboise. "And we can't go on to the next question until all the students have answered."

K'alemi principal Angela James said the Smart Boards are a powerful educational tool, and students have been very receptive to it.

"The students are all wide-eyed," said James. "They're not afraid of technological evolution."

James said students have enjoyed using the controllers so much that they've even been asking for more tests.