Oak Grove OKs plans to go more high tech

It's not as if students at Oak Grove School were using chalk and slates, but they can expect to move a bit farther into the modern era.

The school board on Monday approved spending $567,000 on technology upgrades to include about 50 new computers and other measures designed to enhance teaching and learning.

"This is a big deal for us," said Janice Matthews, superintendent of Oak Grove District 68 in Green Oaks.

"We hope that teachers will begin to incorporate more authentic use of technology into the curriculum."

The decision followed months of study by a special task force comprised of teachers, board members and parents.

"We've worked very carefully to pick and choose. The risk we've all learned in technology is overdoing it," said Peter Jenkins, the board's vice president and chairman of its program and technology committee.

Matthews said the district wants to improve technology in three areas: communication, teacher instruction and student instruction.

The first area involves relatively simple steps, such as installing telephones in the approximately 90 classrooms.

For the second, the district will buy about 40 document cameras, which project an image onto a wall or screen, making it available for discussion or even alteration to an entire class.

For student instruction, the district will replace computers that ran on an old operating system and "cannot do a lot on the Internet," according to Matthews, with current models. They will be housed in two computer labs for use by elementary and junior high school students.

"We have students doing PowerPoint (presentations). They can make iMovies. We want students to do research and we want them to use books and search engines."

The idea is to provide students with easier access to data and the skills to strive in the modern world with user-friendly equipment.

The Oak Grove Education Foundation, formed three years ago, is expected to contribute about $50,000 toward the purchases. A fundraiser March 8 at a Libertyville restaurant raised $35,000.

"This was the way they wanted us to help them," said Gordon Boulger, foundation president.

Traditional learning also will be enhanced by the board action.

"We're updating our library, we're buying more books," Matthews said. "We're incorporating technology as well.'