High-tech art lessons at Sewanhaka funded through grant

Sewanhaka High School art students recently began receiving higher-tech lessons, thanks to a recent technology grant awarded to the school — one of only 10 in the nation to receive the award.

Sewanhaka art teacher Allison Gallacher and Ryan Lundergan, teacher in charge for the school's art department, together applied for a “Jump Start” grant from DYMO/Mimio — an interactive teaching technology provider — over the summer, and received the grant in July. More than 150 applications were submitted for the grants and, according to DYMO/Mimio, winners were chosen based on need, implementation and dissemination plans, and overall creativity in their entries. 

The grant provided the school with a new interactive system, which transforms any dry erase whiteboard into a fully-interactive whiteboard; a wireless tablet that allows users to interact with the whiteboard from anywhere in the classroom; and a document camera featuring simple plug-and-play integration with the rest of the products awarded through the grant — all of which were implemented in October. 

In applying for the grant, Gallacher and Lundergan said they had a vision of creating a virtual world in art; an interactive environment that would influence instruction for both teachers and students.

"Interacting with students isn’t a new idea for art teachers, but Mimio allows us to connect to them in whole new way," Gallacher said, explaining that students now have the opportunity to interact and participate during lessons through various devices, allowing them to better understand lessons and topics, and aiding teachers in developing lesson plans.  

Another benefit to the devices, Lundergan said, is their size; the interactive board has similar qualities of a “Smart Board” but doesn’t use the same amount of space, and the wireless tablets allow for limitless drawing and mitigate the use of paper, he said.

"To an art teacher his is crucial," Lundergan said. "The Mimio allows us to keep our drawing space available and still implement the technology to create a fun interactive environment."