Bluetooth-Enhanced InterWrite SchoolPad Wins Big

By Mark R. Smith

August 2006



Anyone who has seen the recent TV commercial for a large electronics retailer that features a marionette who is cut loose from his strings, thanks to the wonder of wireless technology, can probably relate to what Maia Kinigopoulos is feeling these days.

The emancipation of the 7th grade math teacher at Patuxent Valley Middle School in Jessup came via the discovery of the latest version of the InterWrite SchoolPad. The Bluetooth-enhanced edition of the product, the brainchild of Columbia-based GTCO CalComp, recently won the AEP & AOL@School Tech Leadership Award.

Instead of using the low-powered wireless technology like an overhead projector, "I can use the pad while I walk around the room helping other students," said Kinigopoulos. "It's also is helpful with class management, because it keeps the kids a lot more engaged. They get to write on it, too, so it's a great incentive for them to participate in the discussion."



The Basics

GTCO CalComp designs and manufactures a number of products that are primarily targeted toward the education market. The SchoolPad, along with the SchoolBoard and the Response System, are its three most popular products, said Vice President of Marketing Rob Meissner.

"You can conceive of it as being like a wireless mouse," Meissner said of the device, which comes with annotation software that allows the user to write notes, highlight items and use its extensive content and image gallery.

The pad/computer sends the signals to an LCD projector that projects onto a screen that is also set up on a flat surface in the classroom by the user.

It sounds like the education market is warming up nicely to the product, the hardware and software for which was developed by the company. It is sold through resellers for classroom use.

"It's the best selling product that we have," Meissner said, noting that is was originally released in 2001, with the recent version winning the award. Originally, it incorporated an RF (radio frequency) design but now uses Bluetooth technology, which is often employed by manufacturers of cell phones and PDAs.

The list price for the most recent version is $500 and he said GTCO CalComp has sold 50,000 units since it was introduced five years ago.



New Horizons

Mark Stevens, AOL education director and general manager of AOL@School, said that just 17 of the large number of companies that applied for the award qualified. It's presented with the Association of Education Publishers (AEP), and the products and services were evaluated based on innovation of the application and their leadership position.

"We ask, ÔWill it change technology in the classroom," Stevens said, "and we think this will."

He said the judges knew that the product "had been around for a while, but it was head and shoulders above the other candidates that we evaluated this year," noting past winners such the Leap Frog Schoolhouse, which "educationalizes" kids toys, like the Leap Pad; and The Fly for the classroom from Silicon Valley-based Leap Frog. Last year's winner was the Museum of Natural History in New York for its "Ology" web site (www.ology.amnh.org), which demystifies the sciences.

"We put these companies through a very rigorous evaluation process and consider if the product is something a teacher would like and use," Stevens said.

On that note, Rick Hollenbeck, an 8th grade math teacher at Harper's Choice Middle School, said the device "doesn't replace the blackboard or overhead, but it has some advantages" that make it an effective teaching tool.

"The powerful aspects of it for me are the mobility and recording capability of what I and the students write on it," Hollenbeck said, though he added that he initially found it kind of awkward to use. It's like writing on the credit card approval screen at a retail store. You have to try a little harder to make your writing legible."

Like any new software, there is a learning curve to change font sizes and graphics, for instance, but that "just takes a little practice," he said.

"It's a more dynamic way to present things to the kids," Hollenbeck said, "but what I really like is that I can archive and print the work we did in class, instead of just erasing it like you would with a chalkboard."



Special Appeal

Charles "Chip" Boling, a 7th grade math teacher at Oakland Mills Middle School who is part of the county's pilot program with Kinigopoulos, reiterated that the SchoolPad "engages the students a lot more in class. The technology excites them and allows me garner information right off the Internet instantaneously."

Boling said that the built-in highlighter on the pad is also quite helpful. "[The SchoolPad] also gives me greater mobility than just using a laptop at my desk and has some great graphing tools, too. That's great for a math teacher."

>From the response in the educational community, it appears that GTCO CalComp's number of units sold may be on the rise shortly, as this new toy that Kinigopoulos and Boling are piloting has caught the attention of many of their peers. "Most of the other teachers who have seen it have mentioned that they would like to have it in their classrooms," Kinigopoulos said, adding that it is "also fantastic for the special education students. It makes math more appealing to them because they respond to the different added attributes, such as the use of colors and clip art that are available in the toolbar," she said.

"I would recommend that the county allow teachers of all subjects to use it. This makes a traditional overhead projector and even a chalkboard obsolete," Kinigopoulos said, adding, "and I can't stand that chalk dust."