New Promethean boards were installed into several classrooms over summer break, replacing the old SMART Boards. These new Promethean boards are supposed to help teachers improve their teaching styles and help students learn in a better environment.

The new boards can connect to 39 different phones for a better learning experience, making sure to include the student in the lesson. They also come with pre-built lesson plans to help teachers create lesson plans. Also the mystery as to why the SMART boards were replaced in some classes are still unknown. 

“I love it, actually it’s a lot easier to use and it’s a lot more efficient. Also they are a lot easier to use after coming back from distance learning and they are a lot more user-friendly,” English 1 teacher Kathleen Bowman said.

With the new Promethean boards teachers can make interactive programs such as crosswords and timelines. Teachers are given the ability to connect with students by using a feature that can connect to 39 students at a time.

“The new Promethean board for sure, it’s easier to operate, and seems much more effective in its functions,” Bowman said.  

Promethean boards create a better learning environment where students can engage more in the lesson. The new boards also offer students the opportunity to watch videos from the internet and multimedia tools to help teachers to engage the students.

“SMART boards are slower and more inaccurate and take up more room. They are more distracting when someone or the teacher walks by them because of the projector,” freshman Maximus Norton said. 

Some students believe that the Promethean boards do not have any significant differences when compared to their previous counterparts.

“The Promethean boards are more shiny but otherwise I think that they are just a waste of money that the school district could have used for something else,” senior Cleve Reams said.

Promethean boards may improve the learning and teaching experience for OPHS, but there may also be a learning curve to use this new type of technology.

“I’m using [the Promethean boards] for the basics and I’m learning more about it. There is a lot of room for growth and improvement,” Bowman said.