Horizon High School in Arizona, has credited DisplayNote’s intelligent collaboration software as being an instrumental “lifeline” to teaching at the institution during the pandemic.
Rachel Prince, advanced placement literature and composition teacher at Horizon has to teach 25% of her 40-pupil class remotely, but despite the physical distance there is an expectation that lessons will be delivered in the same way to those in the classroom. To overcome these challenges, the class of 40 used Google Meet for video and audio, and while the solution worked well, it lacked the right tools for two-way content sharing and engagement – until Horizon deployed DisplayNote.
With DisplayNote’s wireless sharing and screen broadcasting tools working alongside the school’s large format touch screen, students can now share what’s on their screen with the rest of the class, and teachers can share what’s on their display to their students’ devices.
“With Broadcast, I don’t have to worry if everyone is seeing the same content – I know that whatever is on the board is being viewed by the kids in the room and out of the room; there’s no need to keep asking if everyone can see what I see,” explained Prince.
“There are no more questions from students asking me to show something again. Joining is easy; all the kids have to do is go to the DisplayNote webpage to join. My students love the apps for IOS and Android. They all have their own phones, which they can use to connect and present their work. It’s technology that is familiar and accessible.”
In addition to better lesson delivery, Prince has also noticed that DisplayNote makes her students more confident. “They [the students] are becoming more involved, more engaged. It has really helped with group presentations,” she said. “These were very difficult to organise in a hybrid model, but with DisplayNote apps, they are effortless – each group takes a turn and shares the screen. The ability for multiple presenters allows each team member to present within that team.”
DisplayNote CEO Ed Morgan added: “Horizon’s use of our collaboration tools are the reason why we created them: not only do they help support and amplify what the teacher already does, but they make students feel more engaged and connected. This year, more than any other year, that matters more than ever.”
