District Snapshot

• 1 preschool
• 11 campuses serving K-12 students
• 1 Milestone Academy
• 1 Area Technology Center
• 14 Total Schools
• 6,930 students

Outcome

• 140 classrooms have received a Clevertouch IMPACT Plus panel
• Order Value: $300,000

Challenge

In 2019, Shelby County Public Schools (SCPS) invited Clevertouch® to demo and discuss possible educational technology opportunities for the district. One opportunity was a pilot project with Marnel C. Moorman School Center, a K-8 learning centre. At the time, the district had been looking at panels from other ed-tech companies with the goal of replacing the ageing technology already in use — SMART interactive whiteboards and ceiling-mounted projectors. They found that with other brands they piloted, certain features would not work. They were looking for an interactive flat panel that was intuitive, could help them improve interactive tech across the district, was a value-rich solution, and worked!

For the initial pilot project, 37 classrooms received a Clevertouch IMPACT Plus™ 65” panel, with a mix of tilt and height-adjustable stands. SCPS also purchased professional development to further support teachers.

Key Solutions

In December 2019, teachers at Moorman started to use the IMPACT Plus panels.

At PD trainings prior to having the panels installed, it soon became obvious that the teachers could see how the IMPACT Plus could be used in their classrooms. Besides Ink-In and annotation tools, simultaneous writing features, and Android and Mac compatibility, each panel also comes with a selection of apps to support teaching efficiency and classroom management such as a timer, media players, PDF reader, screen record, and voting tools.

The pilot worked so well, in large part because the IMPACT Plus worked out of the box! Without the frustration of glitches and features that don’t work, teachers were able to use the panels right away. Because of how well the panels performed during the pilot, SCPS has decided to move forward with 10 units for each school in the county (will be phased in). To
date, 140 classrooms have received a Clevertouch IMPACT Plus panel with height-adjustable carts.

“Shelby County students deserve a transformed learning
experience and these interactive panels can be the centrepiece of that experience.”
- Adam Watson, Digital Learning Coordinator

“It is such an honour and blessing to work with such a wonderful Tech Team at Shelby County Schools. Adam Watson does a wonderful job making sure his educators are getting the most out of their technology. I look forward to continuing this partnership in the years to come!”
– John Nisbet, Tierney K12 Account Executive, KY

Benefits

There were several reasons that influenced the district’s decision to go with Clevertouch:

• IMPACT Plus is operationally solid and performed extremely well during the pilot.
• Clevershare allows users to share what is on a personal device’s screen to the IMPACT Plus screen.
• LYNX Whiteboard lets teachers create multi-page lessons with media.
• Snowflake helps teachers create interactive activities, or teachers can join the Online Lessons Community to download activities others have created.
• Budget considerations are important, so the advantage of having software like LYNX and Snowflake without recurring fees added value to the panel purchasing price.
• Movable and adjustable stands help to enable fluid learning spaces to fit the flexible needs of teachers and students.

Because education is moving towards more interactive practices with learning technology, the mobility of the adjustable stands allows for the IMPACT Plus to turn any location into a ‘front of classroom’ experience. The tilt and height-adjustable stands can create a more inviting experience for younger students to engage with not only the screen but the learning overall.

The district leaders believe that the panels will help teachers change, transform, and innovate the classroom experience for everyone. “We don’t want a device that merely substitutes a projector for a large television display. It’s important that our teachers see the Clevertouch panels as a way to better incorporate blended learning into their classrooms and create student agency,” states Watson. He adds, “Clevertouch, particularly with software like LYNX and Snowflake, have the potential to not just be the crown jewels of our classroom educational technology, but the crown itself.”