�Ļ�ӰԺ

“Modern technology that is making our traditional skill-building better”

How new smart boards, made possible by a donor gift, are enhancing bench room instruction 

Thanks to a generous donation from Hettinger Foundation Trustee Bill Hettinger CF ’07, a longtime North Bennet Street School Board Member and Advisor, all career training programs at the School now have smart boards for instructors to use as a learning tool.

The smart boards come after the COVID-19 pandemic necessitated creative exploration into how technology could aid teaching. “During COVID, everybody picked a different way to teach remotely,” says Marc Dreyfus, Director of Facilities & Technology. “It was a living lab for technology. From all of that experimentation, we standardized an ideal kit for instructors to record demos, complete with lights, microphones, and cameras.” 

Over time, the operating standard evolved for some of the departments. In the Carpentry program, a smart board was introduced, and for Marc, “its value for other departments and areas of the School became clear.”

Soon, smart boards became a significant tool to support instruction at �Ļ�ӰԺ—from both faculty and student perspectives. A tool like any other, they’re true to the School’s mission to train students for careers in traditional trades that use hand skills in concert with evolving technology.

“It’s just my dream whiteboard,” says Eli Cleveland CF ’09, Three-Month Furniture Making Intensive Instructor, who was thrilled when a smart board arrived for the Community Education (CE) bench room. Before that, Eli took notes on a piece of plexiglass fashioned over a standard TV monitor. 

“Now, I can copy and paste diagrams and save my work,” he says. “If a student is absent, I can bring up the whiteboard from the day they missed. For years, students would have to snap a photo of the whiteboard before it was erased. But now, I can save and share it. There are times when there is still value in students watching me write something out live. But there are also times when I just want to refer to a previous lesson.”

Eli notes, “It may seem like an odd juxtaposition to come into the classroom at North Bennet, which is all about tradition, and see this technology around. But the number one thing is, How does it help us teach? That comes from how the students receive and understand information, and how we deliver that information.”

Over in the expansive Carpentry (CA) bench room, their smart board allows the same diagram or lesson to appear on monitors across the large space. It also streamlines access to the Google Classroom platform, which is used by many career training programs at the School. 

“Instructors can quickly jump into Google Classroom and pull up diagrams or notes,” says Brock Leiendecker PC ’16, Carpentry Instructor. “We can pre-plan lessons the night before, and in the morning, they are ready to go on the smart board. We can also access lined pages and grid sheets. We just completed our stair lesson, and I was able to create a set of stairs that was not just pencil-drawing shapes. That gave the students a better visual.”

When combined with mounted stationary and movable cameras, the smart boards can also make demos even more effective, which has been especially helpful for Eli when showing small-scale handwork, like chiseling.

“I have three main cameras set up around my bench and can activate zoom presets with a quick touch of a button,” Eli says. “We have taught around a bench for a long time without cameras, and that can still work well. But now students can see without crowding around. Everyone can have a great view.” 

This comes in handy in the Three-Month course, which focuses in the early weeks on perception and getting the instructor and student on the same page. Eli explains, “When working on dovetails or other joints, we usually hold our work up to the light to check if a flicker is coming through, which would mean there is a space in the joint. I can now use a camera and show the students that sliver of light, huge on the screen: ‘This is what I’m seeing. Are you seeing that?’”

The most important step, though, comes next.

“Then, I hand the piece back to the student and say, ‘Now you look for that flicker.’” Eli notes. “We would never think that because a student saw something zoomed in unrealistically on a screen that they understand—there has to be a transition. Technology helps us bridge that gap.” 

Plus, students can re-watch a recorded demo to support their learning or remind them of what they’re checking for, like that flicker of light.

“We don’t want to create a reliance on technology,” Eli stresses. “Like any other tool, if this is helpful, that’s great. But you shouldn’t need this. If you can’t bridge that gap without the cameras, we need to find another way.”

The School has also purchased a smart board for the Greener Conference room, a common space, where it will be easily accessible for training and lectures with faculty, teaching assistants, CE instructors, and staff. In addition, that device will be used as a tool for events as part of In the Making, the School’s public programming series.

“It’s great to see that the nation’s oldest trade school can adapt to new technology—the smart boards are an amazing example of a modern technology that is making our traditional skill-building better,” Brock says. “Every one of our programs has an immense balance between the practical application of skill and the theoretical development of knowledge and experience. You have to combine those. The smart boards have stepped up that theoretical side to match how good our practical application of the curriculum is.”