Wichita Collegiate School is a private, co-educational, non-denominational, and non-profit college preparatory day school founded in 1963 currently enrolling 966 students from preschool through 12th grade.
Basic to its core beliefs on educational philosophy, Wichita Collegiate’s founding emphasis was on academic excellence in a college preparatory program, individual attention to and recognition of each student in a low student-teacher ratio environment, and the development of sound personal values necessary for responsible citizenship. Today, Wichita Collegiate School is a beacon of well rounded education blending differentiated instruction, advanced curriculum, and technology into every class.
A few years ago, a WCS student showed his teacher a smartpen that could record her lecture during class. Ms. Crowley checked out the pen for herself and shared the technology with school leadership.
A few months later, through a grant for educational technology, educators at Wichita Collegiate School were awarded funds and given the choice of a video camera or Livescribe smartpen to integrate into their classroom. The majority of teachers in the Upper and Lower School selected the smartpen for implementation.
The Wichita Collegiate School has created a program for providing instruction to students who missed class without taxing educators or creating instruction gaps for students.
Chemistry teacher Janice Crowley explains the inspiration behind creating 5 minute pencasts to support daily instruction and how it works in her class.
Spanish Teacher Gaby White uses pencasting to support grammar lessons throughout the school year while creating a Grammar Library to be used year after year.
A parent-student team in Wichita, Kansas has found a way for students with dyslexia to leverage the smartpen and pencasts to relieve the pressure of capturing an entire lesson in only one class period.
Educators at Wichita Collegiate describe scenarios where data collected from Livescribe pencast views has supported their lesson planning, instruction, and parent teacher conferences.
Wichita Collegiate uses pencasts to help students become increasingly independent and effective learners. This method of instruction supports students as they learn to ask the right questions to receive the reinforcement they need for any given lesson.