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In this special three-part series, NACTV looks at the ways in which technology is used in the classrooms of Neepawa Collegiate and Neepawa Middle School, both as part of a specific curriculum and as part of the everyday classroom.

Rrain Prior – Local Journalism Initiative

In part two we continue our visit to the high school media program to take a look at a few more individual projects and as well we have a conversation with classroom teacher Reggie Vasquez about advancements in technology, its integration into the classroom, and pedagogy in relation to this influx of new technologies.

While technology such as smartboards have long since replaced whiteboards, which in turn replaced blackboards, Vasquez says that they might be on their way out as well, to be replaced by touchscreens as the next standard.

Vasquez’s approach to the classroom is to make it a more inviting and positive learning space for students using such things as adaptable lighting as opposed to standard overhead fluorescents, and he is also very responsive to student needs around anxiety or sensory issues using sound and visual cues, all of which are controlled through voice activation.

“When I do these little things in the classroom,” says Vasquez, “technology helps me to be able to afford those students a little bit less of this decision fatigue and apply that powerful mind to the tasks.”