WAKEFIELD – The Prout School was recently awarded a $97,000.00 Champlin Grant to equip a new multi-media language and learning center.
The center will be located below the new science wing in the Wakefield school, and will be fully wired and equipped for computer, network, and internet use. It will be a place where individuals and groups of students and teachers interact with each other and access the world. The learning center will provide students with opportunities to explore emerging subjects, impacting them as global citizens and giving them academic options that currently do not exist at the school. While the center has a possible traditional use as a language lab, Prout foresees the facility becoming a catalyst to transform teaching and learning methodologies across the entire curriculum. Such a center could thus be available to faculty in other disciplines, for lessons and projects that would benefit from access to global resources and from the lab’s ability to provide monitored and individualized learning space.
At least 25 students at a time can work together collaboratively, in groups or as individuals, in carrels equipped with computers, LCD displays, and audio headsets. The instructor, operating from a master console, can present multimedia material to a whole class, or activate multiple monitors and interact with students working individually and in groups. Students will also be provided with self-paced study opportunities.
This award represents the school’s second Champlin Grant award. The first grant was awarded in the fall of 2005 for interactive whiteboards and related hardware for use in the science department. The Prout School is partnered with Bryant University in a commitment to explore ways in which it can use the university’s resources to further student learning and foster the professional development of its faculty.
