Changing vocational ed. (News)(Special section: presentation systems).

On any given day at Wayne County High School in Jesup, Ga., vocational students might learn everything from auto mechanics to basic nursing to secretarial skills.

But upon graduation, these 650 students will likely have an edge over their counterparts when they enter the job market. The reason? They will be computer savvy.

The Wayne County school system this year has added interactive whiteboards to an already impressive array of technological teaching tools. The whiteboards, Promethean ACTIVboards, have been permanently installed in the school's technology and career education department.

"We're dealing with a technological society, and our students have to understand technology in order to share in the opportunities available to them," says Kendall Keith, instructional supervisor for grades 6-12 at Wayne County schools.

Teachers say the technology helps students by providing a teaching tool that grabs their attention.

Before Diane Clary started teaching a vocational education class in health-care science, she worked as a radiologist. Computers were becoming a big part of her job then. "Nowadays, there's really no area that technology doesn't touch."

Teaching the material for the class is just so much easier with the interactive whiteboard projected onto the wall. "I can give notes that are very legible, and the students are simply amazed at the conversion," Clary says.

For Bonnie Gordon, a cooperative business education teacher, the tools are invaluable. When Gordon is introducing new software, she projects the computer screen on the wall so her students can follow every step. The interactive whiteboard and the wireless mouse allows Gordon to stand in front of the class and not in a corner of the room where her computer is located.