At one Tulsa school, gone are the days of raising your hand to answer a question. Now, it's all done with a computer, and everyone is expected to have an answer.

When McLain became a science and technology school, students didn't know what to expect. Now it turns out, they don't have to raise their hands and they don't have to exactly answer all the questions. They can do it all with a small interactive device, that looks like a remote control. But really, it's a student responder. Students use it to respond in class.

"Either pay attention or you are in trouble," says senior student Gloria Hamstard.

She says that because their teacher uses an interactive whiteboard to see who has and who hasn't clicked in their answers.

"When they enter an answer on their Sentio, it immediately comes back to me so I can see the right or wrong answers and know exactly what we need to re-study and where we need to go from there," says English teacher Kelly Spencer.

The whiteboard, complete with Internet access and lesson plans, is all part of the specialized technology and science program at McLain.

Down the hall, still in boxes, are Nova 5000s. Like mini laptops or laptop alternatives, they do almost everything a computer would.

"This will allow students the opportunity to do research, to collaborate, exchange information to go through a writing process and to capture in a digital format, rather than written framework," says Yamilette Williams, Director of Instructional Technology.

Students will use these, along with a keyboard to type in papers or to do homework. They can store it all on small storage devices, called flash drives. Each student gets one. And all this technology taps into cell phones with the same frequency. They know text messages and phone calls might end up on screen.

"I can see what they are doing and I can see whose phone is in use," says Spencer. "I have not had hardly any problems in here this year with cell phones."

So, there's more incentive to turn phones off and actually pay attention in class.

The students will get those laptop alternatives in few weeks and they'll continue phasing in new projects throughout the year.

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McLain School Of Science & Technology