As technology and classroom learning both grow more sophisticated, St. Charles Community Unity School District 303 officials will discuss how to best fit the latest enhancements into school lessons.

The district will host a presentation on the latest teaching tools at Thursday’s Summit 303 meeting in Charlestowne Mall.

“I don’t think cutting edge is what is important,” District 303 Director of Technology John Reichling said. “I think having the right technology to implement curriculum and having the right staff to utilize the technology in the classroom is what’s important.”

Parents will have the opportunity to see new technology tools as the district hosts a technology fair at 5 p.m. immediately before the 7 p.m. meeting. Terry Tamblyn, former superintendent for Burr Ridge, Oswego and Malta school districts, will be making a presentation and showing videos on the future of school technology. Parents will get a chance to voice concerns over learning equipment and technology and provide feedback to School Board members.

Among items of discussion will be expanding the use of the Blackboard Course Management system, which the district has used for two years. The Blackboard system allows teachers to post class materials on a Web site, where online discussion is also an option.

District 303 will also consider the possibility of improving the ratio of available laptops to students. Reichling said that 60 laptops are available at each elementary school, which have as many as 600 students.

The district is considering the use of podcasts to augment the system, enabling students to review a teacher’s lecture at home. Reichling said the district is also talking about bringing smart cards and document cameras into classrooms.

“I think we are not where we need to be in terms of technology,” Reichling said. “The foundation has been laid and we’re ready to start bringing more access to technology to students. ... We’re not there right now.”

St. Charles-based ConVA has been contracted for its remote response system, which allows students to use remote devices to answer multiple choice, math and true/false questions. ConVA will distribute 20 sets of 32 devices districtwide.

The units will be connected to a modem where teachers can access and evaluate answers from students.

“Teachers can create an assessment and see the results in an instant,” said Becky Small, District 303 instructional technology coordinator. “That doesn’t exist today.”

The system has an 84,000-question library and can be programmed to use state-aligned questions, said Kevin Nissen, ConVA sales associate.

Other classroom possibilities include the use of an interactive white board that can be written on and connected to an LCD projector.

“We’re going to talk about what’s important if you want to have a top-notch high technology program,” Tamblyn said. “We’re going to talk about what the components should be, steps you might want to look at, and prepare the district to do that.”