It was a window into the windows of learning in Northampton Area School District.

“We no longer teach kids content. They’re using content,” said Lydia Hanner, NASD director of curriculum and instruction.

Hanner, along with Michelle Schoeneberger, NASD kindergarten through 12th-grade math and science supervisor, and Nicolette Teles, NASD kindergarten through 12th-grade reading and writing supervisor, led a 40-minute PowerPoint and video presentation, “Learning Opportunities to Meet the Needs of Today’s Students,” about new directions in education in the district.

“What you’re going to see is what happened after we branched out from the One to One program,” NASD Superintendent of Schools Joseph S. Kovalchik said in his introduction at the Sept. 25 NASD Board of Education meeting.

The One to One digital learning device program, or Project PRIDE, provides computers to NASD students, beginning at Northampton Area Middle School and, for 2017-18, at Northampton Area High School.

The education approach, Hanner said, is to provide “personalized education options for students.”

Restructuring of education prepares students for their futures, Hanner said. Contemporary education, which arose in the Industrial Age, has transitioned to the Knowledge Age.

“Creativity is essential for job skills,” Hanner said.

In education, there’s a greater focus on project-based and problem-based learning, which emphasizes critical thinking, collaboration, design-and-invent creativity and communication. Incorporating these skills in traditional academic subjects develops globally competitive students, according to the U.S. Department of Education.

“Children are seeing themselves as entrepreneurs in self-learning,” Hanner said.

NASD students have choices “to customize their learning pathways,” the presentation stated, including differentiated course pathways, high school course options, Bethlehem Area Vocational Technical School, workshop-based instruction, summer programs, Northampton Cyber Academy and STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Math).

“It allows students to progress at their own speed,” Hanner said.

“Students can acquire life skills,” Teles said.

“It’s quite different from 10, 20, 30 years ago,” Kovalchik said. “There’s much out there for parents and students to explore.”

“It’s simply amazing how the changes and technology are affecting everybody’s lives,” school board President David Gogel said.

In other business at the Sept. 25 meeting, school directors voted 9-0 to approve:

A contract for Joseph S. Kovalchik as NASD superintendent of schools at an initial salary of $162,000, July 1, 2018, through June 30, 2023;

Tama Minnich, short-term substitute grade 3 teacher, George Wolf Elementary School, Oct. 13-Dec. 22, at $125 per day, without benefits;

Rita Greb, cafeteria monitor at NAHS, effective Oct. 10, at an hourly rate of $12.07, without benefits;

Resignation of Daniel Benner, assistant track coach, effective Sept. 14;

Resignation of Rachel Knepp, mathematics teacher, effective Sept. 30;

Resignation of Mary Elizabeth Winchester, instructional assistant, effective Oct. 6;

Extracurricular staff members and stipends for 2017-18 school year: Michelle Costanzo, Step Team co-adviser, NAHS, $400, and Pamela Romanishan, Step Team co-adviser, NAHS, $400;

Denise Cole, unpaid leave of absence, Sept. 13-21, with no insurance;

Augmentative and alternative communication evaluation for a student with special needs not to exceed $705, included in the board-approved special education budget;

Contracts for Erika Condomitti and Anna Gocek to provide homebound instruction for an NASD student at a cost not to exceed $19,000, included in the 2017-18 board-approved budget;

Collaborative agreement-contract for services between Community Services for Children Inc., Head Start of the Lehigh Valley and NASD for 2017-18 to implement a second Head Start pre-K for 20 pre-K students residing in the district, including Title I funds of $40,000 to support the classroom at George Wolf Elementary; and

Collaborative agreement-contract for services between Community Services for Children Inc. and NASD for 2017-18 for a new “Pre-K Counts” classroom at Moore Elementary School, at no cost to NASD.