It's better living through technology for the teachers at East Mountain Christian Academy.

There are roughly 50 students, from pre-kindergarten to 12th grade, and six teachers, including the principal, Dede Ferguson. This year the school has implemented computer-based curriculum for third through 12th-grade students.

"The thing we really like about it is how efficient it is," Ferguson said.

Students take daily tests and lessons on a computer program created by Alpha Omega Academy, a distance learning school. There are six subjects — language, history, geography, math, science and the bible. The curriculum, homework, and in-class work are all on the computer, so students don't have to tote around a lot of books and papers and there are fewer excuses for missing work.

"There's no more 'The dog ate my homework,'" she said, adding that "90 percent of everything is graded just on the computer."

That's a big change for East Mountain Christian Academy, which has existed as a private school in Tijeras in one form or another since 1997. The school was started by Hope Christian School in Albuquerque. In 2002 it became part of Eastern Hills Christian Academy in Albuquerque and changed its name to East Mountain Christian Academy in 2006 when it became an independent school.

The most recent change, the computer-based curriculum, wasn't without a few glitches, Ferguson said.

"At the beginning, (students) would just put nonsense in," she said. "There was a learning curve at the beginning."

She said using the software is also more expensive than using text books, a cost that is recovered in the children's tuition fees. But there are many advantages, Ferguson said.

Much of the school work is multiple-choice questions, which are graded automatically. Short-answer or essay questions are graded by a teacher, she said.

Bernie Frazier, who teaches third- through eighth-graders, said the system allows him to give students instant feedback.

"I'm able to see, immediately, their progress," he said.

Frazier said it is less time consuming for him too, because most of the papers are graded for him.

Also, because the computer never runs out of patience, students who aren't passing can do the work again and again until they get a passing grade or even try for a better grade, Ferguson said. That helps to motivate students to do their work correctly the first time, she said.

"If they fail, we usually require them to redo it. Since they know that, it usually causes them to put in a little more effort the first time," she said. "There's no reason why all the students can't have all A's and B's."

Another advantage to the system is that parents who can access the Internet from home can check their child's work, from answers to quizzes to their child's current grades.

There are also video and audio components to the curriculum, which Ferguson said may help students with disabilities or students who are simply having trouble learning the material.

"Today's kids are more visual learners than what we've had in the past," she said. "Anytime you can access the brain in more than one avenue at the same time, you're going to have greater success."

Christopher Weiss is a fourth-grade student who was wearing headphones and typing into a laptop when he was interviewed during class on Oct. 29. He was hard at work practicing his spelling, but stopped for a few seconds to explain how the lesson worked.

"The voice is telling me what to spell," he explained.

When asked if he liked the new system, Weiss shrugged and continued his spelling lesson.