Assignment #2 - Part 2

Interactive SMART Boards for Training Students



SMART Boards are another effective media type introduced to many schools, colleges and universities to enhance the education of students at many stages of their development. There are many reasons to include technological devices and applications in post-secondary education.  Easier access to information found online, providing interaction with new technology from industry, and bridging the classroom with industrial settings are just a few of the advantages of having SMART Board technology at our disposal.

In the Instrumentation and Control Technician program there are new technologies that have proven to be effective for teaching and learning and make the program a more interesting experience. The students in this program thrive on the hands-on experience provided by activities that teach them the basics in construction, maintenance, process measurement and control applications.  The SMART Board is useful for demonstrations of procedures and an instructor can make notations on the screen where necessary for extra details.  Notes and diagrams can be saved for future use, saving time for an instructor who might decide to use the notes for another lesson or recall them for review to prepare for exams.

As with any electronic technology, SMART Boards rely on the computer network capability of the college to access resources.  An instructor has to be prepared for network downtime or hardware issues with the equipment by always having an alternate method of delivering the course material.  SMART Boards are an expensive technology  and might not be available to every classroom or the shop facility used by some trades programs due to possible damage in those areas caused by the nature of the activities required of these trades.  Many trades programs teach practical tasks such as using power tools (drills, grinders, chop saws), hand tools (hacksaws, wrenches, hammers), or using equipment (ladders, valves, testing devices).  Students have to be careful around the shop to avoid doing work around computers or a SMART Board.

The article discussed in this part of the assignment is directed towards the secondary school system but still describes similar pros and cons to using a SMART Board.

The authors report on their research into the effectiveness of using SMART Board technology in classrooms at an elementary school level.  They discovered multiple benefits for both teaching and learning.  SMART boards can be used in so many different ways making it a tool that can easily be integrated into any subject area.  For example, many of our students tend to be very visual learners and the SMART board is a perfect match for their learning style.  The visibility of the board is not only engaging for our young learners but it also facilitates whole-group instruction that is more collaborative and active in comparison to traditional whole-group lessons that tend to be more passive and oriented toward direct instruction.

Bates, Christi; Hopkins, Amy; Kratcoski, Annette. “Using Smart Boards to Enhance Student Learning.” Journal of the Research Center for Educational Technology.
3.2 (2007): 47-49. May 3, 2012.