SmartBoards in the Classroom
The technology I chose to incorporate into my classroom are SmartBoards. I would incorporate a SmartBoard into my classroom as part of my daily teaching routine. The students would use the SmartBoard for many different subject areas, including math, social studies, language arts, and science. If you reading this post and are not familiar with SmartBoards in classroom contexts, please see my previous blog post (Link here) for a brief explanation of some of their features. Though it is nearly impossible to list all the ways that I would use a SmartBoard in my classroom, here is one idea for each subject area:
Math - Students solve problems on the SmartBoard and record what is on the board, the recordings are later uploaded to the class website so students can remember how to do the problems when doing homework.
Language Arts - Students group-revise with the keyboard and highlighter feature. Input from the whole class will foster creativity.
Social Studies - Students can have access to any map from around the world and use the SmartBoard to see them in large view.
Science - Students can plan for experiments by using the keyboard and writing tools of the SmartBoard.
Math - Students solve problems on the SmartBoard and record what is on the board, the recordings are later uploaded to the class website so students can remember how to do the problems when doing homework.
Language Arts - Students group-revise with the keyboard and highlighter feature. Input from the whole class will foster creativity.
Social Studies - Students can have access to any map from around the world and use the SmartBoard to see them in large view.
Science - Students can plan for experiments by using the keyboard and writing tools of the SmartBoard.
Goals
My overall goal for incorporating this technology into my classroom is two-fold, on one hand I hope by using such an interactive technology, students will be more motivated to learn. It is my understanding (based on various studies and articles) that students pay attention and learn more when they are interested in what they are learning. Hopefully use of the SmartBoard will foster an interest in learning. The other goal that I have for using the SmartBoard in class is to accommodate for English Language Learners or any learner who may need extra attention. With the recording feature, I can record activities that we do in class and if the ELLs could not completely comprehend everything because some students or the teacher may have been speaking too fast or with complicated words, they can watch later at a pace that works for them.
Time Investment and Barriers
I do not think that it would take me too long to learn how to use this technology. This technology is something that one can teach oneself how to use, so I would need to do some research but the majority of time would be spent on turning my lessons into lessons with a SmartBoard. I believe that it would be somewhat difficult but compared to the goals that would be met, it would be worth the time invested. Obviously one barrier is the school district would have to have money to get a SmartBoard in the first place, but beyond that there are free resources available to get pre-made lesson plans on how to incorporate the board into your teaching. So, using free resources in one thing that the Edutopia article cites as being helpful when incorporating new technology.
Assessing the Integration
To assess whether my goals will be met, I could have the students fill out a survey on how much they like learning without the SmartBoard and how much they like learning with the SmartBoard. Throughout the year, possibly once a month, I could have the students evaluate the different programs we have used based on interest. I could compare it to their test scores and see whether their interest matches skill level. From their feedback, I can decide which programs are working as a tool for motivation and which programs are not doing anything special for my students and should be cut.
Recommendation
Since the goals of this technology are increased learning, motivation and overall likeness of education in general, I believe that every moment and dime spent on the SmartBoard will be well invested. This is a bold statement because I have never used a SmartBoard in a classroom setting, but if my ideas were put into action and I constantly assessed and improved, there is no reason why I would not recommend this technology to another teacher.