5 Advantages for Smartboards in the Classroom

Mr. Samir Al Baghdadi

A smart board takes the place of a traditional blackboard or whiteboard in the classroom. This technology is a touch screen replacement for these boards. You display multimedia, write on it with a specialty stylus, and interact with it in a way that other types of boards don’t compare to. While this is a technologically advanced piece of equipment, and thus, expensive compared to other options, the flexibility of this board allows it to be useful for any level of student, up to the PhD level. The school technology budget has to stretch many ways these days, from tablets to laptops to software. When the school board asks why you’re pushing for smartboard implementation, make sure to point out all of their benefits.

5. Content creation. Smartboards don’t simply output data. Tools, such as cameras, are available for content creation as well. Record multiple angles of a lab experiment and show them on a live feed through the smartboard, or record lectures to work into your presentations in the future. This is an especially good feature for film making and performance based classes.

4. Extendability. When the basic smartboard functionality isn’t enough for your needs, software and peripherals give you ways to add new features. Smartboard software includes conferencing tools to talk with students or professors thousands of miles away, subject specific tools such as math tools that aid you with complex concepts and techniques, and clicker integration. A clicker allows your students to push a button and answer questions you pose. This works particularly well if you have a larger class size, and you want to stay on top of how well your students learn the lessons. This is a developing technology, so new add-ons, software, and peripherals are always in the work for the smartboards.

3. Interactivity. The smartboard isn’t a static screen that is only capable of displaying the base presentation. Teachers can touch the screen and manipulate the displayed objects for lessons and demonstrations. You can stop and start videos, advance your presentation, and add notes to the board as your students bring up questions and other input. The sky is the limit on the type of content you access through a smartboard. You can teach your students through games or search for more details on the latest research based on the direction your classroom discussion takes.

2. Efficiency. One presentation covers every lecture on the subject that the teacher gives for each class. Instead of hand writing the notes, drawing the illustrations, or adding other information to the board that may need re-added later, the teacher sets everything up in advance and adjusts the presentation on the fly. This interactive experience ends up being much more efficient for the teacher, helping to increase teacher satisfaction, as well as cutting down the amount of in-class time taken for presentation prep work.

1. Accessibility. Not all teachers are physically capable of standing at a chalkboard and writing out the relevant information on the board is a hard or impossible task in that situation. Instead of taking away that tool from the teacher’s arsenal, a smartboard controlled by a computer opens up the display possibilities. Touching instead of writing on a touchscreen smartboard is easier on the fingers, hands, and wrists of both students and teachers. Some smartboards support multi-touch displays, so you aren’t limited to only having one student at a time using the smartboard with you.

Smartboards are a valuable part of the modern educational experience, whether you’re teaching pre-schoolers shapes or medical labs to future doctors. This developing field provides a level of interaction and multimedia display that standard chalkboards and whiteboards cannot touch, along with many benefits that improve the quality of work life for teachers. When you examine your school IT budget, emphasize all of the benefits that smartboards have for the school, both the direct and indrect.

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