Recently, the PTO at my son's elementary school announced plans to raise money to purchase "smart boards" or something like them. They did a brief demonstration at the PTO meeting to give the parents an idea of what the system did and what it looked like and then asked for a vote on the system. The vast majority of the parents (really, I don't think I heard anyone say "nay") agreed to the purchase of the system. I had only heard of smart boards once before, in one of my first FOED classes. I have a cousin that teaches 3rd grade at the school and asked her what she knew about the smart boards and how they would benefit her, as the teacher, and the students.
She explained that they were not getting true smart boards but something similar. A projector would be installed in the ceiling, a pull down screen would be installed above the white board, and the students would use hand held devices to respond to questions displayed (on the screen) or asked by the teacher. The software would monitor the students response time, how often they got the correct answer, how often they responded quickly and got the right answer vs. how often they responded quickly but got the wrong answer, and how often they didn't answer at all. This information is supposed to allow the teachers to monitor the students progress, participation, look for areas of strength and weakness, and have documentation when talking to other educators or to parents about a child's progress.
I find the idea of a smart board in the class room interesting and have decided to research the use of this tool in the class room. Does it benefit the students? Does it benefit the teachers? Is it really worth the investment?
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