Smartboards in my son's classroom

I spoke to my cousin again about her opinion on the smart board she would be using in her classroom. She said that she was excited about the smart boards potential in her classroom. She knew that the software would allow her to monitor and record students responses and to track their progress (which she was excited about) and she felt this would help her to help the students. She also felt the students would find the smart board to be fun and entertaining (keeping them engaged in the lesson).

I asked my oldest son his opinion on the smart board. Had he ever used one? No. Did he think he would find it easier to learn if a teacher was using the smart board instead of something like a power point presentation or an overhead projector? He said it might make math or science easier to understand but didn't think it would really matter for anything else.

I showed a video about the smart board to my youngest son and asked him what he thought about using something like that in school. Did he think he would like it? Would he pay attention? Did he think it would be fun? His response to all was "Yes". While he was watching the youtube video about the smart board he made comments about how it was like playing a game on my iphone (because you could touch the screen and move things around) and how it was kind of like a video game. I think his responses help to show that if nothing else, students will associate smart boards with things they find fun and entertaining (video games, internet) and will serve to keep them entertained and interested and hopefully educate them along the way.