How to Use a Smartboard

The relationship between a child’s attention span and his or her likeliness to succeed in school has been the subject of a lot of research studies for the past decade or two. With the advancement of technology, children have been exposed to multiple stimuli simultaneous from different types of media causing their attention span to decrease through time. In a classroom setting, this has made teaching even more challenging for teachers and instructors.

Smart board addresses this problem for teachers who find it hard for students to participate or at least pay attention in class. A Smart board is a powerful tool that allows users to interact with the screen by writing, navigating and erasing without the need for extra tools or extra buttons – it’s accessible for all people of all ages!

How do Smart boards work?

Three things are needed to make smart boards work:

  1. Computer – this can be a desktop computer, a notebook or a laptop computer
  2. Projector – used to project the image from your computer to the board
  3. Smart board – allows interaction with the image projected

Whatever runs on your computer can be seen directly and navigated through the smart board. This includes, using the Internet as well as different applications and programs like Microsoft Excel, AutoCAD and Microsoft Word. There is no need to return to your computer! With Smart board, you can do anything and share everything with the whole class.

How are Smart boards used?

Smart boards are just so interactive that you can do almost anything with it – the possibilities are endless! It allows users to work with a large amount of information, allowing instant access to any kind of electronic / media resources. It allows more than just one user to use it, simultaneously. Using this in class fosters active learning – students become more enthusiastic and eager to participate, thus improving learning.

Smart boards can be used in classrooms, meetings, trainings and in delivering presentations. It makes use of an easy and simple interface that makes it user-friendly both for teachers and students of any age level. It primarily uses three main components:

  • touch recognition, which allows users to write with a pen or any object, to navigate the screen through their fingers, and erase writings with the palm of their hands;
  • a pen tray, that works exactly like a chalkboard. The Smart board comes with 4 pens of colours black, red, blue and green. The smart board does not depend on the pen that comes with it because any other object can be used to write on the board – a ball, pencil or finger.
  • Smart board software, which comes with the Smart board, allowing for the use of more interactive activities and games.

Smart boards accommodate different learning styles, so all students benefit from this technology regardless of age. Even children with special needs were proven have become more participative in classrooms where smart boards were used.

For ideas on fun activities and games that you can do in class with the use of smart boards, use our website. Our website features lessons, interactive activities and fun games for reading, writing ELA, Math, Science, Social Studies, Art, Health, Physical Education, Library, Music and Foreign Language.

Maximize learning and student participation by using smart boards in class!