What Do I Think About SMARTBoards?

SMARTBoards, like every other kind of technology tool, have the potential of being useful resources in a classroom. Also, just like other technology tools, SMARTBoards have the ability to become distracting or confusing in the classroom. SMARTBoards are interactive whiteboards that are mounted on the walls of many classrooms today. They’re in classrooms ranging from preschool to college. They’re useful in the sense of engaging students, allowing them to interact, and giving the teacher options they never had before.

Just from playing around on a SMARTBoard for thirty minutes, it is easy to see that the things it is capable of are amazing. Things like drawing text on the board, playing with objects, being able to show quantities in a way that is easy for students to understand, having interactive media that includes sound effects with different objects, and also just having easy access to the internet. Along with all of these qualities, the SMARTBoard can be used simply as a projector. If a teacher has some sort of document or worksheet that they would like to show from their computer, it’s a simple hookup and it is projected on the screen. The SMARTBoard has four different colored interactive pens that a teacher or student have the option to use. The pens are placed low enough on the board where the students can reach them and have a turn interacting with the board. The SMARTBoard includes games for the students to play according to what kind of lesson is being taught.There are countless options that a SMARTBoard has to offer that enhance teaching and the learning for students.

Of course, just like any other device, there are some downsides. Some say it’s just a fancy whiteboard or blackboard. Some say teachers have access to all of the things that a SMARTBoard offers, without having to pay tons of money. Also, there’s always the factor that technology can fail. Internet connection could be lost or the board could be having some difficulties. This is the case with any sort of technology device a teacher uses in a classroom. This is why of course a teacher should have a back-up plan. Some say that it didn’t enhance the teaching much or that it didn’t make the lesson any more fun for the students.

In my opinion, I think the SMARTBoard is what you make it. If a teacher believes that it is a waste of money, then it will be. Until a teacher takes the time to figure out all of it’s abilities and give it a chance, they aren’t going to realize what it is capable of. I know in the past teachers did just fine without this device, but now that we have it, why not use it? It’s expensive, yes, but it’s worth it. It’s fun. Students will think it’s cool and they’ll want to be engaged. It gives teachers hundreds of objects, interactive multimedia, and so much more to work with. If a school buys a SMARTBoard for a teachers’ classroom, I think they should take full advantage of the great resource they’ve been given. You never know how much of an impact it may have on a students’ education.

Thanks for reading! – A Teacher In Training

THE Educational Technology Resource

(Photo) I had never heard of an “iClicker” until recently in my Junior year of college. It was in a theatre class I’m taking. I was thinking, “This is silly, what in the world are we going to use a remote for in this class?”. Well, we’re six weeks into the semester now and I see that this iClicker object is one of the best educational technology tools I have seen.Yes, we have SmartBoards, tablets, iPads, and apps for these devices, but the great thing is that all of these devices can work with the iClicker. The iClicker can be a physical remote, or an app that can be downloaded onto a phone or tablet. It doesn’t have many buttons, therefore it is easily used. There is a power button, a reset button, four arrows, a delete and send button, and five buttons with the letters A, B, C, D and E. This is for the use of multiple choice questions.

The iClicker is great for seeing if students are participating in class and if they are understanding the material. Sometimes in a classroom students can look like they are paying attention because they are looking towards the board or the teacher, but then they take a test and the results aren’t great and the teacher is left wondering what happened. The iClicker can be used in a lesson, for a quiz, or even a test. Every student would have a remote or use the app on their device. In my opinion, from experience, the actual remote is better than the app. This is because if all of the students are using the same wifi connection and it’s too much which makes the wifi slow down, then your lesson, quiz, or test gets delayed.

The way it works is this: A student purchases an iClicker remote. The teacher purchases a base and sets it up with the name of the classroom, such as “Ms. Hill’s Second Grade Class”. The student registers their remote on the iClicker website, and also registers it with the teacher’s base in the classroom. After this is done once, every time the student is in the classroom and turns on their remote to use it, it automatically pairs with that teachers base. Another great thing about this tool is that it can be used for more than one class. If a student has one teacher for English, but a different teacher for Science, they can still use the same iClicker remote for both classes. They just simply register the remote to both teacher’s bases. In the English classroom, it will automatically pair with the English classroom base and in the Science classroom, it will automatically pair with the Science classroom base. To use the remote a student will turn it on and the screen will show up the name of the base that it is paired with. The teacher will show a question through a projector or however they choose, with five answer options. The students will then select A, B, C, D, or E and the teacher will receive the feedback automatically through the base. Also, the teacher has control over how long the students have to answer each question. If the teacher thinks they need thirty seconds to answer one question, but a minute for another, they can change that according to how they want. Sometimes students can be unsure about an answer after they have selected one, but with the iClicker a student can change their answer until the time runs out.

The iClicker is resourceful because it sends the teacher immediate feedback. The teacher can see who answered correctly and who did not. It engages students because it is a fun way to answer questions. Also, if a student is shy or gets embarrassed to raise their hand to answer a question, this is a good way to get them involved in classroom participation.

Here is what the website had to say about how the iClicker works in an educational setting: “For educational institutions using i>clicker Integrate, students register their remotes within the LMS resulting in fewer errors, and faculty seamlessly sync class rosters and polling data without ever leaving the i>grader application.”(iClicker.com) The website also had some information of softwares that the iClicker can be integrated with. ”The PowerPoint (PPT) add-in makes it easy for instructors to create clicker questions in PPT that integrate with the i>clicker 7. At a minimum, instructors will be able to create questions and assign a correct answer within PPT. The PPT integration will be a plug-in that must be installed and will be compatible with PowerPoint for the Windows operating system. The PPT integration will only work with i>clicker 7.” (iClicker.com)

The product made by the iClicker company that a parent would need to purchase for their child would be either the iClicker 1 or 2. The iClicker remotes can vary in price. To buy one brand new they are about $45.00, or someone could buy a used one online. This is an inexpensive educational resource that would be very useful in any grade level and any content area classroom. So for all you teacher and future teachers, USE iClickers because they’re awesome! Thanks for reading! 

-A Teacher in Training

Clicker & Audience Response Systems – iClicker. (n.d.). Retrieved October 2, 2015.