Smart Board Idea

The center has two smart boards and has had trainings for the teachers, but no one uses them at this time. The director’s plan is to buy two new boards every year until every classroom has one. In theory, this is a great plan, but what if the teachers continue not to use the devices? For a center on such a tight budget, buying two three thousand dollar devices every year is not a reasonable or justifiable plan without confidence and assurance that the teachers will implement the new technology. At this present time the boards are being used just the same as regular white boards, which in all of the schools that I have been in, this has been a reoccurring theme. The teachers are not comfortable with the technology and need to be given a reason to implement the technology. If there is no incentive or reason to change, then why should the teachers use the technology? If they have trouble with the devices, at this time there is no one really set up to help them fix and trouble shoot the problems and issues that come up.
I would love to know how to work one very well and be able to be a resource for teachers who want to implement these boards to the best of their abilities in the classroom. For me personally, I would love to learn this technology, and the experience of learning how to use a Smart Board really well would be beneficial to my own classroom in the future immensely. Until this meeting, I did not even know there was a difference between Promethean Boards and Smart Boards. I not only would like to be trained like everyone else, I would love to have experiences with the device to a point where I could trouble shoot and be comfortable with the device and teaching others how to use it. Some people might say that it is a bad idea for me to take on a project where I do not already fully understand the technology involved, but given time, I am certain that I can master how to operate the machine. Because technology does not come naturally to me, I have found that this makes it much easier for me to relate to other people trying to learn the devices. I can empathize, and I had to figure these same things out on my own. Dawn said something to me about how much patience it takes to teach people how to use programming and technology. I believe that because of my demeanor and major, I have the capacity to take the time to teach people and make them feel comfortable.
If I were to address the issues of the Smart Boards what could I actually do to help? What would be the steps, benefits, or progress? I do not want this project to be another short-term spurt. I would love for this center to be my home project for the next year and a half before I graduate. The first step to the Smart Board Project would be to find someone who could train me on an individual basis and be able to go much more in-depth in the training than the average person. There is one lady in the Education Department who I believe would do a fabulous job of training me and understanding exactly what I need to know in order to help other teachers in the field. I would need to have access to a smart board to practice, make projects, and implement my ideas. This should be easy with all of the University Smart Boards at the school, and people here who would understand and trust me to use them properly. I would need to make lots of example lessons using different tricks of the programming to show the teachers exactly how this can make their lives better, the teaching more interesting, and how the technology could benefit their students. The director wants me to come into the school during teacher workdays in January to give some refresher information and training to the teachers. I would also be available to provide tech support for the teachers. How would this carry over into a long-term project though? I can only see this being a long-term project if the director made it mandatory for the teachers to make so many lessons on the boards and use the boards every so often for class time. The teachers also need to be at a level of comfort that they are willing and can teach their students how to use the Smart Boards themselves. I wonder if some incentives/ prizes would make the task of learning and making lessons on the boards go over better with the teachers? You would be surprised how competitive teachers can become. There is also the question of how to measure the results of this project. A pretest of the teachers’ abilities, uses, and feelings about the technology would be a great place to start. Then there would also be a posttest to see how much the use of the technology has improved. I believe this project has a lot of potential.

(2 hrs)