1130-100+Class_Team+6

=Interactive SMART Boards in Today's Elementary Classrooms =

**Introduction: **
media type="youtube" key="lCfmJCSAG70" height="196" width="236" align="left" ====In today’s society it is becoming more and more important for teachers to present lessons to students in the best way possible. Teachers need to use multiple means of representation to help students understand the information. There is more pressure on the educators to make sure that every student in the classroom is meeting state standards and benchmarks. Teachers are also being held accountable for their student’s performance and progress, therefore one very interactive and useful tool to help educators teach in the classroom is the use of SMART Boards. Included is a description of the SMART Board, the history, advantages, disadvantages, and the future of this tool. ====



**Definition: **
The SMART Board is a series of interactive whiteboards developed by SMART Technologies that uses touch detection for user input

**History: **
====The SMART Board is an interactive whiteboard manufactured by SMART Technologies. SMART introduced the first SMART Board interactive whiteboard in 1991. ====

- 2003, the first SMART Board for flat-panel displays debuted in 2003.
====- 2005, SMART unveiled its wireless slate, a tablet PC that lets users manipulate and select on-screen objects, create and save notes and launch applications. ==== ====- 2007, SMART debuted the Senteo interactive response system, which allows teachers to track student performance and organize assessment results in its built-in grade book. ==== ====- 2008, new products included the SMART document camera, collaborative learning software, and the next-generation SMART Board 600i interactive whiteboard system. ====

Advantages:
Students who can interact with the digital whiteboards are activating additional areas of the brain that are conducive to long-term learning. It enables multiple parts of the brain to be involved in the learning process which improves the encoding of new concepts. Students can find the games available through the SMART board program to be motivational for learning as well. The program also offers many new materials for teachers to create unique and interesting lessons. Some have found that because of the size of the SMART board that they can only be used by one to two students at a time. To avoid having students left out of the interactive parts of the lesson, teachers can use the educational games as motivation for students who may be gifted or who may tend to finish lesson plans before other students. The interactive games serve as a learning tool that can help students to differentiate new concepts by aiding students in grouping new material. The interactive games not only aid the students in storing the materials in their long-term memory, but also encourage students to familiarize themselves with instructional technology. SMART boards can provide more clarity for instruction with their pull-tab abilities with which a teacher can show tabs containing only the information being covered at that point in time and can avoid visual “clutter”. It helps students to separate information that may be extraneous to what is being presented at that time.

**Disadvantages: **
====Although SMART Boards are useful in the classroom, there are several disadvantages with using one as well. For example, a teacher may only use the computer displayed on the SMART Board for research projects and stops taking them to the library to research traditional ways. Another disadvantage with using a SMART Board is that it discourages teachers from planning for individual needs for students. A teacher is able to find thousands of lesson plans and games on the SMART Board and would be able to only use the computer as a teaching tool. This discourages traditional teaching styles as﻿ well. Also when students are looking up at the SMART Board and if they are not taking notes, or doing any activity it may lead to passive learning. SMART Boards are very high priced which makes it very difficult for teachers to have on in the classroom. SMART Boards are difficult to write on because the teacher stands in between the projector and the screen; their shadow is casted on the screen which makes its content difficult to read. SMART Boards can be a very useful tool in the classroom but there are some disadvantages one must be aware of before purchasing one. ====
 * SMART Board || $1200 - $3000 ||
 * LCD Projector || <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">$750 - $3000 ||
 * <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">PC or Mac || <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">$750 - $4000 ||
 * <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Projector Light Bulb || <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">$50 - $500 ||
 * <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Total || <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">$3,450 - $10,400 ||

<span style="color: #2f2fdf; font-family: 'Lucida Console',Monaco,monospace;">Future Direction
====<span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; margin: 0in 0in 0pt 23.75pt;">Children growing up in today’s society are technology natives. They are comfortable using technology in everyday life which is another reason that children love to use SMART Boards. Several schools are considering installing SMART Boards into every classroom in the near future. SMART Boards are the future in education. Currently, a team of four undergraduate programmers at Caltech is making progress toward creating a software infrastructure that has handwritten character recognition, font manipulation, via "smart text," morphing of hand-written to typeset text, and a simple gesture-driven system for performing vector calculus. ====

**<span style="color: #2f2fdf; font-family: 'Lucida Console',Monaco,monospace;">Conclusion: **
====<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Overall, SMART boards are a very effective new tool for teachers in the classroom. It helps students and teachers to familiarize themselves with instructional technology. It also helps teachers with organization and motivation in their lesson plans. It offers a new alternative to traditional teachings methods and creates some diversity in the traditional learning methods for each specific classroom. However, the SMART board is ony beneficial for teachers if they continue to mix-up the lessons between incorporating this new tool and using traditional lessons so that students can prepare themselves to learn in many different ways. So, any teacher who has a budget that will allow it, is encouraged to try them out. ====

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">http://www.technology-education.net/smart-boards.htm
====<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">-Examiner.com: SMART Board: The wave of the future or another way for schools and businesses to waste their money? Minneapolis Tech Innovations | Examiner.com. http://www.examiner.com/tech-innovations-in-minneapolis/smart board- the-wave-of-the-future-or-another-way-for-schools-and-businesses-to-waste-their-money#ixzz0brcMTjex ====

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">-The Past and Future of the Smart Board Project." Interaction-Smart Board. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 Feb. 2011.
<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">-Springgay, J. (n.d.). What is the history of the smart board?. Retrieved from [] <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">-SMART board problems-Infrared Sensitivity (2010). In YouTube. Retrieved February 11, 2011. <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">[] <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">- Yurk, R. (n.d.) SMART Board Tips and Tricks Part 1 (2010). SMART Exemplary Educator and SMART Master. Retrieved February 11, 2011. [] - SMART Board Interactive Whiteboard in Elementary Education (2011). Retrieved February 11, 2011.

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Jessie Holmej90@uwosh.edu, 608-214-4482 Jonathan, dunksj57@uwosh.edu, 920-595-0390 Callie, hainzc24@uwosh.edu, 608.577.1703