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WEEK of FEBRUARY 9, 2004 |
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The World of Tomorrow: SMART Board Debuts at BFS by Jeffrey Stanley Teachers used to imagine being able to call up their pre-typed class notes, or visit a website in class without every student needing a computer terminal, through use of a system that would allow a computer screen to be projected onto a video screen at the front of the room. That technology came along in the 1990s and continues to make old-fashioned overhead projectors obsolete. Now imagine being able to interact with the images on that screen, dragging and dropping windows, opening pulldown menus, clicking through hyperlinks—but with your finger instead of with a mouse. The SMART Board, an interactive whiteboard recently installed in the 5th floor computer lab allows just that, the touch screen technology freeing the teacher from being trapped behind a computer terminal in front of the room. It gets better. Imagine the teacher being able to take handwritten notes on top of those images, or to circle certain words on a web page for emphasis, essentially using the board as a standard dry-erase board, and then capturing and saving that entire screen to keep with lesson plans for future reference, or to print as a handout for students to use as a study aid. The SMART Notebook software allows just that. It gets even better. The screen also functions in the ancient way, too—you can show movies on it. “The room has been equipped with a Sony Surround system, and we have a DVD player and a VHS,” explains Director of Academic Technology and teacher Kerri Richardson. “The SMART Board is one piece of the media classroom. The sound system, the ceiling-mounted projector, the AV cabinet, are all necessary components.” “The idea is that, as we are moving ahead, teachers will use the media classroom to pull in curricular enhancements.” For example, a teacher could not only show a DVD of The Odyssey in class, but afterward visit websites pertaining to it, as well as make notes, all on the same board, and then capture that screen for future reference. Richardson not only maintains the equipment and demonstrates it to other faculty, she uses it in her own courses. “Whatever I’m doing in class, I take a picture of so the students have it in their notes.” The school hopes to have five other SMART Boards installed by 2005, the next one scheduled to be placed in the Upper School computer lab this summer. “At first, we decided to wait until summer for the 4th floor, because we didn’t want to outpace the faculty.” However, in retrospect Richardson says that hasn’t been a problem. “The excitement around it is something we couldn’t have predicted. |
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