Learning and Teaching in the 21st Century: Sites to Check for SMART Board Ideas

Monday, April 23, 2007

Sites to Check for SMART Board Ideas

SMART Boards--and other interactive white boards--continue to increase in popularity as classroom technology tools. Ideas for using SMART Boards in all grades and subjects can be found (http://www.waukesha.k12.wi.us/WIT/SmartBoard/specificapps.htm).

Save lessons for students who have been absent.
Record short tutorials for using various software packages and then burn these tutorials to CDs.
Prepare lectures and training sessions and then burn them to CDs to use as lesson plans for substitute teachers.

At least one school district suggests having students use the SMART Board to present their research projects. If these presentations are recorded, they then can be played for parents during parent-teacher conferences. And, in fact, if the students are involved in the conference, the students could go to draft presentation to make modifications so parents could see the teaching/learning process in action.

YouTube has some interesting videos showing SMART Boards. At http://youtube.com/watch?v=6owh452aJCI you don't have to understand the speaker's native language to appreciate his demonstration of Google Earth. And the simulation at http://youtube.com/watch?v=1l2tDiyRWvw&mode=related&search= is very interesting to watch.

Some of the videos do a very nice job of illustrating the possibilities for using SMART Boards to enhance teaching. I recommend watching these three...

And, finally, I cannot close without listing some additional web sites to visit for lesson plans, activities, and templates. Enjoy!