If you have ever been fascinated by a CNN reporter's use of a Smart Board to move maps, statistics and images around as part of a presentation, then you can see the value of a Smart Board. The technology allows users to use their hands and fingers as a mouse, touching the screen to open websites or move smaller screens into various positions. In the classroom, particularly those with young students, this looks magical and raises attentiveness and excitement for the materials shown. Teachers report increased engagement with their work because they see Smart Board touch screens as an extension of themselves and enjoy communicating with students in this way.
Smart Boards do not require messy chalk. If professionals choose to write on the board, they can do so with dry markers or, better yet, a stylus or their finger. Imagine how interactive this becomes when a student is allowed to approach the board and write the components of a math equation or create a highlighted line along a map to show a historical route. Cleanup is quick and easy. The Smart Board is run by a computer and refreshed with new images so the lesson can start again.
Video cameras can be used as part of presentations on the Smart Board. For example, a presentation on golf techniques can include a live feed from a golf course for a demonstration of swing technique. Because of the multiple screens viewable on the board, the instructor can simultaneously show PowerPoint-style notes on one side and the live feed on another. Using software available for the computer, a music instructor can plug an electronic keyboard into the Smart Board and easily demonstrate chord structure to large classes instead of focusing on one student.
In online classrooms, instructors can use the Smart Board to bring active content to all of their students at once. Classrooms with limited resource funds no longer suffer when they have one computer per class. The Smart Board brings the images of the computer to all students without the need for crowding around a single small screen. Smart Boards invigorate classrooms and presentations. The boards are bound only by the creativity of the presenter and are fast becoming a standard means of communication for tech-savvy users.