The effect of ICT on school life (Part 1)

SmartBoard

The smartboard has changed the way that teachers run lessons in schools in the developed world. The smartboard is a special whiteboard made with DViT (Digital Vision Touch) technology so that the teacher can display an interactive whiteboard/activity on the screen that can be written on with virtual ink or simply clicked/scrolled. For the system to work, a reasonable computer (laptop or PC), a projector, USB cable, the Smart Board Software and speakers (if sound wishes to be displayed). The board is fitted with 4 pens (of Red, Blue, Green & Black) and a rubber. However, they are not ordinary pens - they use ZeroInk technology, the pens do not have ink and are fitted with sensors that react to the screen so that it acts as that colour pen on the screen, the rubber is used to rub off the pen marks made. The technology means that teachers can make lessons beyond the classroom with video explanations, educational games and the sharing of other students' work. Some models are beginning to be fitted with projectors; thus meaning the school does not need to buy one separately (which is more expensive). The "SmartBoard" company are now developing a "SmartBoard" table that allows students to interact together on one shared surface, the teacher can create activities for the students to do. Businesses are also now using the technology, it allows an e-conference to be conducted over the internet, saving time and money on travel if the people in the conference are far apart.

SmartBoard being used by a teacher



ZeroInk used in Maths

Advantages:

• Saves the cost of replacing traditional used/stolen ink pens.
• The ZeroInk technology means that the board will always look clean. This means that the text on the screen will be easily read by all members of the class.
• Each lesson's work can be saved onto a file. This means that teachers can compare work and improve lessons. It also means if a student was absent, the student can easily access and copy up the teacher's notes.
• Teacher's can plan the lesson ahead and write out all of the lesson's notes before hand. This saves valuable lesson time in which notes would be written on the board meaning the teacher can spend more time helping students whilst the notes are up. If this was done traditionally, the teacher would likely have no time to help students and spend most of their time writing up the tasks or notes.
• Any computer (with the installed software) can be used with the SmartBoard, this saves the time of re-writing notes on the board in a different room; it can just be loaded straight to the board from a previous lesson.

[Jing Video]
[Jing Video]

Disadvantages:

• It is incredibly expensive; a standard board (no projector) costs over £1000. This can be hard for a school to buy if it is in a remote area with only a few pupils.
• A projector is needed to display the work along with a PC/Mac, this costs up to £1000 for both. Once again, this is difficult for small schools.
• It requires electricity to run, so therefore if there is a powercut and there is no manual method, it will be difficult to give the work to students.
• It is not a multi-touch surface, this means that only 1 thing can be drawn/clicked at a time, this makes navigation fairly sluggish.

Bibliography:
http://smarttech.com/
http://www.laptopsdirect.co.uk/SMART+Boards/prod.asp