Teaching with Technology: 4 Ways Smart Boards Can Boost Student Engagement

Education & Development Blog

Every teacher wants to boost their students involvement in the classroom, and smart board technology makes that possible. If you have a smart board or are considering buying one, you will love how they can help make your students more engaged. Take a look at these four ways smart boards can compel greater student engagement:

1. Integration with handheld devices

Smart boards come with software allowing them to connect to your computer, but you can also get smart board technology that engages with handheld devices. Imagine arming each of your students with a handheld device and posting a multiple-choice test on the smart board.

As they choose answers, their responses are displayed on the board. Each student receives anonymity, but based on their collective answers, you have a chance to see where the class needs review.

2. Guessing games

Rather than just having a test, consider using the smart board as you play a review game. Many smart boards have hide and reveal features. Questions appear on the board with their answer hidden.

Your students yell out answers, and one student moves to the touch screen board where he or she reveals the right answer using the hide-and-reveal feature on the board.

3. Notes for Students

With a smart board, you can post notes or slides directly from your computer, or you can write notes on the screen. Regardless of which form of presentation you select, you can easily create copies of your notes for your students.

You can capture the smart board images and print them off for students or email them to students. Providing students with notes can be especially valuable for students with dyslexia or dysgraphia and can help them engage more with the learning process.

4. Awesome Audio-Visual Effects

With contemporary students, many teachers are competing to get the attention of kids who love videogames, action TV shows or wild music videos. A smart board makes it easier to capture these students' attention in a way that may seem compelling to them.

With a smart board, you can integrate videos, moving text, audio effects and other special effects into your lesson. For instance, instead of having a "boring" history lesson with a textbook, you can use the smart board to include video clips of aircraft battles, dictator speeches or movie scenes as well as audio clips of popular music from the era or on-screen copies of pages from soldier's diaries.

Learn more about what smart boards can do for your classroom by consulting with experts such as Vista Visuals Australia Pty Ltd.

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20 March 2015

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