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Agadzhanova R. M.
Kharkiv National University of Economics, Ukraine
THE USE OF SMART BOARDS
IN THE PROCESS OF TEACHING ENGLISH
Technology is an ever changing medium in the world we live in today. Schools
across the world are increasingly integrating technology into the classroom
each day. The use of technology is both beneficial for the students and the
teacher. One source of technology that has proved to be beneficial in the
classroom is a Smart Board. Smart Boards help to increase the use of
interactive instructional tools, create more interest and motivation among
students, display attractive graphics, improve lectures with audio-visual
tools, provide better instructional materials, and can also cater to all
learning styles. In such a setting, this new technology enables a quality
learning environment. The goal of integrating a Smart Board into the classroom
is to improve student achievement and increase their technology literacy. This
can be done with both the teacher and the students' efforts. Considering the above-mentioned facts, it is reasonable to study the
peculiarities of the use of Smart Boards in higher educational establishments,
in the process of teaching English in particular, to specify some key advantages
of their use in the classroom.
Firstly,
let us consider some important technical features of a Smart Board. A Smart
Board is technology created by SMART Technologies. It is an interactive
projection display that projects the computers’ video output. A Smart Board
operates with the combination of the interactive whiteboard, a computer, a
projector, and Smart Board software. The projection screen is available as a
white board or as a display frame that fits over a plasma screen. The board can
either be mounted or portable. The device is touch screen that allows the
operator to manipulate content with the touch of a finger. Functions on the
Smart Board such as scrolling and mouse click work the same way as they would
on a computer. The Smart Board typically comes with four digital markers: red,
blue, black, and green, and one digital eraser. The markers and eraser are
housed in the pen tray. The markers work digitally, and do not actually contain
any ink. The technology is in the pen tray: when a pen or the eraser is removed
the optic sensors detect its absence. A touch from the pen, a finger, or any
other object will then appear in that color of pen removed from the tray. Below
the pen tray are two buttons. One button is used like a right click on the
computer for functions such as: copy, paste, select all, etc. The other button
brings up a traditional key board, displayed on the screen that can be used by
touch. Only one finger can be on the board at once though, so you cannot rest
your hand on the board with your fingers on the home row as you would on a
computer. The computer and board work hand-in-hand together. When something is
done on the computer, it appears on the Smart Board and vice-versa. Smart Board
Software is needed for your computer to use to actually connect your computer
to the Smart Board. The software is called Smart Notebook and is suitable for
both Windows and Mac operating systems. Smart Notebook is a content delivery
platform and is similar to PowerPoint. It includes animations, templates,
manipulatives, and other useful tools for creating lesson plans and
presentations. SMART Technologies has several other software programs that work
with a Smart Board for specific content areas [1].
Taking
into account the above-mentioned characteristics, it is possible to analyze the
advantages and disadvantages of the use of Smart Boards in the learning
process. Smart Boards have many advantages in the classroom. First of all,
there are many benefits of Smart Boards for students in the classroom. This
electronic whiteboard is interactive and great for demonstrations. Students
would enjoy an interactive Smart Board lesson because the subject would come
alive and bring reality into the classroom. Smart Boards provide a means of
learning for all students, including students with different learning styles.
Most students learn by actually doing and physically interacting with a medium,
so Smart Boards would give students the opportunity to explore and manipulate
concepts of a lesson. Also, students of every grade level show increased
motivation and enjoy the interaction that the technology offers. The use of a
Smart Board would capture the attention of students and also encourage
participation.
There
are many advantages for students with the use of Smart Boards, however teachers
also benefit by using this technology. For instance, a lesson incorporating the
use of a Smart Board engages not only the students, but also the teacher.
During the lesson the teacher would be modeling that he/she is also interested
in the lesson; therefore reinforcing that they are lifelong learners. Another
advantage for the teacher is that it gives them instant access to many
electronic resources. For example, the Smart Board provides instant internet
access during a lesson, so a student's unanswered question can be answered
immediately instead of waiting a day or two. Another huge advantage of Smart
Boards is that teacher can plan lessons with much more imagination. With the
use of the Smart Board teaching any concept is possible and easier. Pages can
be automatically saved, printed, emailed, or even pasted into a website.
Flip-charts, all sorts of document, and presentations can be created. The
possibilities are endless. Another positive aspect about Smart Boards is that
the software comes with ready-made layouts. Layouts can be found on the
internet, some created by SMART and others created by other teachers across the
world. The layouts can be modified to fit each teacher’s own lesson
appropriately. This would come in handy for teachers who do not have a lot of
time to create a lesson.
Like
any other technology, Smart Boards also have disadvantages. First, Smart Boards
are very expensive. The cost of the actual board, the software, projector, and
installation fees are very high; approximately $1000, but can vary depending on
model and year. For school districts, such as rural schools and smaller schools
that already have low funding, this can be a problem as they do not have as
much access to such technology. Because of the high cost, if a school district
is able to purchase this technology, the school may only be able to afford one
or two. That means that not every teacher will have access to the Smart Board.
Even if a portable Smart Board on wheels is purchased, teachers still would
have to check out the Smart Board for use in their classroom. Not all students
would have access to this technology. Also, teachers need to be trained to use
this new technology. The software can be challenging to learn and practice is often
needed to become an expert. It is necessary to invest a lot of time and money
into the training process. Another downfall of Smart Board technology is that
most Smart Board specialists come from outside the school district. Teachers do
not have easy access to someone with the knowledge and questions cannot be
answered right away. Also, some teachers may pick up the information quickly,
whereas others may need additional training or support before they feel
comfortable incorporating the Smart Board into their classroom. For these
teachers, the new technology may be too overwhelming and cause disruptions and
frustrations in the classroom due to lack of proper training. The technology
would then be only a hindrance rather than a help in the classroom.
Another
disadvantage of Smart Boards is that they require maintenance. Like other
electronic equipment, Smart Boards also need to be kept working properly and
installed with the proper updates. Most of the time teachers are the ones that
need to find the time and download these updates, which may cause a problem.
This may require additional technology assistants to be hired to help with
problems that arise with the Smart Board and also keep the Smart Board updated.
Smart
Boards can also be a problem if they are not working correctly on a given day.
A teacher would always need to have a back-up lesson plan or activity in case
the technology crashes. Additional time would need to be put into planning each
day for the teacher.
To
sum up, technology is found everywhere in this world so it only seems right to
begin incorporating it into the classroom. One way to do this is by purchasing
a Smart Board and incorporating it into daily lesson plans. Smart Boards are
interactive and fun for both the students and teachers and have proved to be
beneficial. In order to be beneficial for the students though, teachers need to
make it interactive and get the students involved with each activity presented
on the board. With increased involvement and engagement, the students will gain
more knowledge and become excited about school and learning. The goal of
technology incorporation is to increase students' learning, which is something
the Smart Board can accomplish [1, 2].
At this stage of our research it is possible to
consider the peculiarities of the use of Smart Boards in the process of teaching
English in higher educational establishments. To begin with, language arts
teachers can use Smart Boards to improve reading and comprehension, and teach
grammar and writing. With a Smart Board, teachers can combine video, audio, Web
browsing and word processing to teach students interactively. Teachers can
easily project examples of student writing on a Smart Board and demonstrate
corrections so the entire class can benefit from the lesson. Smart Boards help
teachers use a student-centered approach to teach language arts. They are extremely useful in a classroom because they can
engage students, provide interactive opportunities that a traditional white
board, black board or flip chart cannot, and can also develop students'
computer skills along with their English skills.
Thus, it is possible to list the
following examples of the use of Smart Boards in the process of teaching
English in higher educational establishments:
1. Teachers project short stories on
the Smart Board. Students can read the stories and view pictures related to the
stories or watch multimedia presentations that incorporate video, audio and
words. Students can then answer questions related to the stories.
2. Teachers find biographical
information about the author and the setting of a story on the Smart Board. They
can also give students information about the time period in which story takes
place; the Smart Board can be used to give students background information
related to the short story, giving them context to help them better relate to
literature.
3. Teachers use a PowerPoint
presentation on the Smart Board to teach grammar rules. They show the students
examples of the rules, errors in grammar and use the Smart Board to make the
corrections. Teachers should allow the students to come to the board and
correct grammatical errors using the rules they have been taught. Power Point
can be also used for vocabulary presentations.
4. It is possible to use Smart Boards to teach
writing. Teachers project students’ compositions on the Smart Board removing
the students’ names from the work first. The paper can be edited on the Smart
Board, pointing out strengths and weaknesses in the writing. The use of a
rubric or a checklist in close proximity to the composition helps students to
see at a glance if they have met standards or expectations related to their
writing. Items on the checklist may include proper use of commas, periods and
capitalization, and having complete sentences and a well-formulated
introduction and conclusion [3, 4].
5.
With the right software, teachers can also create
resources (or download them) such as gap fill exercises or multiple choice quizzes,
where students can come to the board and drag and drop their chosen answers
into the gaps.
6. If
teachers have internet access, they can access internet sites and put them onto
a Smart Board. This is great in an EFL classroom if you have online quizzes or
games. Of course, with access to the internet, teachers can also run video
clips or sound files from the internet, or some which are saved on the
computer. It is also possible to play DVDs onto a Smart Board. The opportunity
to access the internet quickly is extremely useful for things such as online
English dictionaries or image searches [4].
Taking into consideration the above-mentioned peculiarities of the use
of Smart Boards in the process of teaching English in
higher educational establishments, it is possible to
make a conclusion that a Smart Board can make lessons more varied and give
students a more active role in the lesson. It provides a greater range of
resources to students and develops their computer and internet skills. Moreover,
Smart Boards help to increase the use of interactive
instructional tools, create more interest and motivation among students,
display attractive graphics, improve lessons with audio-visual tools, provide
better instructional materials. It is proved that this new technology provides
a quality learning environment.
References:
1. Integrating technology: Smart
Boards in a classroom [Electronic version]. – On line – en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Integrating_Technology_In_K12/Smart
Boards
2. The advantages of a Smart Board [Electronic
version]. – On line – http://blog.metu.edu.tr/e173268/2013/05/02/the-advantages-of-a-smart-board/
3. The use of Smart Boards in
teaching language arts [Electronic version]. – On line –http://www.ehow.com/how_7668499_use-boards-teach-language-arts.html
4.
What is a Smart Board? [Electronic version]. – On line – www.really-learn-english.com/what-is-a-smart-board.html