Alex Archambault ’14: With the addition of Smartboards to many upper school classrooms, teachers can create new and innovative ways to engage their students in the classroom. Over the last several years EA has replaced many of the traditional black and white boards with these new high-tech boards particularily in the Math, English, and World Language Departments.
There have been mixed responses within the community regarding the necessity of this change.
Some teachers, including Grace Wingfield, Chair of the Math Department, choose to use the new technology all the time and feel that Smartboards greatly enhance their classes.
Wingfield stated, “Even though I always plan my lessons, [using the Smartboard] is like having a rolling agenda on the board, I can easily add in a slide if a student has a question that then causes [our class] to have a different discussion, or divert from the original problem.”
Wingfield enjoys having links to the Internet on the page. She said, “I can post my notes daily for students and in the notes. And I can have automatic links.”
She affirmed, “[What makes Smartboards more useful] is that my class agenda is all laid out [on the board] and I can stop and start accordingly. If my discussion goes on longer than I planned I can just pick right back up with my saved notes the next day.”
Many students share Wingfield’s appreciation for the Smartboard.
Woody Nimoityn ’15 noted, “I like it when a teacher uses a Smartboard because it adds another dimension to the learning experience. It makes it easier if you miss class or don’t understand the classwork because the teacher can put the class notes up on blackboard directly from the Smartboard.”
Sarah Abbonizio ’14 agreed, commenting, “I like [when teachers] teach with Smartboards because it enables new ways to learn and opens doors for new opportunities in the classroom. Learning with Smartboards is easier because you can open a webpage directly on it.”
At the same time, many students are still skeptical when it comes to these new high-tech utilities.
Jon Barr ’14 stated, “To me it seems the Smartboard is the same as a regular white or black board except maybe a little bit more high-tech. I understand there is a little bit of a prestige attached to a Smartboard, but in all honestly I don’t see a drastic difference in what we used before. It seems clunky at times and is also very sensitive which makes its harder to write things down.”
He believes that the school should not get more Smartboards. “Because the cons outweigh the pros, especially when we have perfectly good whiteboards. I honestly don’t think it’s a needed investment.”
Barr is not the only one who believes this. Nisha Meyer ’13 added, “Smartboards only work for specific classes. I don’t think it would be useful in English or History because of how crucial conversations are in these classes, which is why Harkness tables are better.”
Barr added, “Whether or not a Smartboard is good for a class depends on the teacher. If teachers are up-to-date with technology it allows them to organize documents and draw diagrams or pictures demonstrating their point before class. I think it makes teaching and therefore, learning, much easier. For those who are used to the white board and do not like working with technology, I don’t think they should use a Smartboard as it can be rather difficult to operate.”
Episcopal Academy