Opinions on SmartBoards?

Started by Motsuko Live June 18th, 2008 6:04 PM
  • 1062 views
  • 16 replies
Age 30
Male
Ontario
Seen January 21st, 2013
Posted March 13th, 2011
981 posts
15.2 Years
For anyone who doesn't know what a smart board is, let me explain. It's a large, white monitor, about 4 x 5 feet long (though I'm sure each board differs in size). It's used kind of like a digital chalk board. The monitor is touch-screen, so you can do everything a chalk board lets you do and more. It requires a projector to project images from a computer onto the screen. After you align it (through a series of pressing multiples places on the screen, kind of like the DS), you can add shapes, type words, draw pictures, graph equations and more. Like I said, it's a digital chalk board!

So, if any of your schools use these, or have experimented with using these in the past, tell me what your opinions are!
Seen January 1st, 2023
Posted April 20th, 2020
4,423 posts
15.4 Years
I didn't have them in my class, but in other classes, they use them. I have to admit, when I saw it, I was impressed. I definitely think this is a step away from education being brought to students through the internet, video or even holograms.
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Seen July 5th, 2011
Posted February 24th, 2009
79 posts
15 Years
We've used these now and again in the computer lab.

I for one think it was a pretty smart idea, but not executed perfectly. A lot of the controls on the one my school has are incredibly wonky. That and the time it takes so sync the pen to the screen is something we don't really have time for, seeing as a lesson is in progress.

Great invention; needs some work.

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Melodies of Life

Male
Kentucky
Seen January 3rd, 2013
Posted January 3rd, 2013
1,620 posts
15.2 Years
Almost every classroom in my college has these. And all of them in the art building do. They are fun to play with and really handy, but still glitchy.
When my teach would write on it, sometime the "ink" would appear a foot away from where it was supposed to be. Or it would freeze up, and sometimes not even reply to the action it was given.
They are a great thing, and really neat, but they do need to be tweaked. :3

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Gerri Shin

  

Male
Burbank, CA
Seen February 17th, 2014
Posted April 13th, 2013
3,575 posts
15.9 Years
I've used these for a while now and they're in every classroom at the schol I volunteer at so I'm used to them. They are a really great teaching aid since you can run Powerpoints or Keynote's on them and use the smartboard software to mark them up with new notes and whatever and then save it for later. the only thing I really don't like about them is when they become uncalibrated for no reason. it makes writing a pain. (they're great for playing Bookworm in Homeroom though :D)
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Saryka

Seen July 16th, 2013
Posted July 16th, 2013
3,499 posts
16.2 Years
SmartBoards are amazing, let me tell you. ♥ I didn't get to work with one this semester, but we had on in history last semester, and then one in my science class last year. We had a lot of fun with it; viewing YouTube videos, looking up things on Google, or even writing things down with the special SmartBoard pens.

The only thing I had a problem with was when you were writing and sometimes the pen wouldn't be properly synchronized with the board, so you'd be writing in one area and you'd have the actual writing on the computer in another. In our science class, we had to constantly do that test to make sure our pens were well synched with the screen.

Also, I wasn't fond of the size of it. Sometimes we'd find it difficult to make charts and stuff because the board was too small. I suppose some things are still better left to the good ol' fashioned chalk board. XD The fact that one person could write on the board at a time made things difficult sometimes, but otherwise, the SmartBoard is one of the coolest things I've ever seen in my classrooms, and we've had so much fun with them. I do hope I get to try one again next year. ♥
Age 30
Male
Northern Virginia
Seen 1 Week Ago
Posted May 26th, 2018
1,184 posts
15.3 Years
Around every school in my county has some Smartboards. I think they're nice, but it really depends on how well the teacher uses them. My seventh grade math teacher ruined one by using a dry-erase marker on it!
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Saryka

Seen July 16th, 2013
Posted July 16th, 2013
3,499 posts
16.2 Years
Around every school in my county has some Smartboards. I think they're nice, but it really depends on how well the teacher uses them. My seventh grade math teacher ruined one by using a dry-erase marker on it!
They're super-expensive to replace, too, so you have to be super-careful. XD I think one of my teachers almost did the exact same thing by accident. Another one of my teachers has this massive sign saying not to use any sort of markers on it, because they're pretty darn expensive to replace!
Age 30
Male
Ontario
Seen January 21st, 2013
Posted March 13th, 2011
981 posts
15.2 Years
Yup, I feel like replying to my own question :)

My school uses them in almost every class room, but I never had them until the second semester in Science and Math. My math teacher, Mrs. Blair, has had hers for almost the whole year, so she's obviously a lot more skilled at them then my science teacher. Actually, it's rather funny to watch my science teacher fool around with the board. She's just so clumsy with it. Where as my math teacher is almost... graceful while doing.

One of my biggest issues that I have with it is when it becomes unaligned. I'm not sure about everyone elses school, but in my school, the SmartBoards require a projector. If the table the projector is on gets moved, the board becomes unaligned.
We had this one kid, Zack, who always found pleasure out of kicking the table and making us miss five minutes of our lesson. It was very annoying.

Anyway, I see a lot of you share my disappointment when the board becomes unaligned, so let me tell you what I've discovered;
I heard that, for a price, all the projectors could be mounted on to a special contraption on the ceiling of your classroom. This would prevent the projector from moving, thus preventing the SmartBoard from becoming unaligned! Of course, we then have the issue of the actual SmartBoard moving, but this could easily be solved by securing it's legs onto the floor.

So, another thing I've come to realize is that some kids just can't get the hang of writing on it! I mean, I've seen smoke of frustration spew from my teacher's ears because every student she called up failed at the SmartBoard... hard. The only tricks I can think of are don't touch the SmartBoard while writing (with your wrist or something) and be firm.

---

Anyway, time for a new point; Has anyone used those little... "Syntios" things or whatever yet? I can't remember the name exactly, and I'll edit the post when I do, but they're those small, hand held devices that let you log onto a SmartBoard network, and answer simple questions, such as multiple choice. It's great for tests and reviews, because you can see the percentage you answered correctly after you hit "Finish". My math exam this year consisted of two parts; a "Syntios" quiz, and a regular exam. The "Syntios" quiz was a sheet of paper with mostly multiple choice questions. We would read the questions on the paper, and then answer in the "Syntios". It was actually really cool. Has anyone else used these besides me?
Age 32
Female
Australia
Seen August 7th, 2012
Posted August 23rd, 2010
1,120 posts
15.7 Years
Almost every classroom in my college has these. And all of them in the art building do. They are fun to play with and really handy, but still glitchy.
When my teach would write on it, sometime the "ink" would appear a foot away from where it was supposed to be. Or it would freeze up, and sometimes not even reply to the action it was given.
They are a great thing, and really neat, but they do need to be tweaked. :3
Your teacher simply needs to calibrate the screen. There should be a little button or two near where the pens go... You might have to press both at the same time to calibrate it, but I can't really remember >.< It doesn't take a second =P

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Age 37
Seafoam Island
Seen February 2nd, 2010
Posted February 2nd, 2010
3,537 posts
19.7 Years
From what I've seen of them in practical use, I'm thankful I never had to support these things.

There great for classrooms where a full IMP station (Projector with Computer) is not available.

I have to agree with some of their features being buggy, sometimes they simply don't work right when your using the markers. I think if another year or two would have been given before our school purchased them, it would have been MUCH better.

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Age 30
Female
Kent, England
Seen December 7th, 2022
Posted August 10th, 2010
525 posts
17.8 Years
I think that they are a good idea, but extremely poorly executed. For one, it shouldn't rely on a projector and should have its own LCD screen, and also it should have hardware-level drawing support, not software-level, because otherwise it experiences that little sync-time annoyance.
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Age 32
England, Northwest
Seen January 15th, 2010
Posted January 15th, 2010
126 posts
15 Years
Projectors are much less fragile than LCD screens, especially since smartboards are often used by young children in primary schools.

They are awesome to play point n click games on though, minesweeper FTW! it can be difficult to reach the top of the screen though. :\
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