What to Do with Your Smartboard and How to Do It
A Tutorial and Resource Page
Introduction:
Many of you have seen the Smartboards around the high school and at other schools in the
Johnstown-Monroe School District. These are tools that can significantly enhance the classroom
experience for both students and teachers, and can serve in many different capacities. The purpose
of these pages is to help you to use (or plan to use) a Smartboard in your classroom, either for an
occasional lesson or as a regular part of your class planning.
Please feel free to explore this site, and offer any feedback you might have for me through the
Feedback/Contact link. My intention is to make this a site useful for all Smartboard users.
General Uses for Smartboards (Things You Knew It Could Do)
Your Smartboard has many functions built into it, just by virtue of it being a computer. As such, it
can run many standard programs/functions:
CD/DVD Player- Most computers can play CDs and/or DVDs in their CD-ROM or DVD-ROM
drives, and as such they can be used to show movies or play music to your classes. The large screen
size makes it easier for all students to see, and speakers can be added to enhance the sound. For
those still showing the occasional VCR tape, the VCR can be hooked up through the projector to
show those tapes on the larger screen, as well.
PowerPoint- PowerPoint presentations are perfect for Smartboards, since they take advantage of all
its major features. They are designed for computers to begin with, and Smartboards are (at heart)
just computers with big screens.
Word Processing- Any word processor can be displayed onscreen, allowing for notes to be easily
projected and read by the students. Since many programs (such as Microsoft Word) can add
hypertext links into their text, you can use these to add images, etc. to the notes. You never have to
worry about bringing posters, pictures, diagrams, or maps to class, since all of those things can be
linked to your notes, and can be shown with the touch of a finger.
Web Browsing- Since the school computers are tied into the internet, any normally-accessible web
content can be displayed for your classes. As such, you can instantly access things like Google
Earth, UnitedStreaming content, or anything else you can find online. It’s also worth noting that
you can do a lot of your preparation work at home, upload it to the school website, and then run it in
class right from the web. This makes it both easy for you in class, and easy for students that may be
absent to access from home.
Video Conferencing- Through the fairly simple addition of a webcam, and some free software from
Skype or Yahoo Instant Messaging, your classroom could be hooked up to any other location in the
world. This could be useful for foreign language classes who wanted to link with classes in other
countries, or perhaps to do projects involving other schools in the area.
Other Programs- Any computer program can be run onscreen, allowing the use of computer games
or other programs, which can allow some unusual and innovative classroom experiences. I have
successfully run the Diplomacy game in my own classroom, but could also see using SimCity for a
government class, or Rollercoaster Tycoon for Physics.
Smartboard-Specific Applications (Bells and Whistles)
Smart Notebook- The Smartboard comes with its own software, which can function as a whiteboard
with the four included color “markers,” but also has many other uses. These applications include
many graphics that can be marked on or over, such as blank maps, coordinate planes, even football
field diagrams!
Recorder- This can be a great function for Smartboard users, since it allows the user to record
anything shown on the board. Combined with a microphone, an entire lesson can be recorded, then
left for a substitute, who can essentially just push “play” then sit back and let the teacher teach the
same class he or she would have done if he or she were there in person.
Discipline-Specific Ideas
ArtThe ability to show any piece of art shown on the internet can turn the Smartboard into an amazing
tool for art history classes, and the ability to manipulate photographs or other images with software
such as Photoshop could lead to truly innovative lessons. Anything that can be done on a computer
can be shown to a whole class, such as touring an Egyptian tomb and viewing the frescoes, or
rendering a photo into a (simulated) chalk drawing.
Language ArtsSpeech classes could easily benefit from the use of PowerPoint, while any grammar class could
benefit from the ability to move and rearrange text, which could be done on Word (or, indeed, any
word processing program). Many classic works can be viewed online, making line-by-line analysis
simple and easy to follow.
Foreign LanguageObviously, a great deal of foreign language software exists, such as Babelfish and other translator
programs, or tutorial programs and games. The ability to share one of these programs with students
might be very useful as an in-class activity, and students would certainly benefit from real-time
contacts with classrooms in other countries, if such could be arranged.
MathematicsThere are many possibilities here, since the Smartboard can be used to show any mathematical
concept, even those that are hard to demonstrate on calculators, such as 3D graphs. Even puzzles
like the famous Rubik’s Cube can be manipulated on computer using Java applications, and thus can
be brought into the classroom easily by the teacher.
Physical EducationDiagrams of the body, some of which are interactive, could easily showcase lessons.
Social StudiesThe possibilities here are probably endless. I routinely use Google Earth, UnitedStreaming, and
notes on Word for my classes, as well as games like Diplomacy.
OtherThere are probably thousands of uses out there that teachers are using, from showing blueprints of
houses in an Industrial Technology class to diagramming plays for football. As I get other ideas of
my own, or as I get good ideas submitted to me, you can expect to see this section (as well as the
others, I’d wager) grow.