Do you enjoy using the Smart Board at school? A lot of kids say “Yes!” And many teachers find it to be a convenient and effective teaching tool. Yet sometimes a refresher course is needed to review the many ways it can be of use.

Smart Board training is going to be available to teachers at GISNY’s training day in March of 2018, according to Mr. Ulrich Weghoff, head of school. “From my discussions with other heads of schools, I know that the low use of Smart Boards is an issue in most schools. Teachers should use many different kinds of methods,” he adds.

The Smart Boards were installed about ten years ago, according to Mr. Alex Suero, systems admin., at a cost of some $2600 per classroom (computer, Smart Board, projector and speakers). They are in 30 classrooms, currently, and are being used by many teachers primarily as projectors. “More training is needed,” says Mr. Suero, to get the most out of the technology.

If teachers want to learn new skills in using the Smart Board before March, they can look at the NYSAIS website for conferences and workshops (http://www.nysais.org) and also at the site of the maker of Smart Boards, Smart Technologies (https://training.smarttech.com). There are also tutorials on Youtube.

Smart Boards are a “line of interactive whiteboards produced by the Calgary, Alberta-based company Smart Technologies,” according to Wikipedia. It is an “interactive whiteboard that uses touch detection for user input (for example scrolling and right mouse-click) in the same way as normal PC input devices.”