Personal Learning Community

During the 2011 Brock Technology Showcase I was fortunate enough to attend a seminar for Smart Technology.  We were first told by Michael Ward (our seminar leader) that this would be an introductory glimpse to the resources that Smart has to offer.  I quickly learned that Smart has so much more to offer than the Smart Board.  The Smart Board is only the centre of Smart Technology learning.  It allows users to connect to multiple resources.  Our seminar leader introduced us to Smart Math Notebook, Smart Response Clickers, Smart Document Cameras, and so much more.  The nice aspect of working with Smart Technology is that all of the pieces of learning equipment can work together simultaneously.  It’s absolutely miraculous.

                There was an abundance of information to absorb and we were all made aware that there are numerous tutorials that students and teachers using Smart have access to.  These resources can be used to enhance any lesson possible.  We were shown that we can even use previously created lessons and Smart will adopt them.  This is extremely efficient.  The lessons become interactive and engaging for students.  Michael reinforced the notion of student-centred learning. Now, instead of having teachers standing in front of a Smart Board, students have the opportunity to visual their learning.

                The number of Smart Boards in classroom is increasing exponentially in this new teaching era.  Mr. Ward had explained to us that it took nearly eleven years to sell one million Smart boards; however, they expect to sell their two-millionth Smart in less than two years.  It will be a reality soon enough.  Classrooms will all have some type of interactive technology in their classrooms.  Smart will be one of those technologies that we encounter.  It will be a necessity to understand how to use this equipment; why not start early?  With this new technology, the more practice that we have the more comfortable we will be using it with our students.

                As teacher candidates we were all amazed at the educational opportunities that we could explore if we had one of these resources in our classroom.  The use of an interactive Smart board evokes Gardner’s Multiple Intelligences and exposes students to multiple levels of learning.  Get ready students - beause learning will never be the same!