Mark McDonough's List: SMART Notebook Resources

• study that involved 85 teachers and 170 classrooms, the teachers used interactive whiteboards to teach a set of lessons, which they then taught to a different group of students without using the technology
• study that involved 85 teachers and 170 classrooms, the teachers used interactive whiteboards to teach a set of lessons, which they then taught to a different group of students without using the technology
• The study results indicated that, in general, using interactive whiteboards was associated with a 16 percentile point gain in student achievement. This means that we can expect a student at the 50th percentile in a classroom without the technology to increase to the 66th percentile in a classroom using whiteboards.
• three features inherent in interactive whiteboards have a statistically significant relationship with student achievement.
• The first is the learner-response device
• Using voting devices was associated with a 26 percentile point gain in student achievement.
• second feature is the use of graphics and other visuals to represent information. These include downloaded pictures and video clips from the Internet, sites such as Google Earth, and graphs and charts. Use of these aids was also associated with a 26 percentile point gain in student achievement.
• third feature is the interactive whiteboard reinforcer—applications that teachers can use to signal that an answer is correct or to present information in an unusual context.
• These practices were associated with a 31 percentile point gain in student achievement.
• in 23 percent of the cases, teachers had better results without the interactive whiteboards.
• Using the voting devices but doing little with the findings.
• Not organizing or pacing the content well.
• Using too many visuals.
• Paying too much attention to reinforcing features.
• Teachers should think through how they intend to organize information. They should group information into small, meaningful segments before they start developing the digital flipcharts.
• visuals should clearly focus on the important information. Also, no single flipchart should contain too many visuals or too much written information.
• After asking a question and getting student responses using voting devices, the teacher should typically discuss the correct answer along with the incorrect answers, making sure to elicit opinions from as many students as possible.
• When using reinforcing features like virtual applause, teachers should make sure that students focus on why an answer is correct or incorrect.
• Interactive whiteboards have great potential as a tool to enhance pedagogical practices in the classroom and ultimately improve student achievement. However, simply assuming that using this or any other technological tool can automatically enhance student achievement would be a mistake. As is the case with all powerful tools, teachers must use interactive whiteboards thoughtfully, in accordance with what we know about good classroom practice.

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