SMART BOARD FOR SMART TEACHER

Salam...

Today’s lecture was quite different since we have been given a short course on smart board application in the classroom. This was like a golden opportunity for me since the use of smart board in Malaysia education context was not very well developed yet. In addition, this was not the first time we were exposed to this training, and this is like the refreshment of what I have been attended one year ago. In this short course, we have been exposed to the new version of notebook smart board software (version 10, if I’m not mistaken) which contains many new and improved features, for instance animation tools which is very interesting to be implemented in classroom context. Besides that, our facilitator for today’s training; Fenny was very good, funny and friendly, hence creating a very interactive and comfortable learning environment. Although the early session was quite ‘uninteractive’ since many of us slept quite late, and some didn’t sleep at all in completing the assignment yesterday (including me), the presentation part was very alive since a lot of creativity has been displayed in order to create a good, simple activity to be taught in the classroom. I was very amazed with one of the presentation, in which the presenter is trying to use the new feature in this smart board in order to create a meaningful, fun learning environment. (using spotlight to spot the transportation base on the pictures).

Throughout this training, I have gained a lot of input, especially in the basic function of using smart board. Learning can be made more interactive using smart board, since the participation of students in the activities presented by teacher can be observed clearly. Instead of paper pencil exercise, teacher may ask students to directly come in front and use the attractive, user friendly features in the smart board to solve the problem stated. This will give a very good impact in teaching and learning, since the participation of students are widened, and lessen the domination of teacher in the classroom. Besides that, many of interactive activities can be produced using smart board, for instance quiz and drawing.

Lastly, today’s training session was like an eye-opener for me, since I now realised that if the smart board is ‘well manipulated’ in the classroom, the teaching and learning process can be made more effective for both teacher and students. I cannot wait to explore this technology and the upcoming assignment will be the good place where the first step begins.