Using Technology in My Environment

Today I discovered a discussion group at the SMART site. The SMART Exchange is an online community that helps educators around the world share ideas, expertise, and enthusiasm about creating classroom presentations. The registration process is simple. I had to provide a user name, my email address and a password. I was instantly admitted to the forum site.

The forum looks like most discussion groups. There are categories for technical support, training, resources, SMART hardware and SMART software. User groups are formed by teacher and languages (I need to think in a language other than English, but that I degress! LOL).

This is  a discussion group that I will add to my favorites to review from time to time. It is also a place that I can post questions and expect to receive answers from teachers just like me.

Here is the link http//exchange.smarttech.com. Join me!

Today I saw a example of using sticky notes. I don’t recall seeing sticky notes in a SMART presentation before. The template was posted at http://www1.center.k12.mo.us/EDTECH/SB/templates.htm#high by Colleen McLain. Scroll to the bottom of the page to Teacher Resources. This is a great tool that I will use often! Colleen’s directions to the sticky note – Notebook software, Gallery, Educators Essentials, Interactive and Multimedia, Scroll to sticky notes. Too simple!

Is SmartBoard really a verb? Let’s pretend it is for this conversation.

The National Education Association (NEA) and the American Federation of Teachers (AFT), released a study on June 10 called Access, Adequacy, and Equity in Education Technology which examines the state of educational technology resources and support in public schools across the country, as reported by classroom teachers and instructional assistants. Although they often have access to computers and the internet in their classrooms, many teachers don’t feel adequately prepared to use technology to enhance their lessons. Teachers cannot just inject technology into their lessons, but have to plan how this technology will be used.

I currently have a SMART Board in my classroom. I teach technology through the business education cluster of courses. I need to be able to use the SMART Board features effortlessly while making sure I lead the students in mastering the course standards. What is it about SMART Boarding that gets me flustered? There are so many different features and I think I tried to learn and incorporate them all at once instead of mastering a few at a time!  Oh I use the multimedia timer but ask me how to use the spotlight or pull a shade from the left of the page…duh?  I had an InterWrite Pad and a red gooseneck document camera by Elmo. Talking about software conflicts! Software from three different companies trying to interact and twenty-four students at computers did not make me very happy!

My training goal for this summer is to become proficient and efficient in using the SMART Board and Notebook 10 software. Plus I recently became to owner of a SMART document camera and a SMART Airliner! I have scheduled district workshops and I have found great You Tube how-to-videos.   Watch the 60SecTech as he demonstrates the document camera at the SMART Board http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tdu9Uut332k.

I have found my learning curve to be shorter when I can share with others. I will post interesting things I learn here. But first I need your help…How do you SMART Board?

I teach business education courses to include desktop publishing, web page design, integrated business applications, digital input technology and administrative support technology. One of my responsibilities is to introduce my students to technology that they will find in today’s workplace. We have multiple printers, all-in-one printer, copier, fax machines, tablet pcs, SMART Board and SMART Periphials, handheld devices, speech recognition software, Adobe Creative Suite and Microsoft Office 2007. Quite a wealth of resources all requiring training.

I will use this blog to create collaborative dialog among educators as we share ideas. I have found that one tip synthsized with the information I already possess makes the difference in my performance. I hope you will check back often and we can bounce ideas off each other.