Today in class we had the opportunity to explore smartboard technology. Immediately upon starting to try and use the smartboard, one of the major complications of technology became apparent: if there is a problem with the technology, and the user has no idea how to fix it, then the technology is useless. In particular, today we tried to use the smartboard and a driver was not correctly installed. This meant we were unable to configure the board properly, which meant that the cursor wasn't responding accurately. It also meant that some features, such as the ability to write with the colored pens, were not working.
I began to think about what would have happened if I had had a lesson planned, and if I was expecting that students would be able to respond on the smartboard using the pens. Obviously I would have had to fix the problem quickly or change my lesson. For me this brought home a valuable lesson: only use technology that you understand well enough to fix, or have a back up plan in place that can be implemented without the technology.
The animation programs were great and a heck of a lot of fun! It was definitely frustrating for other students in the class I noticed, but only when they didn't understand exactly what they were doing. With a little more knowledge about the technology, the students began to relax and have a lot of fun!
I can't wait for next class!
-P
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