Top 5 Problems In The Classroom and How Interactive Smartboard Can Solve Them
Teacher is a noble but challenging profession. While the ultimate goal of a teacher is to contribute to students’ academic development, being a teacher is all about multitasking. From teaching and guiding students to preparing teaching plans and attending school meetings, a teacher has a busy life.
Classroom challenges and problems can lead to burnout if they are not overcome. In addition to supports from parents and schools, the teacher also needs the right tool that can help to solve classroom problems.
Interactive smartboard is a digital display that is widely used in classroom teaching. It helps to close the technical gap in the education system by providing an enjoyable digital learning experience.
In this article, we will discuss the top 5 classroom problems and how interactive smartboard can help to solve them.
1. Lack of Interest
There are many reasons why students can be demotivated or not showing any interest in their studies. When students are demotivated, they will feel bored, and their attention may start to shift. This is a very common classroom problem especially when teachers are using chalkboards or whiteboards in the classroom.
One of the main reasons that students are not interested in the classroom is because they see no value in the classroom content. A simple chalkboard or whiteboard is good enough for teachers to present ideas and examples. However, a chalkboard can only provide static content such as texts and hand-drawn diagrams. There are no movements and dynamic elements in the content.
Using an interactive smartboard can help teachers to pique their students’ interest. Today, students are being exposed to digital media at younger ages. Teachers should deliver their lesson materials in digital formats. Unlike traditional tools such as chalkboards and whiteboards, interactive smartboards support a wide range of digital formats such as images, graphics, videos, and animations.
Using digital media can improve students’ motivation to read the content and learn.
2. Lack of Concentration
Most students and children nowadays are facing concentration problems. There can be many reasons why students cannot focus. Many teachers always assume that lack of motivation or interest is the main reason. It is not true. In most cases, the reason can be very simple. Students want to focus but they just cannot focus. It is mainly due to other distractions in the classroom. There could be noises from a nearby construction project. There could be glare issues if teachers are using whiteboards. If teachers are using projector screens, students might have trouble reading the screens due to the low screen brightness.
While teachers cannot control what is coming from outside of the classroom, schools and teachers should at least put effort into eliminating distractions caused by teaching tools in the classroom.
Besides, students are becoming visual learners in the digital era. They have very short attention spans. While advertisers are constantly competing to grab consumers’ attention, shouldn’t teachers do the same when it comes to grabbing students’ attention?
Using an interactive smartboard in the classroom can help to improve student concentration by eliminating distractions and providing engaging content. Unlike projector screens and whiteboards that can have issues with their screen visibility, interactive smartboards can provide students with clear and bright viewing experiences. The high-resolution display has a high screen brightness level, and the level can be adjusted depending on the room’s lighting condition.
In addition, interactive smartboard is also an attention grabber. Thanks to the vibrant and dynamic screen, it is hard for students to ignore it. Besides, whether it is a large or a small classroom, there is always a smartboard with the most suitable screen size that can draw any student in.
3. Passive Students
Passive students learn without interacting with the teaching materials and not sharing insights with their classmates. They are merely accepting whatever that are being taught in the classroom.
Passive learning is a big no-no in today’s world. Students can struggle in their careers later if they are working passively. For years, teachers have been trying very hard to encourage active participation in the classrooms. To transform passive learning into active learning, teachers can change their teaching styles with the aid of an interactive smartboard.
Using an interactive smartboard in the classroom provides an interactive learning experience. Since both teachers and students can interact with the content directly on the screen, it encourages active participation. Teachers can get students to share their ideas by asking them to write or draw directly on the screen.
Instead of delivering passive content, teachers can focus more on hands-on activities. Teachers can run some interactive applications and games on the smartboards. Gamified lessons can greatly increase students’ involvement.
4. Limited Teaching Resources
In the old days, teaching resources were limited to handprints, texts and hand-drawn diagrams on the chalkboards. Preparing these resources is time-consuming. Besides, the resources are not flexible enough as teachers can only show what they brought to the classrooms. When students have questions, teachers cannot quickly show the relevant resources in the classrooms.
Interactive smartboard provides wide access to various digital and online resources. First, teachers can always prepare teaching resources beforehand using their computers. Then, teachers can save the resources in digital file formats such as PDF, PowerPoint, and Words, and display them using the smartboards in the classroom.
Second, teachers can always look for any online resources during the class. When students ask questions about geography, teachers can quickly access Google Map and show it to students. When students ask chemistry questions, teachers can quickly display a periodic table by using the web browser. Besides, teachers can also play any relevant videos online that can help students to understand more.
5. Lack of Creativity
Traditional learning methods are killing creativity. Texts, books and papers are not encouraging creativity. Students are forced to complete simple exercises such as fill in the blank and multiple-choice questions. Teachers are forced to teach passively due to inflexible teaching equipment and materials.
The introduction of interactive smartboard has brought several creative approaches to the classroom. In fact, since an interactive smartboard is technically a computer, the possibilities are endless. Teachers can try with whatever teaching methods they can think of.
Beside of displaying content in common digital formats such as images, animations and videos, teachers can use interactive applications such as puzzles, quizzes, and games. Get your students to learn in a fun way. Ask them to draw, play and write on the screen.
In addition, teachers can also conduct video conferences by connecting with tutors or experts online. Students can now join courses and workshops provided by other experts without leaving the classroom.
Virtual tour is possible too. Schools and teachers can always cooperate with the relevant parties to organize virtual field trips. Teachers can run the apps or websites directly on the smartboard. Students can be exposed to real-world learning experiences anytime without leaving the classroom.
Conclusion
Teachers should always put more effort into delivering effective learning experiences. They should not be distracted by some avoidable classroom problems. Using the right tool in the classroom can help teachers to improve productivity and thus improve students’ engagement.