The start of a new semester comes with an exciting new addition in the School of Education: A SMART Board lab has officially been added to Mooney 206.
This lab will enhance the learning experience for Elon students studying to be educators. According to the SMART website, “teachers, students and business people say that SMART has helped them discover new ideas, new way of learning, and a new way of collaborating. ”
The lab, built during Winter Term, is in full use as of Feb. 3, and it is the only one of its kind at Elon. SMART Boards have been used on campus for the last eight years, but this is the first lab to make an appearance. Classes will take place in this lab for the rest of the semester, and it will continue to be used for future academic years. There are three 87” 800 Series. SMART Boards in the new lab. The goal is to promote interactive learning.
“The lab was developed to put three SMART Boards in one location in order for them to collaborate,” said Joseph Rich, the AV systems integrator at Elon. “This means that different groups can make edits to one document on separate SMART Boards and it will appear on all three screens. These groups can also edit the document independently, and then share the information with the other boards later.”
Two students can write on the SMART Boards at the same time without their data crossing paths. Six students can all make additions to a single document at the same time.
Rich is meeting with the students who take classes in the lab next week in order to teach them all the capabilities of the SMART Boards. The interactive and collaborative learning the SMART Boards provide is the biggest benefit that the students will reap from this new lab.
Freshman Griffin Blumb is excited about the new lab on Elon’s campus.
“I loved the use of SMART Boards in high school,” Blumb said. “They provided a different element to the learning experience that I found beneficial. They have the ability to reach every type of learner because of the interactive element.”
Each of the 800 Series SMART Boards costs $4,999, so the lab total is $14,997. With installation, the cost of the SMART Board lab is $17,547.
Because Mooney 206 is a small classroom, it presents a problem.
“The space is an issue with the boards and lots of students and desks in the room as well,” Rich said.
Students will have to adapt to the close proximity during class. Distractions from the “new toy” also present an issue for students who are trying to concentrate on class material in the lab.
Some students are questioning whether this new lab is worth the cost.
Elon is at a crossroads with the SMART Board lab now that it is up and running.
“The School of Education wants to be the sole owners of this lab, but other departments at the university are hoping to get involved,” Rich said.
Elon is interested to find out the impact that the addition of this lab will have on current and future students regardless if they belong to the School of Education or not.
“We can only go up from here,” Rich said.
Elon is not the only upper-level institution to install SMART Boards in their classrooms. Clemson University also has SMART Boards on campus to facilitate teaching and learning on campus. The Clemson Computing and Information Technology department makes sure the SMART Boards are running properly and enhancing Clemson’s students learning on campus. Elon University’s SMART lab differs from Clemson, and it is unique because of the fact that multiple SMART Boards occupy one room.