In today’s classroom landscape, educational technology has moved from optional to essential. Among the most powerful tools in this shift are digital boards—large interactive displays often known as smart boards. These devices are transforming how teachers deliver lessons and how students engage with content. At their core, a digital board is a large interactive display connected to a computer or integrated system, enabling touch‐annotating, dragging content, embedding media, and saving the results of class work.
Why Smart Boards Matter in Teaching
Traditional chalkboards or whiteboards are passive surfaces: the teacher writes; students watch. Smart boards shift that model toward interaction and collaboration. With a board like the Benchmark GALAXY 14 Interactive Flat Panel or the Samsung Digital Board for Teaching & Presentations, students can come up to the display and work directly—annotating diagrams, moving elements, engaging in collaborative tasks. According to multiple sources, interactive whiteboards (IWBs) enhance both engagement and interaction. They allow multi‐modal learning: combining visual, auditory, and tactile elements in one lesson.
Effective Use in the Classroom
Only installing a smart board is not enough; the power lies in how it’s used. Teachers need to design lessons that take advantage of the board’s capabilities—not simply use it as a fancy whiteboard. As one professional development course states, teachers must “master the use of SMART technology” to truly transform their classroom. When used well, the board becomes a hub of class interaction: students and teacher co‐creating content, saving and revisiting it, using multimedia resources embedded in the board’s software, and connecting to other devices for a blended learning environment. For example, a teacher could launch a video clip, pause it, annotate over it in real time, invite students to add their observations, then save the annotated video for later review.
Practical Considerations and Challenges
While promising, the adoption of smart boards comes with practical issues. Cost is one. High‐quality interactive flat panels such as the ones listed above carry significant price tags, and schools must budget not just for hardware but mounting, wiring, training, and ongoing support. Maintenance and spare parts availability, especially in non‐metropolitan settings, are crucial. Additionally, teacher training is essential: many boards are under-utilised because staff lack familiarity or confidence with the interactive tools. Finally, classroom size and visibility matter: for large classrooms you may need boards in the 75″–86″ range so that students at the back can see clearly; also the connectivity (HDMI, USB, wireless mirroring) and software ecosystem must be chosen carefully.
Benefits Beyond the Traditional
The move to digital boards offers more than just what the old board could do. Teachers can record lessons, capture screen annotations, share them afterwards (helpful for students who were absent or need review). The ability to integrate online content, apps, real-time polling, and interactive games means the classroom becomes more student-centred and dynamic. Furthermore, many students today live in a digital world; using such tools aligns with their experience and can increase motivation and engagement.
