Now, putting all that aside, I really would like to know how I can use the SMARTboard system in my classroom. So many schools in Alberta have made this technology available to teachers, and with budgets going down I can't see many schools being able to move into other forms of technology after having invested all this money in this system. After a little research, I don't have a lot of answers to my questions. Interactive whiteboards work well for tactile learners, as they can often give wiggly students a chance to get up and move things around. At the same time this is not a technology that could be used solely for those learners as it looks big and fancy and would cause chaos in the classroom if every student would not get a turn. One of the things you can do within your SMART notebook is download flash videos and applications and use them offline. This could potentially be useful if you know your presentation will take place in a wifi-free area. An activity that has shown up several times within my research, is using Google Earth on your interactive whiteboard. It is possible to use the SMARTboard tools to 'fly' around the world and land in specific cities. Students are then able to navigate the cities to see what there is to see.
I am really interested to hear about other things that can be down with this technology. While I myself have found it frustrating to work with, I have heard people who have used it with great success. What do you think? How can you use interactive whiteboards effectively in the classroom? How can we access those higher levels of Bloom's taxonomy?
Here's an interesting Google Doc slideshow that outlines a few tips and tricks to using interactive whiteboards. Take a look if you dare. https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1IpRaaQvSLl5Q7pj91D2jSRn3sFSX4QOYOYAR8JzvCA0/present#slide=id.i0