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When it comes to teaching effectively, we've come a long way from chalk and blackboards. Teaching strategies are constantly evolving, and so are the tools used alongside them.
That's why having a smart board in your classroom can be so important. Not only are they a great tool for effectively engaging your students, but they can also help create better learning outcomes for your class as a whole.
1. Make the Most of Educational Apps
One of the first advantages that you notice in a smart board is the ability to effortlessly integrate apps, ones that you would normally only be able to use on a mobile device or laptop, directly on an interactive display.
This is particularly noticeable with EDLA-certified boards such as the new 04 series of BenQ Boards. Being EDLA-certified means a smart board is fully authorized by Google to have seamless integration with the Google ecosystem. This not only means that you'll be able to natively use apps such as Google Docs, Slides, and Sheets right on the board, but it also means you'll have access to the full Microsoft 365 suite and more through the Google Play Store.
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This includes the hundreds of educational apps in the Google Play Store's Teacher Approved program and the wide range of ever-evolving Google educational tools. You'll also get advanced security for your apps thanks to Google Play Protect for further peace of mind.
2. Treat Your Smart Board Like a Smarter Whiteboard
While having a smart board is great for natively accessing third-party apps on a large, interactive display, you can also use it as a digital whiteboard thanks to built-in whiteboarding software such as EZWrite.
This allows you to easily use your smart board like an interactive whiteboard, which you can write or draw on with a plethora of innovative tools. EZWrite, for instance, comes with tools for streamlining visual presentations and sharing lesson materials with students as well as collaborative functions to better engage students.
You can also record and save your whiteboard sessions so you don't lose your annotations, and features such as calculators, timers, and split-screen mode allow for more interactive activities to foster greater student engagement.
✕ Remove Ads 3. Easily Integrate Digital Materials Into Your Lessons
You can also use your smart board to take things to the next level with multimedia. A good electronic whiteboard allows you to seamlessly integrate digital content directly into your lessons to save time and further engage students.
For example, you can incorporate images, videos, and documents into your lessons directly by saving them to your EZWrite lessons or dragging and dropping them directly from Chrome.
It's possible to mix these mediums into a holistic multimedia experience with a feature such as multi-window mode, meaning that you can write your notes alongside visual aids to guide you or use your interactive display to annotate a document for more effective teaching.
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Similarly, many smart boards, such as the BenQ Board, allow you to simply share your lesson materials directly from another device. This can be done through apps such as the InstaShare app, which works on a range of different devices such as tablets, laptops, and smartphones.
This not only makes it easy for you to quickly access teaching content on your electronic whiteboard, but it's also a great way for you to allow your students more control over their presentations or when sharing ideas in class. Students can use the InstaShare app to effortlessly share their content to your smart board, and InstaShare even comes with a powerful set of moderation tools so you can ensure appropriate student screen sharing.
5. Get Students Writing on the Board ✕ Remove Ads
Another great way to make the most of your smart board is to use built-in tools to encourage student participation. Many interactive displays feature these built-in tools, such as digital pens, calculators, and stopwatches, which help you elevate what would otherwise be a routine lesson into something special.
For instance, scoreboard tools can be used to add an interactive element to a lesson to increase student engagement, while a team post tool allows multiple students to go head-to-head in some friendly competition.
6. Use the Full Power of the Internet
Of course, another great benefit of a smart board is the fact that it has direct internet access. With this, the possibilities are effectively endless by giving you access to all the images, videos, and educational content that you could want online, as well as new and emerging content such as news articles, research articles, and even AI tools.
✕ Remove Ads 7. Record Your Lessons
The benefits of a smart board can even extend beyond the classroom. Many interactive whiteboards include recording functions that can be used to capture screen content, including all your handwritten whiteboarding notes. Some smart boards can even record your voice as you teach, effectively allowing you to capture your entire lesson for later.
This is a great way to allow your students to learn from anywhere, as all you have to do is share this recording with your students for them to review. This not only allows them to catch elements of the lesson that they may have initially missed, but it also allows them to review the contents of your lessons at their own pace.
8. Make Remote Learning More Convenient Than Ever ✕ Remove Ads
Finally, smart boards are also built to facilitate better remote learning. Many electronic whiteboards include videoconferencing support, which completely revolutionizes remote or hybrid lessons.
For instance, the BenQ Board Smart Camera makes it easy to teach over Zoom and comes with features such as AI face and voice tracking. This convenience can be extended to a range of remote applications, such as parent-teacher calls, conferences, and hybrid lessons, making it an essential tool in any modern teaching environment.
BenQ Board Pro BenQ Board Pro See at BenQ
When it comes to smart boards for classrooms, one such interactive whiteboard that ticks all of these boxes and more is the BenQ Board Pro. This smart board is Google-certified and comes with everything you could want, such as whiteboarding software, built-in AI tools, annotation capabilities, and lesson recording functionality.
The BenQ Board Pro even lets you record high-quality video and audio by plugging in the DV01K BenQ Board AI camera. This comes with auto framing, active noise cancellation, face and voice tracking, and more, meaning that you can focus on teaching and let your smart board handle everything else for you.
✕ Remove Ads Take Your Lessons to the Next Level
Smart boards for classrooms have come a long way, and as you can see, there are a variety of ways that a smart board can enhance your classroom teaching. Whether you're looking for a more interactive way to engage your students through apps and built-in tools, or you want a better way to teach remotely, a smart board is an absolute must in any modern teaching environment.
