University of Virginia research supports use of SMART Board interactive whiteboards
CALGARY, Alberta --- June 19, 2007 --- SMART Technologies Inc. announces that researchers at the University of Virginia have concluded that SMART Board™ interactive whiteboards, when used with appropriate pedagogy and digital resources, can lead to improved student learning outcomes and quality of life for teachers. The three-year study, now entering its third year, examines how to best prepare teachers to effectively incorporate technology into their daily teaching in a way that fosters greater student understanding. Lead researcher Joe Garofalo points to results demonstrating that the majority of students in a class taught with SMART Board interactive whiteboards outperformed students taught without one on a variety of test and quiz items.
The study focuses on student understanding and how student teachers use digital tools. But Garofalo and his team also observed an improvement in the quality of life of the teachers using SMART Board interactive whiteboards. Results are showing that use of SMART’s Notebook™ software allows student teachers to organize and plan comprehensive lessons more efficiently and lessens their anxiety over the implementation of classroom activities and lessons. The student teachers who participated in the study have also found that they are being actively recruited by schools because of their SMART Board interactive whiteboard skills. The student teachers are also insisting that the schools they consider for employment have SMART Board interactive whiteboards.
“Throughout the study we have found that student teachers believe that pupil observation, interpretation and overall learning were facilitated by SMART Board interactive whiteboards and Notebook whiteboarding software,” says Garofalo. “The teachers love using SMART Board interactive whiteboards, and many have said that they wouldn’t take a job at a school without them.”
“With more focus in the United States and Canada on standardized testing and student learning outcomes, educators are eager to adopt classroom technology that is proven to increase student performance,” says Nancy Knowlton, SMART’s CEO. “The University of Virginia research is consistent with numerous other studies that have shown SMART Board interactive whiteboards improve learning outcomes, and we are especially pleased to note this research study’s observations of the positive effect that they have on teachers’ quality of life.”
