It's Not about the Hardware

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By Christopher Harris -- School Library Journal, 08/01/2007

This column is not about SMART Boards. It’s about smart librarians, namely Maryalice Kilbourne, a K–12 media specialist from Avoca Central Schools, a single-building district in a small town in western NY. When I started my library practicum there earlier this year, the library had just acquired a new digital whiteboard from SMART Technologies, and Kilbourne was exploring ways to use the new equipment with her students. As with other technology, the issue at hand was not so much how to use the whiteboard itself, but how the tool could potentially enhance library instruction.

Most digital whiteboard demos feature a user writing a word on the display, then “grabbing” the text and rotating it wildly. I have yet to see an instructional application of this athletic capability, particularly in the library. Unlike other subject areas, the library curriculum involves a core skill set that allows us to interact more effectively with information. As Kilbourne explains in practical terms: “I need to teach the sixth-grade class how to work with Dewey shelf order.”

In the past, Kilbourne used worksheets, cardstock cutouts of books, and an overhead projector to accomplish this goal. Each of these methods had limitations, from low group participation to slow setup in between book sets. But with a new digital whiteboard on her wall, she had some new ideas. As Kilbourne told the district’s tech coordinator, she wanted to have a series of books that students would then drag around and place into proper Dewey order. With the whiteboard, this lesson enabled both hands-on participation and teaching to a group, while also eliminating long setup times—most important for a class of sixth graders.

Working from this idea, we used SMART Technologies’ SMARTNotebook to create the tool. The device works very much like standard presentation software in that you get multiple, slidelike pages on which you can write, draw, or create templates. One of the key features that makes this lesson work is that pre-configured elements on a page—in this case, book spines with call numbers—can be “locked.” For example, the bookshelf displayed behind the spines was locked to prevent any movement or editing by a user, while the books themselves were locked only against editing, but students could move them freely. So a child at the whiteboard could drag books from the “cart” and place them in correct order on the “shelf” below.

Since the Notebook accommodates multiple pre-built pages, an instructor could ready the program for the next student by simply clicking a button to advance to the next set of book spines. I know, there isn’t anything really revolutionary being discussed here. As with so much of Library 2.0, the magic isn’t the new tools themselves, but how they enable us to accomplish our goals—with a twist. The twist being, in this case, the seductive power of digital whiteboards—students just love ’em. While this fascination might not last forever, the technology is still new enough to make learning a lot of fun. When Kilbourne taught this lesson, the entire classroom was engaged, not just those standing at the whiteboard.

I’ve experienced the same success with an even tougher audience: high school seniors. Here’s the scene: I’m standing before a 12th-grade English class. It’s the last period of the day, and I’m teaching citations. But, with a little help from my whiteboard, the lesson was a success, as I watched students drag and drop the elements of a citation into proper order. The proof’s not in the hardware itself, but how learning can result from its thoughtful application.