Las Vegas Weekly

[Education Issue]

Chalk dust? What’s that? New technology makes the blackboard obsolete

A scene from Minority Report? Nope, it’s a SMART Board.

Photo: Justin M. Bowen

» Every classroom in the K-12 Andre Agassi College Preparatory Academy is equipped with a SMART Board Interactive Whiteboard. The boards are also being used in other Clark County schools.

» The SMART Whiteboard is a multitasking every-tool that functions as a traditional blackboard, an overhead projector, a video player and tablet computer.

» You can write on the SMART Whiteboard with your finger and erase it with your palm, or you can use a digital pen and eraser.

» Teachers can make printouts of material that appears on the SMART Whiteboard, and then distribute the printouts to students who missed class or have trouble taking notes, due to various learning disabilities.

» The SMART Whiteboard is equipped with an audio recorder, so teachers can upload the whole day’s lesson onto the web. Students can then access the lessons from home. No more excuses for forgetting who got what in the Louisiana Purchase.