What is a Smart Board? 

If we briefly summarize the smart  board technology, we can describe it as the conversion of large whiteboards used in our schools into an interactive screen. 

The Place and Importance of the Smart Board in Education

Today's technology has brought innovations to the education sector as well as in every field. Technological products, which are the easiest way to reach information, have now started to find a place among educational tools and equipment in our schools. In the education sector, where elements such as overhead projector, video, television and radio were used for a period, computers, projectors and smart boards have indisputably replaced these materials. Moreover, Using This Technology Is Very Easy. 

What are the Pros of Smart Boards Compared to Classic Boards  ? 

Blackboard  has been an indispensable educational tool in all our schools for a long time. Some schools later started using whiteboards that can also be written with felt-tip pens. The most obvious differences between them are that the whiteboard is easy to clean, does not contain chalk dust and does not smell. With the rapid development of technology, smart boards have started to be used alongside these boards. So, what does this new teaching technology give us  when compared to traditional  boards? 

Save time  

 All course contents created on the smart  board can be saved and reflected on the board in seconds at any time. This process not only saves time for the teacher, but also prevents the attention of the class from being distracted from the lesson. The preparations made before the lesson on the other boards had to be done in the classroom, but the teacher can easily make the preparations for the smart board on any computer . In addition,  when the need to return to a topic covered in previous lessons arises, the smart board can respond to this request in a very short time. The board images created at the end of the lesson can either be printed in writing and distributed to the class, optionally or in  pdf format . It can be sent to students' e-mail addresses as a file. Another time-saving issue is that the smart board is constantly connected to the internet, providing an opportunity to instantly seek answers to any questions asked by the students during the lesson. For this, the teacher has to find and save certain training sites in advance.  

Unlimited Workspace Recording Capacity 

Clever One of the biggest advantages of the board compared to other boards is that the working area is unlimited. When the area of ​​the classic board is full, the teacher has to delete the board content and open a new area. Since the space of the smart board is unlimited, no content has to be deleted. A new board page can be added in seconds and work can be resumed. Smart boards store board images in their large-capacity memory. These memories can be expanded with the help of external HDD or USB sticks. In addition, it is possible to record the course process for students who do not attend the course. With the help of the recording feature, which is one of the smart board features, all the changes made on the board and the sounds heard during the lesson are recorded and saved as a video file. 

Effective Visuality 

Wood The visuality of the image is of great importance for the student. Accordingly, the format, color and size of all texts or graphics on the smart board can be changed to best appeal to the eye. Especially the fact that the information on the board can be moved in all directions by holding and pulling provides great convenience in terms of organizing the collected information. In addition, since the location, color and size of a text written on other boards cannot be changed by remaining constant, it is very advantageous that these features of the text written on the smart board can be changed very quickly, while it is necessary to decide on the location, color and size before the information is written. Another plus of these new boards is their ability to recognize handwriting and convert it to book writing. The handwriting of the teacher or the student writing on the board may not be easily read by the students sitting in the back row. Thanks to the handwriting recognition function of the smart board, this problem is eliminated. 

Combining   Various Media Types in One  Tool

Various media tools are needed in the traditional  classroom environment. For example, a tape recorder is needed to listen to the sound of a dialogue between two people. A separate device is required to show a movie. Each device has a separate function, such as projecting the document on the wall with the help of an overhead projector. The smart board allows us to both display and control all these media types on itself without the need for another device. Moreover, preparing media content and presenting it in the course is much more advantageous in terms of time compared to traditional media tools. In addition, since the smart board program has its own media player, there is no need for another program. Thus, the desired media content can be shared with the class without disrupting the course flow.  

Easy to Use by Students 

Everything presented digitally can be easily assimilated and used by students . This allows them to pass the transition process from the classic board to the smart board very easily. According to Prensky  (2001),  there are two types of people with a technological infrastructure, called digital natives  and digital  immigrants  ( digital immigrants ) . This distinction is made between those born before and after 1980. The most obvious difference between them is that they have difficulties in adapting to the digital world or that they adapt very easily. Today's students are all  digital natives   As they can easily use tablets or smart phones, they have no difficulty in using the smart board. Since smart boards are digital-based, they are not seen as something new by students, and they can adapt to this new technology immediately.  

Coordinated Operation with Smart Class System  

Smart classroom systems aiming to manage all extracurricular learning activities are called LMS (Learning Management System) all over  the  world . Each lesson taught on the smart board can be recorded and all materials related to the lesson can be archived and stored on such platforms. It is also possible to give and control homework through these smart classroom platforms. It also includes many functions such as measurement and evaluation function such as quizzes or tests, or establishing one-to-one contact with students or managing group work outside of class.