In the beginning, there were chalk boards. They were efficient and easy to write on, but accidental scratching caused acute "skin crawling" reactions in students and there was much sneezing when it came time to dust the erasers. Next, there was the white board, a glossy board you could use a marker on. Unfortunately, this left teachers with inky fingertips and the frustration of looking for that one marker that still had enough ink to write a full sentence without switching colors.

Overhead projectors seemed like a good option, but they too had their flaws. Now, we are in the age of technology, and for Greenfield Community College that means SMART Boards. SMART Boards, made by SMART Technologies, are pressure sensitive white boards that interact with a computer. You never actually "write" on them, but instead use your finger or other tools to press the board, and the computer projects an image of the writing onto it, similar to what an overhead projector does. There are now 16 "SMART classrooms" on campus, two of them using a similar technology called a "Sympodium."

Doug Wilkins is an assistant professor of computer information systems. He was the first on campus to request the technology and trained others to use it. "It gets me from behind the computer and in front of the classroom," Wilkins said. The software for the devices allows teachers to prepare a PowerPoint presentation or other note pages beforehand, but unlike traditional computer projectors, you can add notes or questions directly onto the screen as they teach. At the end of class, you can save all the annotated note pages and then upload them onto the distance learning software or onto thumb drives so student can download notes or view the lecture again.

"It's really helpful for students who have to miss class or have special needs and can't take notes for a variety of reasons," Wilkins said. The software comes with a variety of features tailored to different kinds of courses. Graphs and charts can be pulled up for math class, or with a tap of the board, you can convert what you just wrote with your finger into text for English class. Highlight the text again with your fingers and you can move the text around to a different part of the screen or edit it.

Linda Cavanaugh is a professor in the math department. She requested one of the Sympodiums because she didn't want her classroom to be tied to a board. SMART Boards have to be installed into a classroom to work; the Sympodium works more like a traditional overheard projector, but it has SMART software technology. "What's really nice is I can prepare all my lectures on SMART Notebook before coming in and can use graphics and visuals, but I can add to them during class," Cavanaugh said. "It hasn't changed my teaching as much as given students an opportunity to have notes available for them on Blackboard (the online learning program) after class." She said students like having notes available like this. She even has one student that leaves a note on her door after each class reminding her to post the notes online. "It reduces the anxiety that they have to pay attention, take notes and understand at the same time," Cavanaugh said. "For students with learning disabilities, it's absolutely necessary." And it's not just notes that can be put online.

Wilkins records his lectures while demonstrating processes and commands in the software he is training his students to use, so later a student can re-watch the steps on the screen at the same time as listening to his description of the process.

Ellen Carey, library co-coordinator, plans to use this function too. She teaches information literacy sessions aimed at developing students' research skills. She said the plan is to create tutorials, which will be available on the Library website or through Blackboard, so that students can learn how to use specific research tools like the library's online catalog before the information literacy session to get them up to speed with the basics. "It enables us to do things that will allow us to reach students with different learning styles," Carey said. "I think it gives us a lot more flexibility."

Wilkins said that both PowerPoint and the Smart Notebook software that comes with the SMART Boards have advantages and a few (very few) disadvantages. It's up to the teacher to determine which they prefer, but for him the advantages certainly outweigh the disadvantages. These days, teaching is becoming more integrally tied to technology and SMART Boards are taking the teachers at GCC a huge step further into that world.