AN EVALUATION STUDY ON SMART BOARD IMPLEMENTATION · PDF fileAN EVALUATION STUDY ON SMART...

367 1st International Malaysian Educational Technology Convention

AN EVALUATION STUDY ON SMART BOARD IMPLEMENTATION IN A CLASSROOM

Jaya Athinarayanan, Alice Joshua School of Computer Technology,

Sunway University College, 46150, Selangor, Malaysia

[email protected], [email protected]

Co-Researchers: Leela Devi A/P Balakrishnan, Inthumathi A/P Marappan, Shanthilatha A/P Krishnasamy

Thiagaranee A/P Kalliperumalu [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected]

ABSTRACT

Smart Board is getting increasingly popular as an effective tool for conducive teaching and learning. This paper reports a study on a group of 20 students from a suburb school in Kuala Lumpur, and evaluates the effectiveness of Smart Board in creating a motivated learning environment. A lesson plan based on Dick and Carey model was designed using the Smart Board software for an English lesson to examine the knowledge of the students on their vocabulary. Further to this, Gagne’s information processing model was used as catalyst to plan the learning activities for the lesson. In addition to that, the study also examines whether the tool helps students to have better understanding on the lesson. Pre-test and post-test were used as a method of measurement. Besides that, a set of questionnaire were given to the teachers and students to evaluate the impact of the tool. This study also revealed that active participation from students allows smooth delivery of the lesson; hence encourage teachers to create an interactive teaching environment. Whereas students are motivated when they were encouraged to participate in the lesson rather than it being teacher centered learning. INTRODUCTION This paper is prepared based on an evaluation study conducted on the effect of Smart Board in increasing the motivation of students in the classroom activities. Smart Board (SB) also known as Interactive Whiteboard (IW) is not widely used in Malaysian classrooms. This technology is still in its infancy stage in Malaysia. But various studies have done on the effectiveness of SB in United States, Australia, Japan and the United Kingdom. These studies have proven SB as a potential tool for educators to carry out collaborative teaching, improving student learning outcomes and streamlining lesson planning (SMART Technology, 2006). Teaching in the digital information age requires a paradigm shift. The role of teacher has transformed into a guide or multi-resource person who facilitates students on independent learning. The challenging tasks of many educators are to keep students motivated to learn. According to SMART Technologies Inc. researchers (2006), keeping students motivated at all time is difficult especially with the emergence of all the various technologies such as cell phones, MP3 players and some other entertainment devices. SB helps in overcoming this by giving the space to fill up the gap between traditional classroom teaching and interaction technology world. It also helps keeping students motivated and prepares them to be competent users of technology. In a study conducted by Miller et al., (2004) on the use of SB in classroom also highlighted how it supports the different types of learners:

“We enjoy both teaching and learning more. You can give clearer examples which are more interesting because of access to color and clip art. It is more aesthetically pleasing and is good for visual and kinesthetic learners, and it is useful in that you jumble up sentences and get them involved in reconstruction.” (p.16)


Tate’s (2002) study expounded that, student’s retention rate increased to 97.1% with the use of SB. As higher retention means students remember the course content longer. This shows that SB plays an effective role in improving students’ grades. However, Tate (2002) also noted that various teaching material with new teaching approaches should be shared to maximize and fully utilize the opportunities offered by this dynamic, flexible tool. This is important as to enlighten classroom teaching and to make teaching livelier with active participation mainly by students. AIM OF THE RESEARCH The aim of the research is to determine whether the use of SB motivated student’s participation in the class activities. This also helps in identifying on how SB changed the way teachers teach and learners learn. This research is carried out in a moderately large urban school located in the suburbs of the Federal Territory of Kuala Lumpur. Secondary school students from Form 1 are selected for the study. The class composed of 40 students of whom half were girls and the rest are boys. Due to the larger number of students and with involving all students equally in the study is difficult, 20 students were selected using a random sampling technique. English lesson was selected for this study as the teacher who is also a co-researcher; found that the students are very weak in English. This is due to the fact that a good majority of the students in the class are from vernacular schools. This research aimed at using SB to improve the communication skills of the learners by enriching their word power. METHODOLOGY Research strategy available was experimental, survey and evaluation study. Experimental research was not a good option in this case as the focus of the research was SB’s effectiveness. On the other hand the experimental research is conducted when one wants to measure the effect of one or more variables upon other controlled variables. Survey is very suitable when the population is large. This involves the collection of standardized information from a known population. Questionnaire or structured interviews are used to gather information. The survey might produce information regarding the effect of SB in the class. But in this study, the number of samples involved considered negligible for a survey research. Upon further discussion an evaluation study considered to be more appropriate. According to Trochim (2006):

“Evaluation is the systematic acquisition and assessment of information to provide useful feedback about some object”.

The definition clearly state the checking of the information gathers to provide useful feedback on some object. Were the object could be a technology, person, need, activity etc. There are two types of evaluation; formative and summative. “Formative evaluations strengthen or improve the object being evaluated and Summative evaluations, in contrast, examine the effects or outcomes of some object” (Trochim, 2006). This study will be well suited under summative evaluation.

Selection And Design Of Lesson This study started with lesson design as the first step. In many occasions, teachers think of technology as the ultimate solution provider. It is important to note that, technology is only a tool. The use of this tool to effectively design the topic depends on the teacher. SB learning encourages social learning theory. Social learning theorist stresses on three concepts: constructivism, whole-class teaching, and active learning. The integration of all three through the use of technology and maintaining a dynamic interaction with the students is a challenging job for teachers. To enable dynamic interaction, teachers need to design the topic with students in mind and also incorporate continued evaluation. Taking this into consideration, a suitable Interaction Design (ID) model was selected. Dick & Carry model (Dick & Carey, 1996)


deemed to be more appropriate as it follows a structured approach with inherent evaluation. The rational for using Dick and Carey model in the design of the lesson for SB evaluation session is that, it provides a good framework to design, develop, implement and evaluate the teaching and learning process. Evaluation at each phase ensures overall system effectiveness. This approach takes into consideration, not only the delivery system, the informational material, the strategies and techniques used, but the learner and the behavioral goals objectives. The learner's needs, characteristics, learning styles, level of performance, and the entry level behavior are identified and addressed in the design and development phase to ensure that the lesson taught using SB is tailored to meet the individual needs of the students. Dick and Carey’s model with ADDIE principle, i.e. Analysis, Design, Development, Implementation, and Evaluation in the design of lessons proved to be very effective. In ADDIE, the completion of one step is logically fed into the one immediately after it.

Figure 1: Extracted from Dick & Carey, 1996 Dick & Carey also adopted Gagné’s hierarchical approach to analyzing goals. The hierarchical analysis technique suggested by Gagné consists of asking questions that will allow the instructor to analyse the students knowledge and design instruction to facilitate learning. (Dick & Carey, 1996) Based on the above two models, a lesson was created. The topic for the lesson was “The Four Seasons of the Earth”. Dick and Carey model created the framework for the lesson design and critical evaluation of the steps undertaken.

Table 1: Lesson modeling based on Dick and Carey (1996) model

STEPS IMPLEMENTATION STEPS1. Instructional Goal Determining the goal of teaching and learning

Introduce new words and meaning To apply the words appropriately to the

content

2. Conduct need analysis (Identification of learner needs to gap incompatibilities between the learners and the goals)

Identify the general characteristics of our target population through interviews and records.

Previous year examination results Findings confirmed lower achievement among


students especially in the usage of words in right context

Entry behavior is determined through Pre-test administered to gauge the student’s prior knowledge and standard.

3. Write performance objective(a performance objective is a detailed description of what students will be able to do when they complete a unit of instruction)

Identify words related to four seasons of the earth

Categorize the suitable characteristics according to four seasons

Explain the meaning of words given Select appropriate words for the phrases

given 4. Develop criterion- reference test (Criterion-referenced assessments are composed of items or performance tasks that directly measure skills described in one or more behavioral objectives)

Match the meaning of words identified in poem.

Choose the suitable clothing used in two different seasons and it’s names.

Categorize the suitable activities in two different seasons.

Identify the correct words to complete a crossword puzzle.

Fill in the blanks with appropriate words related to events of seasons.

Glossary for further retention as take home exercise.

5. Develop instructional strategyContent Sequence and Clustering Learning Components Student Groupings Selection of Media and Delivery Systems

Interactive lesson with the usage of Smart Board

Poem recital Lessons on four seasons Interactive activities: match, drag and drop,

categorize and fill in blanks Group work- crossword puzzle Smart Board and flash movies Classroom delivery

6. Develop and Select instructional material

Based on form one syllabus- environment

theme. Four Seasons. Graphic from smart board gallery. Animations-online material. Flash movies for induction set. Varieties of interactive activities to enhance

retention and transfer of knowledge.

7. Implementation

The product was implemented in the school on 23 rd of February 2005. Target audience were 20 students

8. Revise instruction Prepared content was reviewed by an expert. 9. Evaluation The final product was further evaluated using

five star rating systems by Merrill. To further enhance the effectiveness of the design, Gagne’s information processing model (Gagne. R. 1965) of the mental events that occur when learners are presented with various stimuli were analyzed. A nine step events of instruction process was used to identify the learning activities. The resources and media elements are elaborated below.


SUBJECT: ENGLISH –FORM 1 LESSON: FOUR SEASONS SKILL : VOCABULARY Table 2: Development of Lesson planning based on Gagne’s Information Processing model

INSTRUCTIONAL STRATEGIES/ TACTICS

EVENTS OF INSTRUCTION

MEDIA SELECTED

RATIONALE

1. Gaining learners Attention Stimuli activates receptors

Arouse learner interest with a flash movie

Animated flash movie of four seasons

An animated title screen sequence accompanied by music startles the senses with auditory or visual stimuli.

2. Inform learners of objectives Creates level of expectation for learning .

Explain purpose and relevance of content Identify words related to four seasons of the earth Categories the suitable characteristics according to four seasons Explain the meaning of words given Select appropriate words for the phrases given

Text list on smart board

Objectives were simple and clear and hence it was deemed sufficient to represent in text alone Objectives described the required observable and measurable verb

3. Help learners recall prerequisite learning Retrieval and activation of short-term memory.

Ask question on their awareness about four season, characteristic and where have they experienced, heard or seen these four seasons.

Verbal and oral interaction

A simple way to stimulate recall is to ask questions about previous experiences, an understanding of previous concepts, or a body of content.

4. Presenting the stimulus content This event of instruction is where the new content is actually presented to the learner.

Recital of poem by teacher. Each season’s characteristic will be shown on the smart board- divided into four main categories such as:

• things to do • things to look out

for • clothes worn • festivals

Smart board with the stanzas and animated graphics related to each season shown Each season-shown on separate slides- animation and graphics to explain further on the seasons

Content should be chunked and organized meaningfully, and typically is explained and then demonstrate To appeal to different learning modalities, a variety of media was used including text, graphics, audio narration, and video.

5. Provide “learning guidance” Semantic encoding for

During explanation, graphics and pictures will be presented on abstract

Text, graphics and pictures from smart

Enhance retention of meaning and easily accessible and


storage long-term memory

words (vocabulary)of season. examples and non examples to differentiate context analogies for further explanation of a situation-usage of words

board gallery incorporated through import option on smart board

6. Elicit performance (Practice) Responds to questions to enhance encoding and verification

Variety of activities are incorporated in this lesson to enable learners to confirm their correct understanding Drag and drop match the meaning categorize the correct events Fill in the blanks crossword puzzle (group work)

Smart board tools – used to develop the activities and to carry it out to the whole class

Create interactiveness Opportunity for larger participation of class Can be viewed by the whole class

7. Provide feedback. Reinforcement and assessment of correct performance

Immediate and specific feedback will be provided in each activity done by students through smart board.

Smart board Interactive Feedback and correction can be done there and then and it involves the whole class.

8. Assess performance Retrieval and reinforcement of content as final evaluation

Post test-as a final assessment

Printed question paper

Individual summative exam

9. Enhance retention and transfer to the job Retrieval and generalization of learned skill to new situation

Need to use the glossary ( word learnt) for making new sentences and send in their homework to their English teacher

Printed material with the glossary

To paste in their exercise book and make sentences.

Lesson was designed based on the models discussed above. Design ensured that all the three aspects of social learning; constructivism, active learning and whole-class teaching are in place (SMART Technologies Inc.2004):

Constructivism: Relies on learner to transform information into meaningful knowledge, synthesize and make decisions through personalizing the knowledge. Active learning: Learners actively engage in the learning process through reading, writing, discussion, analysis, synthesis and evaluation rather than passive absorbing instruction. Whole-class teaching: brings the entire class together, focuses their attention and provides structured, teacher-focused group interaction.


Lesson prepared demonstrate through SB. SB helps in creating dynamic interaction with students by providing hands-on work with multimedia resources. The large electronic workspace, SB allows students to have better group-exchanges and create higher interaction. Through Smart board, constructivism, active leaning and whole-class teaching can be achieved easily. Students should be able to learn by making meaning to activities projected to them. Besides that students will engage actively in discussion and analysis of those discussion / activities together with the rest of the class. Application of Lesson in Smart Board A short demonstration on the features of SB was conducted by the researcher. Students are allocated 15 minutes to familiarize with the technology. The researcher conducted the planned lesson. Below is the description of the class conducted with clear indications of steps and time allocated. Step 1 (3 minutes): Flash movies on the four seasons were featured as the set induction. Teacher asked questions orally based on the flash movies shown. Step 2 (2 minutes): Teacher introduced the learning outcomes to the students. Step 3 (8 minutes) : Teacher recited the poem on four seasons. Then, students recited

the poem on the seasons and it was recorded for the future listening. Teacher identified eight new words found in the poem and explained the meaning. Students were also involved in sharing the meanings of the words based on their prior knowledge.

Step 4 (6 minutes): Activity 1- Matching words to the correct meaning.

Upon teacher’s instruction and an example being shown, students matched the correct meanings to the words using the pen. Students had the chance to choose different types of lines. Teacher guided and motivated the students along the activity.

Step 5 (7 minutes): Delivery of the Content

Teacher introduces two of the seasons, winter and spring. Teacher explained further on the characteristics such as activity, things to look for, festivals and clothes. Teacher asked questions based on the content.

Step 6 (6 minutes): Activity 2 – Matching the suitable clothes

Teacher demonstrates on how to drag the correct pictures and words to fit the correct seasons. Students were encouraged to use the tip of their finger to drag the pictures and the words. Teacher guided and motivated the students along the activity.

Step 7 (7minutes): Delivery of the Content

Teacher introduces two of the seasons, summer and autumn. Teacher explained further on the characteristics such as activity, things to look for, festivals and clothes. Teacher asked questions based on the content.

Step 8 (6minutes): Activity 3 – Matching the suitable clothes

Teacher demonstrates on how to drag the correct pictures and words to fit the correct seasons. Students were encouraged to use the tip of their finger to drag the pictures and the words. Teacher guided and motivated the students along the activity.

Step 9 (6minutes): Enrichment activity – crossword puzzle

Teacher divides the students into 5 groups. Each group was given the task sheet to discuss with their peers to complete the puzzle. One representative from each group was called to fill in the puzzle using


the pen. Here, students may choose any color pens and they used the eraser to correct their mistakes.

Step 10 (6 minutes): Activity 4 – Fill in the Blanks

Teacher showed the screen with 5 incomplete sentences. Students were supposed to choose the most suitable word to complete the sentences. There guided words provided in a box. Here, students were asked to use the keyboard on the Smart Board panel itself. Teacher will correct the sentences using the right and wrong button on the spot.

Conclusion (3 minutes) Teacher conducts a 2 minutes reflection session. Students were required to recall the new words that they have learnt during the lesson. A glossary was shown and students were asked to describe the meanings in their exercise books.

DISCUSSION Evaluation Of The Student Experience (Pre And Post Test Result) For the study 20 students from Form 1 class were selected using a random sampling technique. A simple test was created to examine the knowledge of the students on their vocabulary, for the selected theme: “The Four Seasons of the Earth”. This test was used as a pre-test tool which consists of 10 questions. The test results showed that majority of the class are in the average range. The evident from this result shows that student’s understanding on the topic given is not satisfactory. Score obtained is clearly indicated in Figure 2, with 3 students on the extreme range of 30% and 1 student with 100%. It also shows that 7 students fail to get a pass in this test. A post-test similar to pre-test was administrated to the students to identify the impact of the tool. The outcome of the test showed remarkable difference in the performance of the students. Figure 2 shows the difference between post-test and pre-test performance of the students on the lesson: “The Four Seasons”. There was a remarkable improvement in the marks scored and most of the students scored more than average marks. None of the students failed the test. This shows student understands the lesson and able to transform information. Post-test shows 3 students scored the highest mark of 100 while none of the student failed the test.

Figure 2: A comparison of Pre-test and Post-test

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MarksNo. of Students

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Impact Evaluation A set of questionnaire were designed to evaluate the impact of SB. The questionnaire was comprised of five questions put it on a 5 scale likert with “Strongly agree (SA)” (Scored as 5), to “Strongly disagree (SD)” (Scored as 1) on students experience. The questions were grouped into 4 areas and carried out a simple analysis. Following are the summary of responses from the students:

Table 3 : Summary of students responses on Smart Board Questions Response (%) SD DA N A SA It is easy to use 0% 0% 5% 15% 80% Understand the lesson better 0% 0% 4% 20% 76% Motivated to learn using the Smart Board 0% 0% 0% 10% 90% Will be more active, if used by all teachers 0% 0% 0% 8% 92% It is quite evident that there is a high degree of user satisfaction with SB and its features. Participants indicated that they understood the lesson better when taught using smart board. 90% of the students expressed that they were motivated to learn using SB, whereas, 80% of them agreed that SB was easy to use and improved their understanding. At the same time 92% student strongly agrees with the statement that, they will be more actively involved if teachers use SB for their teaching. Secondary Analysis Teachers from the school were invited to attend a SB demonstration. Five teachers attend the demonstration. None of them had prior experience using the technology. A simple questionnaire comprising of 10 questions were distributed to them after the demonstration. The analysis of questionnaire shows the following result.

Table 4 : Summary of Teacher’s response on Smart Board Questions Responses Helps in their teaching 73% It is easy to use 60% Smartboard is user friendly 63% Increases students participation 67% Easy to Set-up 60% User-friendly Tools 67% Would want to use on a regular basis 67% Makes their lesson more captivating 80% Helps students to be motivated in class activities 90% Would recommend to other teachers 73% Based on the above table, the overall response shows that teachers are positive in their opinion of the boards’ value as an instructional tool. Teachers agreed that the usage of SB in teaching will make their lesson more captivating. Besides that, most of them agreed that they would recommend SB to other teachers as it will help in their teaching. CONCLUSION It was clearly evident from the study that, students were actively engaged in learning. When SB was used for the dissemination of the lesson students were more focused and involved in learning. We call this participatory learning. Whereas in a traditional classroom, teachers often directly instruct the students and she/he has complete control over the learning process. This is not always appropriate. Learning is an active process where students go through an experience and learn from it. SB supports this participatory learning.


The impact of SB is far more than participatory learning. It was also noticed from the study that, students were actively involved in exploring further on the use of the technology and activities. This provided them an avenue for exploratory learning. SB is a dynamic and flexible tool. Teachers should explore new teaching approaches and share these approaches to maximize the utilization of these tools. It is vital to involve the students in the learning process. With the use of SB as a teaching and learning tool, classroom teaching can be livelier with active participation mainly by students. The main aim of the study was to determine whether the use of SB motivated student’s participation in the class activities. From the study it was evident that SB with its visual, aural and kinesthetic learning styles improved student’s active participation and motivation which ultimately leads to student’s understanding of the lesson. This was further proved with the significant post test result where none of the student’s failed the test and three student’s scored highest mark of 100%. Whereas based on questionnaire given to teachers they find that the tool is very easy to use and it will make their lesson more captivating. SB is a very useful tool, but the design and delivery of lesson lies in the hands of teachers. One cannot replace a teacher, but a good teacher could use these tools to open student’s world of learning into a fun-filled one. REFERENCE Becta ICT Research Bursary 2003-04 Final Report. Retrieved August 1, 2007 from http://www.becta.org.uk/page_documents/research/bursaries05/ interactive_whiteboard.pdf Dick,W., & Carey,L. (1996) The systematic design of Instruction (4th ed.), New York : HarperCollins College Publishers Gagne.R.M, (1965), The Conditions of Learning, Holt, Rinehart & Winston Gagne R.M. (1987), Instructional Technology : Foundations, Lawrence Erlbaum Associates Graham, Karen (2003). Switching on switching off children!, Virtual Learning http://www.virtuallearning.org.uk/2003research/index.html, Retrieved on 8/06/07 Johnson, Bruke and Christensen Larry, (2004), Educational Research: Quantitative, Qualitative and Mixed Approaches (2nd Edition), Allyn and Bacon Miller,D.et al., (2005b). How Can the Use of an Interactive Whiteboard Enhance the Nature of Teaching and Learning in Secondary Mathematics and Modern Foreign Languages? SMART Technologies Inc. March (2006), Interactive Whiteboards and Learning: Learning student learning outcomes and streamlining lesson planning, Retrieved July 10, 2007 from, http://education.smarttech.com/NR/rdonlyres/6EC7C51B-FC2A-4F95-B04B- B24C193C870B/0/IntWhiteboardResearchWhitepaper.pdf SMART Technologies Inc. April (2004), The Interactive Whiteboards and Learning: A Review of Classroom Case Studies and Research Literature, Retrieved August 3, 2007 from, http://www.smartboard.se/files/dokument/research_whitepaper_smart_board_.pdf?P HPSESSID=d0c022434552b947d7f1fc5a96812c64 Tate,L.(2002) Using the Interactive Whiteboard to Increase Student Retention, Attention, Participation, Interest and Success in a Required General Eduaction College Course. Retrieved in August 7, 2007, from http://smarterkids.org/research/pdf/tate.pdf Trochim, William M.K. (2006), Evaluation Research, Web centre for social research methods, http://www.socialresearchmethods.net/kb/evaluation.php (Retrieved on 20/06/07 Sapsford, Roger and Jupp,Victor (1996). Data collection and analysis, Sage Publications Special Thanks to Associate Professor Dr. Raja Maznah bt Raja Hussain, University Malaya, Faculty of Education for her advice and guidance.

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