TUSD Smartboard Package Survey
Summary of Findings
A survey of current Smart Board users was conducted in order to prepare for the
installation of Smart Boards in middle school classrooms for the 2006 – 2007 school year.
All English and Math teachers who were provided a Smart Board at the beginning of the
2005 – 2006 school year comprised the survey population. Results revealed that the
implementation of Smart Boards in high school classroom has:
- increase student engagement,
- improve student behavior during class,
- improved overall student learning, and
- proved successful in subjects such as Fine Arts, General Studies, Business & Marketing,
Physical Education, Special Education, and Computer Education, and Language Arts classes
in addition to English and Math.
Overall, it appears that implementing Smart Boards in High School classrooms has been an
effective technological tool for increasing overall student engagement.
Introduction
In an effort to increase student engagement through the integration of technology in the
classroom, TUSD installed Smart Boards in every high school English and Math classroom during
the summer of 2005. The District plans to install Smart Boards in middle school classrooms
during the summer of 2006 as part of the middle school language arts adoption.
Survey & Data Analysis Procedures
To prepare for the middle school installation, and to better support the use of Smart Boards
at the high school level, the Educational Technology department designed a survey of current
high school Smart Board users. Department of Accountability and Research staff conducted the
survey for the Educational Technology Department between February 8th and 13th 2006 through an
automated online survey application [View
Online Survey Procedures].
Educational Technology staff used installation inventories and equipment transfer work
orders to identify 330 high school teachers who were thought to be using a Smart Board package
in their classroom. Accountability and Research sent an initial invitation email to the 330
teachers on the morning of February 8th. A reminder email was then sent on the morning of
February 10th to those teachers who had not yet completed the survey.
During the survey administration fifteen of the invitees did not complete the survey, but
reported that they did not have a Smart Board package in their classroom, reducing the survey
population to 315. Of the adjusted group of teachers, 65% (206 of 315) responded to the
survey.
After a review of the survey comments, Educational Technology staff was able to follow up
with teachers at each high school to address the reported training and equipment maintenance
needs. The results will also be used to design future teacher training programs.
Data Findings (Statistics and Coded Comments)
Based on summarized results of the respondents who participated in the current survey, the
Smart Board package (Smart Board) implemented in classrooms during the 2005-2006 school year has
been an effective technological tool for increasing overall student engagement. Most of the
population surveyed agreed that the Smart Board has increased student engagement, improved both
student behavior during class, and overall student learning. About half of those surveyed also
reported that they are satisfied with the Smart Board package.
Of the teachers who initially received the Smart Board at the beginning of the year, only
7.3% reported that they “never” use it (Figure 1). Some of the reasons mentioned include: a
lack of necessary working hardware, lack of training, the need for additional training or time
to practice with the equipment, and that better and/or different software are required to carry
out desired tasks. However, of the teachers that do use the Smart Board, 56.3% said that they
use it on a daily basis. In addition to teachers utilizing Smart Boards during lectures,
students are encouraged to use the technology as well. During interactive activities, survey
respondents reported that 34% of their students use the Smart Board on a weekly basis.
As expected, the majority of survey respondents use the Smart Board during English (45.10%),
and Math (39.80%) classes. Of surprising results, however, was the mention of Smart Boards
being utilized to teach other subjects, including: Fine Arts, General Studies, Business &
M arketing, Physical Education, Special Education, and Computer Education, and Language Arts
classes (Figure 2).
Of the participants that responded with a comment to question 7 (What other activities aside
from presentations and interactive activities are you using the Smart Board for?), 14.29%
mentioned that they utilize the Smart Board to gather and display Internet information and
13.49% stated that they use the technology to incorporate movies, films and music into their
daily lessons.
When asked what types of materials were most effective with the Smart Board, 11.70%
commented that instruction/lectures/examples and concepts were easier to present to their
classes using the Smart Board. Additional materials included access to Internet resources
and information (7.80%) and graphic data such as photos, maps and other general images
(6.82%).
The majority of the survey population agree that implementation of the Smart Boards have
increased student engagement, learning and improved student behavior (Figure 3). Only a small
percentage believes that the technology has negatively impacted behavior. One reason for this
result lies in the positioning of the technology in the room. In comparison to overhead
projectors where the teacher faces the class during presentations, teachers must turn their
backs to the class in order to operate the Smart Board equipment. Some teachers have noticed
that this change has increased student talking and disruptive behavior in their classrooms.
However, for the most part, the technology positively engages students during lecture.
When participants were asked to comment on how students as well as they have responded to
the Smart Board, an overwhelming amount answered enthusiastically (Figure 4). The small
percentage of people who responded with negative enthusiasm for the technology mainly
attributes dissatisfaction with improperly working equipment or lack of training to operate
it. In the future it is hoped that once these issues are resolved enthusiasm will increase.
The overall satisfaction of the Smart Boards appears to be positive. Over 50% of the survey
respondents feel satisfied with the Smart Board implementation in their classes. Additionally,
36.7% feel very satisfied with the technology.
Discussion & Recommendations
While over 50% of those utilizing Smart Boards in their classrooms are satisfied with the
technology, 7.3% reported that they “never” use it. This group of respondents mentioned that
some of the reasons why they don’t use the Smart Board are because necessary hardware went
unfixed or replaced, not enough in-depth training was provided, and that the opportunity to
practice with the equipment was not available to them. It was also mentioned that some
requests to have Smart Boards fixed, or parts replaced, went unfulfilled. Another proposition
survey participants discussed was to mount the equipment in a different location in the
classroom for safety purposes. Some feel that the current position of equipment located on
rolling carts and power cords in isle ways cause a safety hazards for students. For a
solution to this problem, respondents recommended mounting equipment on the ceiling instead
and rerouting power cords from the isle ways. Mounting equipment would also minimize
theft.
Another interesting finding from the survey was that even though the first Smart Board
implementation was intended for high school English and Math teachers, many other teachers
are utilizing the technology for different subjects in their classrooms. The top four
subjects taking advantage of the Smart Board after English and Math are Fine Arts, Business
& Marketing Education, General Education, and Physical Education. Because of this finding,
widening the utility of this technology might improve student engagement and student
achievement in other subjects as well.
In summary, it appears that implementing Smart Boards in High School classrooms has been an
effective technological tool for increasing overall student engagement. Most of the population
surveyed agreed that the Smart Board has increased student engagement, improved both student
behavior during class and overall student learning.
These results will positively impact the decision to widen the Smart Board implementation
program to Middle Schools as part of the language arts adoption during the 2006-2007 school
year. Additionally, Smart Boards are effective not only in Math and English classes, but also
in Fine Arts, Business and Marketing, Science and Language Arts classes. The utilitarian
nature of the technology to allow faculty to access previously time consuming data to gather,
and prepare presentations and discussion in engaging ways, captures student’s attention and
improves student enthusiasm in the classroom.
Qualitative analysis and Summary Report written by
Jennifer Langdon-Pollock,
Research Project Manager, Accountability and Research
Office of Accountabitity and
Research
442 East 7th Street Tucson, AZ 85705
Phone: (520) 225-5418
Fax: (520) 225-5226
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Last updated July 2006
