Interactive Smart Tables

Link: https://www.touchboards.com/smartboards/smart-st442i.html

Brief Description: Interactive smart tables and are a spin-off of the Smart touchboards that many classrooms use today. Touchboards are either attached to the wall or on a stand, connected to a projector and contains a pen device. Interactive smart tables are just that, tables on the floor with four legs and a television-type screen for the surface. It operates the same way a Smartboard works except there are many more points of touch on the screen. With hundreds more touchpoints, students are allowed to interact more with their peers. The Smart 442i Collaborative Learning Table is manufactured by Smart Technologies so the same software used for your Smartboard can also be used with the tables (SMART 442i Collaborative Table Learning Center, 2019).

Educational Benefits: Using an Interactive Smart Table all of the learning styles can be accommodated and addressed (Martin, Shaw, & Daughenbaugh, 2014). Kinesthetic learners are served by movement to manipulate items on the screen. Visual learners are served through videos, and screencast recordings of their teachers. Auditory learners are served through videos and podcasts using their headphones or earbuds. The main benefit for students is social interaction through collaboration from games, presentations, activities, and group work integrated in the software. Rather than being bunched up at smaller desks, students can now sit and work around a digitally-enhanced table. If teachers already have a Smartboard, then students are acclimated to its use and can easily adapt to the Smart tables (2014). Students can obtain higher-order thinking skills by working alone to create and problem-solve or with classmates through a PBL lesson.

Differentiation: For students who require interventions and remediation, interactive smart tables allow them to “see” concepts more in-depth and that are limited by paper and pencil. These tables can turn any graphic organizer or data set into an interactive lesson complete with images and video. Reading intervention can be accomplished through e-books and broken down by sections or pages. Teachers can then work alongside their struggling students to find story details, discuss, and annotate the text.

ISTE Student Standards: Students using ISTE-S Standard 4B, Innovative Designer, are “using a variety of technologies within a design process to identify and solve problems by creating new, useful or imaginative solutions” (ISTE-S, 2016). This standard encompasses the interactive smart table because it houses a variety of technologies such as a blank canvas for drawing to embedded links to websites. The table serves a PBL tool where each student has their own “corner” in which to brainstorm and work. Numerous tasks can be carried out simultaneously on the same table. When students are finished, they can share notes and ideas with one another through a document or power point.

Considerations: Proper training will be necessary with interactive smart tables, the applications, and software. The table will require plenty of room for four students to sit and move around it. Students will also need to be trained in the proper use and care of the table for optimal performance and life of the technology. Technology of this caliber is costly and many districts are unable to afford it on already tight budgets. Teachers may want to consider writing grants or approaching business sponsors.