568372

research-article2015

GMTXXX10.1177/1048371314568372General Music TodayNichols

Article

The Interactive Classroom: An Overview

of SMART Notebook Software

General Music Today

2015, Vol. 28(3) 2832
National Association for
Music Education 2015
DOI: 10.1177/1048371314568372
gmt.sagepub.com

Bryan E. Nichols1

Abstract
Interactive whiteboards are increasingly used in school classrooms. SMART Boards have been adopted in many
schools, including music classes taught by specialists. This article provides specific tips for using the most popular
whiteboard application. The main features of the software as well as specific strategies for maximizing their use in the
learning environment are emphasized, as well as new resources for SMART Notebook templates. Changes for nextgeneration whiteboards are discussed as well as suggestions for where teachers can find existing tools and templates
as resources for classroom instruction. Online videos are provided to demonstrate how easily the whiteboard can be
used by students to enhance the interactivity of music instruction.
Keywords
elementary general music, music education, secondary general music, technology

Several interactive whiteboards (IWBs) are marketed for

educational use, and the most widely used is the SMART
Board, which relies on proprietary software called
SMART Notebook (Nadel, 2012; SMART Tech, 2014).
This software is the focus of this article, and the purpose
of this article and associated online videos is to show how
teachers can use SMART Notebook to enhance learning
in the music classroom. Some readers may have requested
this kind of technology in their classrooms, while others
were provided it without input. Regardless, the technology can only be helpful for learning when used by a professional educator with training and experience (Wood &
Ashfield, 2008).

What Is an Interactive Whiteboard?

An IWB is a board mounted on the wall with touch screen
capability combined with a projector. Some installations
use a projector mounted just above the board and reflected
down, while others use a standard projector installation
further away. These whiteboards differ from regular projection screens in that they have touch sensitivity that
allows the teacher or student to operate the computer
directly from the board. This way, the computer itself
does not have to be near the board, and various software

can be run directly from the front of the room. In addition

to regular presentation capabilities for presenting slides,
videos, and other visuals, IWBs use touch technology
that allows for the use of virtual manipulatives. An example of transfer from the use of physical materials to virtual materials would be the teachers use of quarter-note
and half-note shapes cut out from felt and attached to a
traditional board using Velcro. Instead of cutting out
shapes, a teacher can use on-screen note shapes drawn
by hand or selected from clipart that can be dragged to a
staff on the board, where they can be manipulated like
felt notes. These kinds of lessons can easily be designed
and saved for future use without the need for purchasing
materials or starting again from scratch to alter the
lesson. Two screenshots (Figures 1 and 2) show how
the SMART Notebook on-screen tools make using the
IWB easier.

University of Akron, Akron, OH, USA

Corresponding Author:
Bryan E. Nichols, University of Akron, Guzzetta Hall 254,
Akron, OH 44325-1002, USA.
Email: bnichols@uakron.edu

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Nichols

Figure 1. Overview of the Notebook window.

Note. 1 = Page Sorter; 2 = Add Images From the Gallery; 3 = Attachments; 4 = Properties; 5 = Add-Ons; 6 = Page Area; 7 = Move
Tabs; 8 = Previous/Next Page; 9 = Add/Delete Page; 10 = Auto-Hide Page Area; 11 = Shade Screen; 12 = Extend Page More Than
Screen Length.

Figure 2. Overview of the Notebook toolbar.

One of SMART Boards main competitors is the

Promethean ACTIVBoard. While SMART Board is the
leading educational IWB maker and thus the focus of
this article, some of the following recommendations
can be applied to the ACTIVBoard. Both brands are
finger- and touch-sensitive and feature models that
allow up to four users to interact with the board at once.
Both brands have a large bank of lessons on their websites. The SMART Board comes with a pen tray, styluses, and eraser, whereas the ACTIVBoard does not.

ACTIVBoard offers larger screen sizes than are available with SMART Board.

Why Are These Useful in Education?

Along with basic projector capabilities, IWBs allow
teachers to project text and images that teachers and students can write over on the board using a special stylus
and eraser. This is especially useful for music teachers
who wish to highlight, circle, or otherwise annotate

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General Music Today 28(3)

scores from a scanned document or melodies written

using SMART Notebook on a staff during class. This
can save teachers from writing passages manually on
a chalkboard, and teachers can easily erase annotations
and begin with a fresh screen for the next class.
As said, elementary general music teachers commonly
spend time preparing materials like manipulatives, posters, and signs. Teachers find themselves labeling solfge,
note names, and other elements, and they often feature
student work around the classroom. Teachers can save
time by making visuals in SMART Notebook, and they
can further save time procuring physical supplies or waiting for materials to be ordered. With IWBs, there is no
Velcro to glue and no magnets that fall off the board.
Virtual materials last forever and can be adjusted,
changed, or manipulated for future use, rather than making physical materials from scratch when the teachers
needs change. Current-generation IWBs allow more than
one person at a time to use the touch screen features, that
is, previous touch sensitivity allowed only one person to
touch the screen at a time but now multiple students can
work at the board at once. This new whiteboard technology uses cameras that allow multiple students to manipulate items on the screen in the same way multiple students
can use a chalkboard at the same time.

SMART Board Setup,

Recommendations, and Software
Teachers who are involved in the purchasing and setup
process must rely on manufacture-suggested guidelines
for screen size and installation. A critical consideration for
elementary teachers is that the board is placed low enough
on the wall that children can reach most areas of the board.
Even so, the teacher will appreciate the use of a wand or
baton that smaller children can use to manipulate objects
on the board. Another special consideration for music
teachers is that students may need to be more active near
the board for playing instruments or leading their peers,
which means the computer and cables must be located and
covered in a way that they do not obstruct access to the
screen. Large classrooms with separate spaces for movement, for playing instruments, and for working at the
board will not have the same needs as small classrooms
using one shared space for all activities. The board should
be placed so that it is viewable for interactive activities,
video or presentation activities, and more.

Using SMART Notebook in the

Classroom
Teachers are beginning to report suggestions for the
enhancement of music instruction and assessment aided

by classroom technology (Nolan, 2009). A new collection

of templates is now commercially available, making it
easy for teachers to incorporate SMART Notebook lessons (Walton, 2012). While the literature on interactive
learning and IWBs is beginning to increase, it appears
that (a) students are enthusiastic about engaging in IWBs,
(b) there are many possibilities for use by special learners, and (c) interactive learning can appeal to many learning modalities, such as visual, aural, and kinesthetic
(Glover, Miller, Averis, & Door, 2005). Several videos
are provided alongside the article to help demonstrate
ways that software like SMART Notebook can be used in
the music classroom (www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL
LmKK4pLfO1JTYv622kt8DMYwLVaJLh8H).

Students Find IWBs to Be Engaging

SMART Notebook can be motivating for students who
enjoy working with technology in the classroom. The
wow factor has been documented by music educators
(Nolan, 2009), and students are quick to volunteer to work
with the technology in front of their peers. For example,
students can find great satisfaction in composing a melody
by dragging notes and rests onto an on-screen staff for their
peers to sing back to them. The student or teacher can
quickly erase the screen for the next student to begin.

Possibilities for Special Learners

Reading music on the IWB can help all students stay
focused on the teacher and on the lesson. Furthermore,
the teacher leading students through music reading or
other activities from the board can help students learn to
track from left to right (Heikkila & Knight, 2012). Some
students with special needs may find reading from the
IWB to augment other opportunities when students are
asked to sing or play from books or sheet music. Older
students and adults find working from a IWB to be easy,
but young students and or students in a wheelchair may
benefit from touch-sensitive tables. Like a flat-screen TV
laid flat on a pedestal, these smart board devices can be
more accessible for some students.

For Teachers Just Getting Started

Some teachers report that incorporating new technologies can be overwhelming, which discourages their use
(Baker, 2007). However, the engaging benefits of IWBs
are worth the investment in training time. For example,
the Screen Spotlight tool can easily be used to draw attention to specific parts of a score (see Figure 3). Students
can circle or highlight specific intervals and relationships
between voice or instrument parts and identify key signatures and time signatures. The online videos associated

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Nichols

Activity 3: Identify the Instrument

Grade Level: K5
Purpose: Students will associate instrument timbres
with the sounds they hear
Using the New York Philharmonics online Kidzone,
students can click a box to reveal an instrument and play
a clip from the orchestra highlighting the instrument.
Levels 1, 2, and 3 provide visuals appropriate for varying
grade levels (see Clip 4 online).

Activity 4: Reading Rhythms With Words

Figure 3. Score screenshot.

with this article provide a glimpse of SMART Notebook

ideas used by students in a classroom setting (www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLLmKK4pLfO1JTYv622kt8D
MYwLVaJLh8H).
There are, of course, some potential pitfalls in incorporating new and changing technologies in the classroom.
When the technology fails to work properly, an unprepared
teacher may be left without a good plan for learning. Thus,
teachers are advised to prepare an alternate plan to IWB
activities. The use of technology should not drive the lesson plan; rather, IWB technology should enhance lessons
that are appropriate for the age level and classroom setting.
The use of SMART Notebook technology is not an end in
itself: It should be used to help groups of students work
together for specific learning outcomes.

Lesson Ideas
Activity 1: Spin the Pointer Rhythms
Grade Level: Any
Purpose: Individual assessment in pattern recognition
and performance
Use age-appropriate rhythms to assess reading skills in
this engaging game of Spin the Pointer (see Clip 7 online).
Students tap the screen to spin the pointer and then must
clap (or tap or play) the rhythm on which the pointer lands.

Activity 2: Pitch Exploration

Grade Level: K2
Purpose: Students explore high and low parts of the
vocal range
Capitalizing on the interactivity of the IWB, individual students can lead their classmates in pitch exploration. One at a time, each student will move symbols
reflecting a storyline along a contour for their class to
follow (see Clip 5 online).

Grade Level: 14
Purpose: Students use common terms to reinforce
rhythm reading
Using the Purposeful Pathways readymade templates
for SMART Notebook (see Getting Started text box),
students use the click and drag words and rhythm patterns underneath visuals of pie shapes and heart shapes
to reinforce performing and reading skills (see Clip 3
online).
Getting Started: Useful SMART Notebook
resources exist to help music educators bring virtual interactivity to the classroom.
1. Smart Exchange website to search teachercreated lessons by subject and grade.
2. Purposeful Pathways book and CD with
Smart lesson templates that can be used right
out of the box, published by Music Is
Elementary, musiciselementary.com.
3. Search youtube.com and smarttech.com for
tutorials.
4. lynda.com and other pay-for-use tutorial
sites.
5. New York Philharmonic Kidzone! online
learning: NyPhil.org.
6. Explore classroom music textbooks for IWB
integration tips. Newer books already provide ways to augment lessons for
technology.
7. Reexamine your own curriculum. Where can
you make lessons more interactive and
student-led?
8. Use the IWB change how you bring students
into your classroom, execute transitions, or
provide assessment opportunities.
9. Form social media groups with local teachers
to share new ideas for technology in the
music classroom.

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General Music Today 28(3)

Conclusion
Teachers interested in appealing to multiple learning modalities (visual, kinesthetic, and aural) will find the IWB a powerful and time-saving tool. Children and adolescents use of
technology is increasing at home and in the classroom, and
teachers can take advantage of any possible increase in
attention or engagement that results from IWBs. I have used
the SMART Boards piano tool to establish key centers and
the clock tool for timing classroom activities (see text box)
and in general to increase student leadership in the classroom by placing students more frequently in front of their
peers. Teachers who are new to using SMART Boards are
encouraged to explore the SMART Notebook tools and templates in the Getting Started text box to expand on the use of
technology in their classrooms and to share new lesson ideas
on the SMART Exchange website.
How Can You Take Advantage of SMART Notebook
Features?
Screen shade Use the screen shade to hide
parts of the screen to
uncover as you teach.
Highlighter Use the highlighter tool as
you would on a sheet of
paper: to point out important text or music before or
during the lesson.

Document camera 
Use the SMART Board to
mark up images from a document camera the same way
you would with a scanned
image.
On-screen keyboard Press a dedicated button at the
bottom of the board to bring
up an on-screen keyboard to
input characters without
walking to your computer.
Audio recorder Record sounds before or during lessons without leaving
the Notebook environment.
Screen capture Take snapshots of compositions created in class, markups of documents, or
drawings for later reference.
Screen spotlight Draw attention to important
parts of the screen or hide
parts of the screen.
Timer Use this built-in tool to time
improvisations or taking
turns at instruments.
Clock Use this built-in tool right
on your screen to keep track
of time during class.
Piano Use this tool on your SMART
Board to give reference
pitches when you start songs.

Metronome 
Open the built-in web
browser to access webbased metronomes and
other tools.
Browser slide Insert a web browser in a
SMART Notebook slide
instead of switching apps.
Object links Link to files in other programs
or to webpages to switch
quickly to other resources.
Declaration of Conflicting Interests
The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with
respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this
article.

Funding
The author(s) received no financial support for the research,
authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Authors Note
Release forms have been obtained for students who appear in the
videos using the NAfME Audio-Video Likeness Release Form.

References
Baker, J. (2007). Idea bank: Smart board in the music classroom. Music Educators Journal, 93(5), 1819.
Glover, D., Miller, D., Averis, D., & Door, V. (2005). The
interactive whiteboard: A literature survey. Technology,
Pedagogy and Education, 14, 155170.
Heikkila, E., & Knight, A. (2012). Inclusive music teaching
strategies for elementary-age children with developmental
dyslexia. Music Educators Journal, 99(1), 5459.
Nadel, B. (2012). TechLAB Shootout: 5 interactive whiteboards. Retrieved from http://blogs.scholastic.com/techtools/2012/11/techlab-shootout-5-interactive-whiteboards.
html#.U_ZGxUui3Rd
Nolan, K. (2009). SMARTer music teaching: Interactive whiteboard use in music classrooms. General Music Today,
22(2), 311.
SMART Tech. (2014). Quick facts and stats. Retrieved from
https://smarttech.com/About+SMART/About+SMART/
Newsroom/Quick+facts+and+stats
Walton, H. (2012). Purposeful pathways 1 (SmartNotebook
visual materials CD-ROM; Supplemental Material). In
R. Sams & B. A. Hepburn (Eds.), Purposeful pathways:
Possibilities for the elementary music classroom, Book 1.
Lyndhurst, OH: Music Is Elementary.
Wood, R., & Ashfield, J. (2008). The use of the interactive whiteboard for creative teaching and learning in literacy and mathematics: A case study. British Journal of
Educational Technology, 39, 8496.

Author Biography
Bryan E. Nichols is an assistant professor of music education at
The University of Akron. His research interests include musical
assessment and music literacy pedagogy.

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