An appraisal of the SMART Board for collaborative learning : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science in Computer Science at Massey University

Abstract

Being a potential learning paradigm for the current decade, Computer Supported Collaborative Learning will blossom with the support of hardware technologies such as digital whiteboards along with suitable software. We investigated the effectiveness of a kind of digital whiteboard (SMART Board) for supporting collaborative learning. Our study reveals that the key features necessary for group learning such as floor control mechanism and interaction guidance are not supported by the current SMART board software We designed and implemented software to overcome the important drawbacks of the existing systems which includes facilities to guide written and verbal contribution during the learning with the help of mini-vocabulary and to manage floor control.