{"id":3606,"date":"2014-04-17T10:00:24","date_gmt":"2014-04-17T10:00:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/newsletter.alt.ac.uk\/?p=3606"},"modified":"2014-04-17T10:00:24","modified_gmt":"2014-04-17T10:00:24","slug":"smarttables-the-borders-college-experience","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/altc.alt.ac.uk\/blog\/2014\/04\/smarttables-the-borders-college-experience\/","title":{"rendered":"SmartTables: the Borders College experience"},"content":{"rendered":"

SmartTables are relatively new on the technology enhanced learning scene but are rapidly becoming popular within Primary Schools. To date the majority of use has been focused on pre- school and primary school aged children, with content being developed to support their learning needs. Until now there has been no attempt to introduce SmartTables in Colleges, despite increasing interest from industry who are keen to use the tables within business environments. Borders College saw the potential for SmartTables to be used within an FE environment and piloted the table in order to investigate its use and effectiveness across the College.<\/p>\n

About the college<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Borders College prides itself on student success and in order to facilitate increased success across the student body they have established a dedicated e-learning team within the College to support technology enhanced teaching and learning.<\/p>\n

The challenge<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Borders College implemented SmartBoards in all classrooms in 2011 and since then have continued to encourage the use of SmartNotebook content development for use on the boards. As with all institutions, the College constantly strives to introduce new methods for engaging learners and improving the learner experience. The SmartTable offered another method of engagment as it has potential to support the learner through all areas of the College, from initial marketing to campus maps, student support services, library resources and within the curriculum. The SmartTable is an interactive, collaborative tool similar to a tablet, but the size of a coffee table. The table comes with pre-installed content but also allows tutors to create their own using the Table toolkit software.<\/p>\n

The activity<\/strong><\/h2>\n

The College took delivery of one SmartTable in February 2014. The aim of the pilot was to consider the potential value of a SmartTable in all aspects of College life to support the learner. This included:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Use of the SmartTable for marketing and information purposes<\/li>\n
  2. Use of the SmartTable as part of Student Advice and Support services<\/li>\n
  3. Use of the SmartTable across the curriculum. The table was used with Care students, Computing,Business and Landbased students<\/li>\n
  4. Use of the SmartTable with Access students<\/li>\n
  5. Use of the SmartTable to support students in the campus library<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    In theory this meant that the table could be used at all stages of the student journey; from initial visits to reception, to learning in a classroom environment to supporting them in using the library and even to student advice services relating to finance and travel etc.<\/p>\n

    Using the SmartTable toolkit software, the e-learning team developed bespoke content for each of the pilot areas.<\/p>\n

    \"SmartTable<\/a>Use of the SmartTable in College Reception<\/h4>\n

    In reception, the table was placed near visitor seating with content ranging from recent news articles to today\u2019s restaurant menu and price list for the College hair and beauty salon. The aim here was to engage visitors in the life of the College while waiting to attend an event and to showcase the work of the students.<\/p>\n

    Use of the SmartTable in Student Advice Centre<\/h4>\n

    Outside Student Advice, the table had two purposes;<\/p>\n

      \n
    1. To raise awareness of the table and increase access and use of the table by the students through the use of a simple music making game<\/li>\n
    2. To provide access to content such as bus timetables, services offered, staff contact details and so on. This was aimed to help during busy times at the advice centre.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

      SmartTable use in the Library<\/h4>\n

      In the library staff were keen to consider a more collaborative approach to learning through internet based materials (as the table was configured to the College wifi system). The table also provided the potential to use drag and drop options for fashion students to create bespoke garments and to facilitate discussion around image collections using the Scrapbook tool. Other ideas from the libarary included the development of Interactive Library maps (a catalogue search followed by a graphic that helps people locate the stock they need).<\/p>\n

      SmartTable use across the curriculum\"SmartTable<\/a><\/h4>\n

      Across the curriculum the use of the table was more widespread and included the use of existing Smartboard materials as well as the creation of bespoke content for use in the classroom. Examples include:<\/p>\n