Wednesday, April 3, 2013

Interactive Whiteboards in Today's Classroom

Interactive whiteboards (IWB) in the classroom are things of the present and future.  Technology has changed tremendously throughout the years, and, as we all know, will continue to do so.  Interactive whiteboards have been rapidly integrated into classrooms all over America in the hopes that they will make learning more fun for the students, and also engage them in beneficial activity that will increase test scores and overall classroom performance.  I believe that IWBs can be beneficial if used properly.  Effectiveness of the board is dependent upon whether the teacher knows how to use it, and if they allow the student to interact with the board in a way that will positively, personally affect them.  However, if not used appropriately, the "interactive" whiteboard might just become another board to write notes on that students will have to look at.  That is why it is entirely important for the teacher to first become accustomed and comfortable with the board before utilizing it in their classrooms.


As a high school graduate of McDowell High School, I can personally attest to that statement.  A few of my teachers had gotten SMART Boards set up in their classrooms.  It was so intriguing at first; all of us students were so curious about this new gadget that we were mesmerized and, therefore, paid close attention.  As time went on, though, we all seemed to lose interest in the new technology.  Why had we lost interest?  Better yet, why was this high tech, highly expensive device not helping us as well as our teacher said it would?  The answer was found by observing the way our teacher used the SMART Board in his classroom.  He boringly projected notes off the screen, typed, wrote words with red ink, and monotonously recited the notes aloud to us.  There was no interaction with the board; there was no difference between the class with the SMART Board and the class without it.  This is an example of the interactive whiteboard becoming just another boring, old whiteboard.  



A different teacher of mine used her SMART Board in an entirely different way. She had students get up from their seats to almost teach a lesson to the class themselves and use different settings on the board to do so.  All the students had fun playing around with the SMART Board.  It also made learning very differentiated.  Each student was able to create a lesson and present it in a way that they most benefited from.  It also helped the teacher gain a little more knowledge about how each one of her students studied, learned, and interacted with classmates, new information, and new technology.  


I believe that there are very different views on interactive whiteboards; there are pros and cons to each view.  On the one hand, IWBs are very nice, easy to use, and are interesting to the eye.  On the other hand, if not used correctly or effectively, the board just becomes yet another boring tool for teachers to use to project notes off of.  It is the teacher's job to, first, understand the technology in order to exceed the interactive whiteboard's potential to help students.  Second, they must make a lesson that will engage students and allow them to try out the waters of the IWB.  Third, they should make the lesson FUN and entertaining.  No student wants to sit through lecture for an hour and a half (although sometimes we just have to).  I feel that, through these three easy points, IWBs could make a huge difference in education alone.

10 comments:

  1. I totally agree with everything you said about the McDowell SMART boards. And that sounds a lot like Ms. MacWilliam's bio class! Learning how to use these boards will come in handy for me as a teacher becaues I want to get as much use out if the IWBs as I can!

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  2. It was very interesting hearing your point of view, as to how you became bored due to the teacher not using this tool to it's full potential. Very nice post!

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  3. I agree. When my teachers first got the SMART/Promethean boards, we wanted to use it, but the teachers didn't know how to. We were more interested in the new technology than what my teachers were saying in class, thus it wasn't used much.

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  4. I too believe they need to be used correctly if used at all. That's the number one problem with them. Along with the huge expense to schools. And as the "awesomeness" wears off, students start to drown out the teacher and consider them as boring and uneventful.

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  5. I agree that if used effectively, IWB's are worth the purchase. But many teachers neglect to stray away from their developed teaching style and stick to their own way. Teachers need to accept that they need to be constantly changing their styles to better suit the needs of the different students they are educating. IWB's can get us to the future, but can these older teachers, with no intention to adapt to the new teaching style, help get us there?

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  6. I completely agree with everything you said. Your post and opinions are very similar to mine. Nice work

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  7. You always bring personal experience into your post and that really helps the reader connect and see where you are coming from as well. You are very correct in the fact that IWB's are beneficial if used effectively, and that teachers can have a hard time doing that depending on the class and how dedicated they are. I feel like for the boards to work the way they are meant to, we need more professional development for the teacher as well as them learning some on their own and expanding their PLN!

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  8. I also went to McDowell, but I actually saw great use of them and was part of interaction. This obviously show that some teachers were not trained or using them effectively.

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  9. I really like the idea of using a smart board in our classroom. I really wish I knew how to use one. It is one of the major things I want to know how to use before going into student teaching.

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  10. The thin line of technology is not turning into another teacher centered method of instruction. IWB's are one of several tools that have been misused in the classroom. Educators are often times not trained on the equipment that they are provided with, increasing the likelihood that it will not be delivered in a effective and engaging way.

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