Board of Education: A Wall-Mounted Computer Monitor for Your ClassroomA top teacher shares her enthusiasm for -- and tips about using -- interactive whiteboards.
Teacher Sue Holland and her beloved interactive whiteboard.
Credit: Elena Dorfman
No doubt some twisted souls will miss the occasional nerve-fraying shriek of chalk on a blackboard. For the rest of us, the growing popularity of interactive whiteboards -- often mistakenly lumped under the label "smart boards," although Smart is a specific brand name -- are one of the best things to happen to classroom technology in the last twenty years.
An interactive whiteboard is essentially just a large, touch-sensitive screen. The board is connected, via a standard USB plug, to a computer and a digital projector, which displays the computer's screen image onto the whiteboard. Software enables the computer to be controlled from the whiteboard by a hand or by special pens. Work done on the board can be saved on the computer and emailed, which, over the course of the school year, can mean a significant reduction in paper handouts.
Not surprisingly, the business world quickly took a shine to interactive whiteboards when they were introduced in 1991. Now, educators are beginning to discover what the business community is raving about.
In a July posting on Edutopia.org, elementary school teacher Susan Parker wrote that her classroom's interactive whiteboard "brings the information alive" to the students. She noted that "each lesson becomes an interactive one, and students are very motivated to learn."
"The board is very useful to demonstrate and teach editing and rewriting," says Parker, who works in an inner city school with many bilingual students. "There are pens in different colors that allow you to write directly into the Word document you're using and save the editing marks, which is extremely helpful."
One of the board's benefits, Parker adds, is that all students can easily see the images, enabling the lesson to become an engaging group activity. "Instead of crowding around little monitors, the students take turns interacting with the computer," she says. "They also get support from each other. The teacher can use it to demonstrate, then the students can use it to practice, but without feeling like they're put on the spot." Parker uses the interactive whiteboard in class daily, often in conjunction with the Internet, she adds, "in all subjects: reading, literacy, math, writing, science, geography, and social studies."
The companies that make and install interactive whiteboards usually offer tutorials on their Web sites, or provide onsite training for a fee. But most educators agree that they're easy to learn, and simple to operate. Becoming tech savvy has rarely been this easy.
What It Requires
Cost: Typically, $600-$2,000. Manufacturers of interactive whiteboards include Hitachi, InterWrite, Mimio, Panasonic, Promethean, and Smart Technologies.
Time to Set Up: Installation of the whiteboard and related software is done by the manufacturer or your school's IT staff. It should take two to three hours.
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Comments (18)
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Technology such as the
Technology such as the Panasonic Panaboard is an invaluable tool in the classroom. Hopefully one day we will see them in every school!
Combining classic educational
Combining classic educational techniques with technology is a great idea. There are many possibilities in the technological industry to help the teaching process, and these things should be used as they would serve the students in the first place, to understand better and the teachers, who's job may be a bit easier. I actually understood that for the teaching certification it is required to have minimum computer skills, these day. this is only natural, as a teacher should be able to exploit the very vast resources found on the internet, and use the possibilities I have mentioned above!
Glenda Robertson is right on
Glenda Robertson is right on point about how students respond to anything delivered on the white board. They are engaged and focused without prompting. It is a wonderful tool.
Fully developed lessons and activities are the way to go
Board doesn't matter. It about content. Content that is lacking with this technology. The software is like using Windows when it first came out. Remember "Paint"???
The board is a great tool if you have vibrant, professionally developed lessons. See these free examples at www.aartpack.com/interactive. They also accept teachers ideas for lessons and they create them.
Don't bother with that outdated software that is limited and tends to crash, but use the board using Flash lessons. Students love them.
Thanks for sharing. Great
Thanks for sharing.
Great article.
keep posting!
Movie Synopsis
Thanks for sharing. Great
Thanks for sharing.
Great article.
keep posting!
Movie Synopsis
How Are They Being Used
Now that smart boards are such a common place in American classrooms, we can begin asking how they are being used. Do we really want twenty students watching as two students interact with the computer? There should be some creative ways of getting all students thinking and interacting most of the time.
Interactive Whiteboards
I'd like to know more about how to build the Johnny Lee Chung interactive whiteboard mentioned above. I think the SMART boards are a great innovation (still using overhead projector and dry erase boards here) but they cannot be effective if a school does not have them installed in every room. We currently share 3 boards on mobile carts for a 16 room high school--I do not use them because I can't guarantee that they'll be available when I need them. The end result is "finders-keepers" and "possession is 9/10ths of the Law" when it comes to technology. I will admit that I have sole possession of the oldest LCD projector, as I am the only one who can consistently make it work (and am willing to endure its foibles, like intermittent contact with my Macintosh!).
I sometimes think that people outside education imagine that teachers' access to technology is similar to the business world -- this discussion is proof positive that we, as educators, often get short shrift when it comes to technology. I'm still hostage to the copy machine which breaks down just before I need to copy a major handout for my kids.
Jim Boyer
Innovation marches on
From my blog:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5s5EvhHy7eQ - The video details the set up and uses for an interactive whiteboard using a Nintendo Wii remote and an inexpensive LED light.
Public educators have a responsibility to embrace this kind of innovation and move it from the laboratory to the classroom. Why? First, it’s way cheaper than some other interactive whiteboard solutions. Second (and more importantly), this kind of innovation serves as an example of what we hope our students will aspire to in the future. Why not involve them in research and development in the present?
Johnny Chung Lee has made the source code available online, which means testers and developers can work together to shape this technology to fit many different needs. Step right up to the future of educational technology.
Hitachi has already made a
Hitachi has already made a multi-touch whiteboard its called the FX 77 Duo and is about the same price or cheaper than the board in this article.