Interactive Whiteboards

Blackboards and chalk, iconic classroom items, have been replaced by a new super whiteboard. In our third session we were introduced to the Interactive Whiteboard (IWB). The Interactive whiteboard is a large touch-sensitive screen which works with a computer or projector.

'It can be used as an alternative to virtually every other classroom resources, traditional and modern, for example blackboards, flip charts, OHPs, maps, pictures, number lines, 'big books', calculators, and cassette and video players.  At a touch, the teacher has access to a bank of resources that would previously have been taken years to accumulate and a vast cupboard to store.'

   - BECTA 2006, Teaching Interactively with Electronic Whiteboards in the Primary Phase       (https://publications.becta.org.uk/download.cfm?resID=25918))

The Interactive whiteboard is an incredibly powerful tool with huge educational value. It is great for collaboration, sharing and discussing ideas. The IWB works on lots of different levels and is linked to different learning styles; audio, visual and kinesthetic. It can be used to deliver a wide variety of benefits to the classroom, such as:

• Provides whole class participation in presentations and discussions
• Develops children's thinking, discussion, literacy and ICT skills
• Lessons can be enhanced by easily integrating video, animation, graphics, text and audio
• Can be used to reach SEN and EAL pupils with unique and diverse learning styles

'Interactive whiteboards affect learning in several ways, including raising the level of student engagement in a classroom, motivating students and promoting enthusiasm for learning. Interactive whiteboards support many different learning styles and are used in a variety of learning environments, including those catering to students with hearing and visual impairments.'

                                                                                       - SMART Technologies Inc 

Raising children's achievement and enhancing their learning whilst keeping them up to date with technological advances can only be seen as a good thing. It appears Interactive whiteboards can play an influential role in children's learning and will remain a prominent feature in the classroom. 

Gone are the days of blackboards and chalk.

This link provides both resources and research findings from six schools who took part in a whiteboard pilot project.

http://www.kenttrustweb.org.uk/kentict/kentict_iwb_smart.cfm