Advances in technology have made learning more interesting and fun. No offense teachers-we know you never get the credit you deserve anyway. During a recent school tour a community representative asked a group of students who were showing off their new learning lab what they liked best about it. The majority of students said they now enjoyed learning math, but did not like math at all before the lab. The community representative sagely stated that the teachers were still doing most of the teaching but the computers were getting the credit. Today’s technology in the classroom should be viewed as an enhancement to what the teacher is already doing-teaching the students.
The interactive whiteboard is one of the more unique technological advances that have practical uses in the classroom. This is similar to the type of white board that you use dry erase markers to write on each day instead of a traditional chalkboard. The new whiteboard allows the use of real time graphic information to be presented on the whiteboard through a projector that uses multi-media sources. Through the SMART brand system you can listen to a speech, watch a DVD or use the Internet through just one system. You do not have to find multiple power outlets or drag in the TV cart with the DVD player, then power up the classroom desktop for the next lesson-it’s all in one system. Pre-loaded software can help teachers to deepen the level of learning in subject specific areas.
Some of the benefits of using an interactive whiteboard are:
• Because interactive whiteboards are so like conventional whiteboards, they can help even techno phobic teachers to use technology comfortably for presentations from the front of the room.
• They make it easy for teachers to enhance presentation content by easily integrating all kinds of material in a lesson: a picture from the internet, a graph from a spreadsheet and text from a Word file in addition to student and teacher annotations on these objects.
• They allow teachers to easily and rapidly create customized learning objects from a range of existing content and adapt it to the needs of the class in real time.
• They allow learners to absorb information more easily.
• They allow learners to participate in group discussions by freeing them from note taking.
• They allow learners to work collaboratively around a shared task/work area.
• When used for whole class interactive testing of understanding, they can provide learner feedback rapidly.(Benefits taken from a Tech Learn briefing.)
The biggest disadvantage of the interactive whiteboard is its high cost. Sometimes grants and other funding may be available to help make the system more cost effective.