Are "Interactive White Boards" transformative to your teaching and/or classroom?

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Permalink Reply by M Robinson on March 14, 2009 at 6:42pm

Some emerging research and insights on IWBs & Clickers/Instructional Feedback in this interview with Dr Robert Marzano and Dr Debra Pickering

http://mefeedia.com/entry/cue-live-2009-dr-robert-marzano-and-dr-de...

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Permalink Reply by Heather Davis on March 15, 2009 at 2:19am

I have a permanent Promethean board in my room and have been using it for 3years. I cannot imagine teaching without one anymore. I from the generation where coloured chalk was a exciting for students. I have actively pursued my training with my board and am completing my Level Three training in a couple of months.

The secret to using an IWB is the amount of time you spend actually getting to know your board and what it is capable of doing. For the students in my room this is their second year with an IWB so they take it for granted.

I agree that tablets would be nice but you work within the system you are given and my school is being the IWB technology. The support from the Promethean Planet website plus their PD is incredible.

I admit that I don't always use the IWB to the best advantage and sometimes it is taking the place of a traditional whiteboard or a DVD player but even when using it for the mundane it raises the level of my teaching and the interaction of my students to a much higher level.

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Permalink Reply by Julie Baird on March 15, 2009 at 7:57am

Heather, I agree with your statement: "The secret to using an IWB is the amount of time you spend actually getting to know your board and what it is capable of doing." Without the training, people use them as glorified whiteboards. Fortunately training can be done online through the Promethean and SmartBoard websites as well as numerous blogs, podcasts and videocasts.

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Permalink Reply by Dan Maas on March 15, 2009 at 2:27pm

Precisely. It takes quite a bit of time for the board to become transformative... but the document camera is instant transformation.

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Permalink Reply by Dan Maas on March 15, 2009 at 2:25pm

I think it is a stretch. It can transform, but normally, it's just a digital chalkboard. The Document Camera on the other hand is amazing. While I do see SmartBoards left in halls or even removed from wall-mountings after the luster wears off, I have never seen any teacher in our district neglect their document cameras. So we don't recommend, nor promote interactive boards... for us, Document Cameras were the big push... and now, nearly every classroom in every elementary school has them in our district.

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Permalink Reply by Kelly Walsh on April 16, 2009 at 8:47am

I recently reviewed some free interactive whiteboards (in this two part blog posting), which can be a great to get started with this at no cost, assuming you are in a classroom with multiple computers (you need a computer to interact). Just thought I'd mention this option!

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Permalink Reply by John Hoffman on April 20, 2009 at 8:15am

Financially, whiteboards are $1000-$1400 (but coming down), and wireless tablets are $400-$600 (also coming down). The whiteboards are engaging and can be used by multiple persons up front as they take turns manipulating the screen. This is the only advantage I see with whiteboards. The wireless tablets, if RF (radio frequency), not IR (infra-red), work great, but take some practice getting the whole hand-eye coordination going. Working them like a mouse is quickly learned and as had been said below can be used throughout the classroom. Working them in writing or drawing and manipulating the various art type options needs to be practiced but once mastered really helps with presenting information. Based on costs alone, 2 or 3 wireless tablets vs 1 whiteboard gets similar technology in more classrooms.

John Hoffman

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Permalink Reply by Teacher S on April 29, 2009 at 9:29am

I have a SmartBoard in my classroom, several other teachers in my school do as well, and my dad's school has had one in every room for years - he is on his second one because the first was so old that they could not repair it. So, I feel like I have seen SmartBoard use over the years in many different settings, and I think that in MOST cases, it is the mounted projector that is really being utilized. I would be very happy with a mounted projector and a wireless keyboard and mouse. My thought is that you can get mounted projectors into more rooms, download the software so that people can start working with it and then see where the really transformative and interactive stuff might happen -- you can always add the board later.

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Permalink Reply by Chris Betcher on April 29, 2009 at 1:57pm

Hey Dan Mass...

Clearly you have an interest in document cameras.... probably a financial interest. Are you a document camera vendor?

How about telling us WHY you think they are so transformative instead of just spruiking them at every opportunity...

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Permalink Reply by Sylvia Martinez on February 3, 2010 at 7:15pm

Couple of new items to add to this forum.

Why I Hate Interactive Whiteboards By Bill Ferriter (Teacher magazine). A teacher talks about his own personal journey with IWBs and his current thoughts on their use in the classroom.

A "peer review" of Marzano's study of IWBs by Jon Becker. Since the Marzano study was not peer reviewed, Dr. Becker wrote a 5 part analysis of the study and its methodology on his personal blog. In short, Becker found some serious issues in the validity of the study. Dr. Becker has the qualifications to make these assertions, he's an assistant professor at the Educational Leadership Department at Virginia Commonwealth University, teaching courses in school law and educational research methods.

Anyone using the Marzano research to support their purchase of IWBs owes it to themselves to review this work.

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Permalink Reply by CWhitney on February 10, 2010 at 5:06pm

In our building we have opted out of the interactive white boards for a potential 1:1 laptop initiative. We aren't there yet, but want to put our time, energy, and money toward something that all students can use versus one student at a time. I also like the interactive response systems because it allows all students to be engaged at one time.

I have been looking for information on wireless tablets (cost, benefit...). I will look through the postings, but if anyone has resources or articles regarding this product I would love to see them.

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Permalink Reply by Aline Tabet on February 15, 2010 at 2:22pm

When I was in high school we had the opportunity to have white boards in our science and math rooms. We did not have tablets, but we did have the central white board. I think it is worth every penny, it allows the teacher to write on it and save what was written. That way the teacher can compile them as notes or go back to it if a question was asked about a previous concept. It also allows for the teacher to show websites or videos and other stuff on the internet to pertain to that lesson. It worked well for me in high school and it also gets the kids excited because it is something more than chalk and board.

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