Session 2: Interactive Whiteboards

Interactive whiteboards can be greatly beneficial to learning in the primary school- if they are used often enough and to their full potential. However, many teachers may not feel confident in using them or using all the resources they can provide.
Despite the education benefits of the interactive whiteboard, there are some considerations:
-You will need a back up plan if the technology fails- which isn't that unlikely!
-It must be at the correct height so the children can reach it
-Consider whether everyone in the class can see it and whether the lighting is suitable
-Will your classroom have it's own interactive whiteboard or will you have to share?
-Are you using it interactively or just as a normal whiteboard?

However, although there are various considerations, the benefits seem to outweigh the negatives. They can be beneficial for the following reasons:
-Developing discussion skills- they enable you to have text already set up on the whiteboard such as discussion questions
-Audio, visual and kinaesthetic learners will all benefit from this type of learning
-It provides a record of what happened in the classroom that you can go back to and review
-It is more stimulating and motivating for children as it is a more entertaining interactive form of learning
-It may help SEN and EAL children, especially as a source for visual learning
-It can be a useful tool for developing ICT skills, for the teacher as well as the children!

In our ICT session this week we split in to groups and each had a go at using a resource on the interactive whiteboards, which we then showed to the rest of the class and taught them how to use it. Our group focused on a tool called 'Click to reveal'.
The instructions follow:

We used to tool in our group to create a mathematics activity. Sums were written on the board (they were random but in your class they would be designed to meet the learning objectives of that lesson). These sums had one part missing, this could be the answer or one of the main parts of the sum e.g. 5 + ? = 9 or 4 + 11 = ?. The children would have to work out the missing part and click on a button to reveal the answer. An activity like this may engage the children more than simply answering sums in their maths books. It is interactive and therefore should be more engaging, especially for children who benefit from visual activities.

It was a useful lesson as we learnt one tool in depth, and briefly learnt the other tools that the other groups presented. Following the lesson I am downloading the software and practicing with the different tools so that I can confidently use them in my teaching.

This book is useful to read to understand the benefits of IWB's:

http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=XU7NzGpb_-UC&printsec=frontcover&dq=interactive+whiteboard&hl=en&sa=X&ei=Z8W9UILTAa6r0AW454HADQ&ved=0CD4Q6AEwAA