What is the educational value of an interactive whiteboard?

Sunday, August 30th, 2009 | IWBs

Interactive whiteboards are great! They are far better than old-style blackboards or dry-wipe boards.

An interactive whiteboard allows you to do exactly what you did before on your old board – you can write on it and erase what you don’t require any longer. And in this lies the greatest strength of the interactive whiteboard – in its basic use it does not differ from the board you are used to.

But then it offers much more!

With little effort you can enhance your lessons by integrating multi-media – audio, graphics, animation and video – with the spoken presentation. You can even link to the internet in real time.

Lessons can be prepared beforehand by means of presentation software and displayed on the board. In addition, you can use your finger or stylus to annotate and highlight main points.

Everything you do on the interactive whiteboard – notes, diagrams, even entire lessons – can be saved for later use. If your school has a computer room with access to teachers and learners you can add your lesson to the school’s data library for use by your colleagues and learners.

A single computer in a classroom can only be accessed by a few learners at a time – with an interactive whiteboard you reach the entire class. Learners can come up to the board and interact with it physically and if you prepare your lessons with skill the board will become a vehicle for intellectual interaction.

The interesting use of different media grabs the attention of learners and improves discipline.

These are just a few of the advantages of using an interactive whiteboard. It should be clear to you that such a board will enhance the educational experience in the classroom. Of course, seeing is believing, so you have to try it out yourself.

Click here for more information about interactive whiteboards.

Tags: IWBs

5 Comments to What is the educational value of an interactive whiteboard?

Mark C
Sunday, 30 August, 2009

I agree with your sentiments and I want to highlight an important sentence: “Of course, seeing is believing, so you have to try it out yourself”.

ALBIE
Monday, 31 August, 2009

Very simple – a new technological device making teaching, learning and growing in the educational arena more valuable with ease !!

Albie

Dereck Marnewick
Monday, 31 August, 2009

There cannot be much doubt that used correctly and when appropriate that it is a valuable tool.

A Porsche is also great, and I would love someone to donate one to me. But would I be able to afford the running costs? The insurance, tyre replacements, services …

Can anybody out there work out the total cost of ownership of an interactive whiteboard?

Kathy McCabe
Monday, 31 August, 2009

Actually, Dereck, an IWB can SAVE money too. Remember the days of comprehension books and class reading books and grammar books and Big Books… The need for all those resources falls away if you can project books with pictures, worksheets, audiovisual aids etc onto a big screen. Of course you can do much more than just project this material – you can interact; construct knowledge; hear the words read to you in your choice of language; communicate with others around the world…

I go into classrooms that are still using reading books that were printed in the 1970s. Imagine how dated the pictures and story lines are, and the state the books are in. With an internet-linked IWB you can keep up to date with the latest resources in education, without having to buy new text books. The text book budget can then be spent on internet connectivity, blinds, printing ink etc.

So, there are additional costs in owning an IWB. But I am finding that there are corresponding savings that counteract these costs.

Dereck Marnewick
Tuesday, 1 September, 2009

Hi Kathy, so are you suggesting that it’s not a good idea to have the learner go home with a book? Are we expecting all the learners ot have internet access at home?
I think we have all realised the mistake that was made in the early 90′s here in SA were it was suggested that we no longer need textbooks, but that’s another debate.
The question still remains – what is the total cost of ownership of an electronic whiteboard, DVP and PC in every classroom?

Subscribe RSS Feed now