How should teachers who are apprehensive towards interactive whiteboards be viewed?

Thursday, November 26th, 2009 | IWBs

One definition of “apprehension” is:

anticipation of adversity or misfortune;suspicion or fear of future trouble or evil.

Apprehension is not a negative emotion; it’s often a protection against jumping headlong into a situation for which you are not prepared.

Not all teachers are early adopters of technology – those eager beavers who grab technology innovations, understand them with little effort, and then apply them in the classroom.  Some teachers view new things with less enthusiasm, perhaps because they have been bitten in the past.  Their apprehension must not be seen as a negative but rather as bringing sanity into the crazy world of technical novelties.

Apprehensive teachers anticipate trouble: when they contemplate the installation of interactive whiteboards in their classrooms, they first think about the unpleasant things that may happen.

Granted, some of their concerns may be owing to a lack of understanding or experience, and exposure to the devices would clear these up.  But there is nothing wrong with having concerns, particularly since some of them could be valid.  Giving due consideration to these objections may help you to resolve some practical issues before they become problems.

An example of such a fear is: “what happens if the power goes down”.  The interruption of electricity is a reality in schools on the African continent – there is no guarantee that the energy providers will deliver a steady supply of power to your school.  This fear is therefore a real one, and you would be wise to have a Plan B in the event of an electricity interruption when you install interactive whiteboards in your school.

Don’t brush apprehensive teachers aside.  Expose them to the technology and help them to allay their unfounded fears.  But listen to them – they may be the voice of reason that will help you towards a successful implementation of interactive whiteboards in your school.

Click here for more information about interactive whiteboards.

Tags: IWBs, teachers

2 Comments to How should teachers who are apprehensive towards interactive whiteboards be viewed?

Mark C
Friday, 27 November, 2009

In this week I had the opportunity to connect the internet at a primary school in Khayelitsha. To test it I went to a classroom and as soon as the whiteboard sprung to life learners jumped up with excitement ready to touch this new thing. It was great! (check out khanyaeast blog).
Sometimes we need to let the child in us jump out and just do things. We were once there and we have forgotten what it was to be a child. As older people we have a lot to learn from how children deal with things such as technology. As my own child came to me this week and said :”Dad, I remembered how and I just did it!”.
Good for him and the children from Kuyasa Primary.

Kathy
Friday, 27 November, 2009

With time, patience and sustained exposure to training and support, even the most apprehensive teachers can be won over by the usefulness of technology in teaching.

These are often the older teachers at a school – been teaching there for donkey’s years; stable; know the system etc. Sometimes these are the best people to involve in sustainability issues. They are cautious, look after things, remember to order that spare toner to keep in the cupboard, know how to persuade the principal to buy new headphones for the lab, make sure the IWB and computers are kept clean etc. They don’t necessarily adapt to change quickly, but once they do they can be the reliable bedrock of the whole programme.

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