Can an interactive whiteboard be instrumental in improving my subject knowledge?

Tuesday, February 9th, 2010 | IWBs

There are many different reasons why you may want to improve your subject knowledge. A few possibilities are:

You may be a new, inexperienced teacher, still needing to grow your subject knowledge.

Perhaps your teacher training did not equip you with sufficient content knowledge.

You may be required to teach a new subject – one that you have never taught before.

A change in curriculum may result in gaps in your subject knowledge that you would like to fill.

Knowledge changes constantly and for your teaching to remain relevant you have to keep your own knowledge up to date.

You may simply have a desire to grow beyond your current knowledge level.

Regardless of the reasons why you want to grow in subject knowledge, an interactive whiteboard can help you – perhaps not directly but in an incidental way. Here are a few ways in which it can be of use to you:

Software that comes with the board, or add-on software packages written for your subject, could be a way of expanding your knowledge.

Material already available on the internet – worked examples, developed lessons, other resources available on user communities and portals – provides you with subject knowledge, as well as ways to use the information in the classroom.

Once you gain experience in the use of your interactive whiteboard, you will get many ideas on how to present material that you have never offered to a class before.

View your interactive whiteboard as a door to a library of electronic textbooks with up to date information. It can help you to increase your subject knowledge – but only to the extent that you are willing to use it.