Introduction
Recently, there's been a big boom in bringing classrooms into the 21st century. This notion that setting up and creating a 21st century classroom is what all schools should strive for is primarily a business marketing tactic; it’s not something supported by research. The biggest push for creating a 21st century classroom is equipping these very classrooms with Interactive White Boards (IWB), a costly piece of equipment that can run up towards five grand per IWB. In a school with thirty different classrooms, this would cost the school district $150,000. And this is only the purchase cost; it does not include installation, training, or any added features you will need in the long run.
Recently, there's been a big boom in bringing classrooms into the 21st century. This notion that setting up and creating a 21st century classroom is what all schools should strive for is primarily a business marketing tactic; it’s not something supported by research. The biggest push for creating a 21st century classroom is equipping these very classrooms with Interactive White Boards (IWB), a costly piece of equipment that can run up towards five grand per IWB. In a school with thirty different classrooms, this would cost the school district $150,000. And this is only the purchase cost; it does not include installation, training, or any added features you will need in the long run.
In addition to hefty costs, IWBs don’t really
add anything to the class that a laptop/projector combo can’t do. In reality, many teachers use IWBs as a “glorified”
laptop/projector combo. In many cases
this is due to teachers not knowing how to effectively use IWBs, but in other
cases this is due to IWBs not offering much more than other, less costly
technology options. Often times when administrators
go into classrooms that have IWBs, they see them being used as a
projector. In fact, in some classrooms
teachers post student grades or student work on the IWBs, using them as a
$5,000 bulletin board. In one true
instance of a teacher effectively using an IWB to teach their students that no
other piece of technology can do was a teacher playing a vocabulary game on the
IWB. Students would throw suction cup
darts at the board. Depending on where
it hit, the teacher would then open the box it hit and read that team a
question. This way truly incorporates an
IWB into the classroom in a way that no other technology can, something that all teachers should strive for in classrooms already equipped with this technology. However, the fact of the matter remains that the
majority of educational strategies can be done with a simple laptop/projector combo
with a reliable connection to the internet, like teaching from a PowerPoint,
showing videos on YouTube, listening to music, students presenting their work,
and a myriad of many other ways. The few extra options IWBs classrooms doesn't justify the extra costs that come with it.
Extra Links
The Interactive Whiteboard: Weighing the Pros and Cons
Personally, I'm a big fan of pros and cons, and this article is a great, critical article on IWBs. I was personally attracted to these article because it takes foreign language teaching as its main focus, in particular ESL, but the same information can be applied to other disciplines.
3 Practical Uses for Interactive Whiteboards
Many schools have already equipped many of their classrooms with IWBs. This article discusses three ways we can use IWBs effectively--and practically--in the classroom that no other technology can imitate.
Interactive Whiteboards: Truths and Consequences
This article helps strengthen the rest of the articles I read this week, supporting much of the material Dr. Siko posted on our classroom's Blackboard site. It adds other arguments and research disapproving of IWBs, such as that IWBs are counterintuitive in that they revert teachers to a 19th century lecture style.
Extra Links
The Interactive Whiteboard: Weighing the Pros and Cons
Personally, I'm a big fan of pros and cons, and this article is a great, critical article on IWBs. I was personally attracted to these article because it takes foreign language teaching as its main focus, in particular ESL, but the same information can be applied to other disciplines.
3 Practical Uses for Interactive Whiteboards
Many schools have already equipped many of their classrooms with IWBs. This article discusses three ways we can use IWBs effectively--and practically--in the classroom that no other technology can imitate.
Interactive Whiteboards: Truths and Consequences
This article helps strengthen the rest of the articles I read this week, supporting much of the material Dr. Siko posted on our classroom's Blackboard site. It adds other arguments and research disapproving of IWBs, such as that IWBs are counterintuitive in that they revert teachers to a 19th century lecture style.
I student assisted in a classroom that used an IWB ALL the time. We used it in the morning for calendar, used it as a projector for examples, used it for spelling lessons/games/activities, used it for math, science, and several other times through out the day. I found that the IWB was almost always an interactive learning experience for all students. Students can volunteer or be chosen to walk up to the IWB, for example, and use their finger to point to the correct word or letter in a spelling lesson. I agree with your statement about the costly part being a bit excessive, but you also said that we are in the 21st century which means that we are living in a world of advanced technology-and that technology is only going to continue to grow. So, the way I see the IWB is not only as an extremely interactive and useful tool in the classroom, it is also a way to introduce children to different means of learning and technology use.
ReplyDeleteIn high school I had two years of AP calculus in a classroom with an IWB. He used it a lot, and tried to find unique ways for us to help us learn using the SmartBoard. Unfortunately, Smartboards end up being under utilized a majority of the time and turn into a projector that can save overhead notes well, and can display students' videos well. What do you think we can do to improve IWB use most?
ReplyDeleteWow, I checked out a neat article from the NEA(National Education Association) and can understand much better where you are coming from Sarah! http://www.neamb.com/professional-resources/using-interactive-whiteboard.htm
ReplyDeleteThe best way to get students more involved in a classroom with an IWB is to do a ton with it. I am really interested as a Math and Psychology Education Major, if an IWB really does have more students share their thoughts than in a classroom with just a traditional whiteboard. What do you think?
A study by Türel,and Johnson from 2012 found that teachers most enjoyed the ability to enhance their presentations with their IWB. They could highlight, color, draw, zoom, and incorporate outside visual objects into their presentations. I think that we can improve IWB use most by finding more ways to utilize the capabilities of the board for new learning opportunities for students. Do you think every school in the United States will be able to have IWBs in 20 years?
I strongly believe that an IWB in either a math OR psyc class would encourage more participation from your students! Not only is it more 'interesting,' since its basically like a huge touch screen white board, but there is just so much that it has to offer - which I am sure you learned about in the article! I would imagine that MOST schools have one with in atleast the next 10 years - however, the only thing that I see getting in the way of acomplishing this is what Daniel said in his initial post; that they are extremely expensive. I can see this becoming a problem for some school districts. Maybe there will be grants/donations? You never know!
ReplyDeleteTwo things to think about: first, try to find something that CLEARLY states that using IWBs improve outcomes SIGNIFICANTLY over just a whiteboard or tablets (and considering price). Second, one of the drawbacks, even if they use it frequently, is that only a few students (and usually one) can use it at any given time. Thus, the rest of the class has the ability to disengage.
ReplyDelete