What are Interactive whiteboards?

Response to Module 4

When I was in high school interactive whiteboards were quickly gaining popularity in the classroom. At the time they were a relatively new technology in education, but the promises it held for improving classroom learning and interaction saw many schools quickly invest (Smith, Higgins, Wall & Miller, 2005). Smith, Higgins, Wall & Miller (2005) highlight  the positive support for interactive whiteboard’s in their article and they quote the UK’s former Secretary of State for Education and Skills, Charles Clarke prediction that “…every school of the future will have an interactive whiteboard in every classroom” (91). In Betcher & Lee’s article The Interactive Whiteboard Revolution (2009) they also foresee the interactive whiteboard becoming “…synonymous with the new digital classrooms of the twenty-first century” as the blackboard became with the traditional classroom (1).

Interactive whiteboards or IWB’S are a form of display technology that as Roblyer & Doering (2014) describe …“supports whole class or large group demonstration of information from a computer” (p.21). At first glance IWB’S look very similar to a regular whiteboard, being a large, white screen that can be used to write class notes or activities on. As some of my unaware high school teachers quickly discovered, they are in fact very different, and a whiteboard marker cannot be wiped off an IWB screen with a whiteboard eraser!

An interactive whiteboard or an electronic whiteboard is a display screen that is connected to a computer and digital projector (Smith et al., 2005). Information can be projected on to this screen and drawings or notes can be made on top with special pens or your hand. These screens can then be saved on to your computer and reopened or revised later. As the interactive whiteboard is connected to your computer anything that you can do on your computer can then be transferred onto the IWB screen e.g. PowerPoint presentations, videos, spreadsheets or pages from the internet (Kaczuwka, 2008). This means that multimedia can be easily included into classroom lessons and students can engage visually and aurally to activities. As IWB’s are touch sensitive boards they allow for students and teachers to personally connect and engage with the screen and classroom lessons (Kaczuwka, 2008).

Below is a picture of an interactive whiteboard being used in the classroom.

Image retrieved from: https://www.learningsolutionsmag.com/articles/116/technology-in-the-classroom-interactive-whiteboards

References:

Betcher, C. & Lee, M. (2009). The Interactive Whiteboard Revolution: Teaching with IWB’S. Camberwell, Vic.: ACER Press.

Kaczuwka, A. (2008, February 25). Technology in the Classroom: Interactive whiteboards. Learning Solutions Magazine

Roblyer, M., & Doering, A. (2014). Pearson New International Edition. Integrating Educational Technology into Teaching. Harlow, England: Pearson

Smith, H.J., Higgins, S., Wall, K. & Miller, J. (2005). Interactive whiteboards: boon or bandwagon? Journal of Computer Assisted Learning, 21 (2). Doi: 10.1111/j.1365