6 interactive whiteboard tips

Photo by David Goehring on Flickr

In my last post, entitled Cinderella Technology, I wrote about the tremendous potential of the interactive whiteboard (IWB) and highlighted some of the reasons why it often fails to be realised in school classrooms.

They have been around for a long time, but IWBs seem to have polarised teachers.

There are those who use the IWB avidly, incorporating it into their lessons, embedding it into their programmes of study and exploiting the potential of the onboard tools.

There are others who avoid the use of the IWB studiously, and even some who are opposed to its use, claiming that it is distracting, too expensive, complicated or unnecessary.

The label of 'Cinderella technology' was offered because of the failure of capitalise extensively on the power of IWBs to inspire, engage and enrich. I promised six things teachers should consider if they wish to optimise the IWB in their classrooms:

• Firstly, it's important that IWBs are optimally positioned within learning spaces. I have seen classrooms where the IWB has been poorly positioned, so that there is only limited sightline or access for some students. For smaller children, the adjustability of a screen to varying heights is also important. If they can't reach it, they can't use it. Some IWBs have runners that enable height adjustment, and a projector arm incorporated into the design to obviate the need for continual recalibration. 
• Secondly, IWBs run on software that periodically requires upgrading. Schools can arrange for updates to be automatically installed overnight, or during non-teaching hours. Having access to all the latest tools and services means that teachers can provide the best possible experience for their students. SMART's Learning Suite, for example, is a useful online resource that shows how educators can get the best out of their IWBs. 
• Thirdly, teachers need time to tinker, experiment and test out new ideas and new pedagogies. Building training time into the school year for educators is rarely time wasted. In my experience, one of the biggest factors in the failure of any technology is poor use or lack of knowledge of the affordances of the tool. Failure to understand the capabilities of a technology will often result in poor use, lack of use, and ultimately, rejection.
• Fourthly, in relation to the above point, there should be time for teachers to express their creativity. Teachers need to know what the possibilities are, and then they need to have opportunities to apply their imagination and ideation to the technology before they use it with students. 
• It's also worth remembering that the introduction of any new idea, whether it is technology or technique, needs to be managed with the user in mind. In other words, school leaders who wish their staff to travel with them need to lead by example, promote dialogue and above all, listen to what the team says. Managers need to win the hearts and minds of teachers if they wish to see IWBs successfully adopted into everyday practice (Wheeler and Winter, 2005).
• Finally, teachers should see the potential for the IWB to become more than just another teaching tool. The positioning of the screen can reinforce teacher centred approaches to education, but conversely can be used to encourage deeper engagement and participation from students. The interactive capabilities of large screen touch surfaces should evoke ideas about how students can be involved. I have seen some incredibly effective teaching that involves students taking turns to use the board to present their ideas, perform their work and interact with content on the screen. 

I hope you can see that there is still a tremendous potential for interactive whiteboards in the classroom. To bring this Cinderella technology to the ball, teachers need to spend some time and energy preparing it and practising its use, exploring the possibilities and testing out new ideas and pedagogies. Teachers need to ask the 'what if?' questions and test out the possibilities of the technology. Ultimately, the success or failure of any classroom technology is in the hands of the practitioner. If the teacher sees good, appropriate uses and the potential to extend, enrich and enhance learning and engage the student, then they will do all they can to embed the technology, and apply it to make their lessons successful.

In the next post in this series, I will discuss some of the specific affordances the IWB offers to education and offer a magnificent seven ways to enhance learning for all students.

Reference
Wheeler, S. and Winter, A. (2005) Winning hearts and minds. In S. Wheeler (Ed) Transforming Primary ICT. Exeter: Learning Matters.


6 interactive whiteboard tips by Steve Wheeler was written in Plymouth, England and is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.