Interactive Whiteboards

Smart Boards/Interactive Whiteboards are a fantastic invention. You can attach a computer, DVD player, have the internet all running through the whiteboard. They come with interactive pens which need to be configured when purchased. The teacher or learner can write on the board and the writing transforms itself into text.

Their are many advantages of having an interactive whiteboard in the classroom. Some advantages are that children seem to enjoy the interaction and experience of using the boards. It helps children with additional needs, it caters for all kinds of learning styles through seeing, touching and you can sometimes hear it. I would love to be able to have a classroom that had an interactive whiteboard. You can use it for many applications. I would like to brainstorm on it, it would be great for mindmaps. If we were researching Egypt, we could jump online and onto Google Earth, locate the pyramids and take a snap shot for our project, all in the comfort of your classroom.

Like anything else their are disadvantages, and I feel the top one would be the cost. The wires hooked to the board can be hazardous around the learner's, when the projector is too far away from the screen it can be very sensitive and also shadows from the learner's can be a problem at times. But overall I feel the IWB's would be a great investment for any school, the benefits really outway the disadvantages, and the fact that they have found children to be more engaged is a big upside.

This is a video explaining how Smart Boards work:-




I really like this video because it gives you an idea how student orientated the smart boards can be, each child can get up and have a turn, getting the children motivated and engaged with the task at hand.



References

Smartclassrooms. (2009, April 13). SMART Boards Why are they so easy to use? [Video File]. Retrieved on May 8, 2010 from
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0U05WeXPGlk

daviddettman. (2009, October 30). Student's using smartboard [Video file]. Retrieved on May 8, 2010 from
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vBgx5AeoGlo&feature=related