To IWB or not to IWB?

The school I'm currently placed at has recently finished construction of a brand new science building, complete with new lab benches, gas outlets, fume cupboards, and of course half a dozen state of the art IWBs.

The arrival of this relatively new, and rather expensive, piece of technology in the classroom has been the cause a large amount of debate amongst the teaching staff. A number of teachers have expressed their concerns over the cost of the IWBs, claiming that they're nothing more than 'a giant waste of money' and even 'just a glorified projector'. These teachers argue that money could have been spent more effectively elsewhere.

Indeed it appears that these teachers are not alone in questioning the value of the IWB to teaching, see here and here for a small sample.

However, this is only part of the story at my current school. Other teachers have embraced the new technology; these teachers have taken time to receive PD and delibrately developed strategies for using the IWB in their classes. These teachers have not just used the IWB as a 'glorified projector', but have allowed them to be an interactive experience for the students, similar to the methods suggested by Tony Jones (2011). In these classes, teachers have students come up to the IWB and actively engage, moving atoms around to balance chemical equations or chromosomes to complete the mitosis/meiosis cycle. Not only does this approach allow students to actively participate in the learning process, but it can also assist teachers in seeing what students do, say, make or write, and therefore aids formative assessment.

I believe that the IWB will be as useful as teachers make it. As John Murnane (2011) says: 'If you just treat the computer as a text book you'll get all the advantages of a text book, a rather good one, but a text book all the same.' The same applies to IWBs, use it as a 'glorified projecter', and thats what you'll get, but used effectively, by putting time into PD and developing lesson plans that allow students to actively participate, then it can be much more.

 

Jones, T. (12/9/11). ICT in Secondary Education: Lecture 5. 'Interactive Whiteboards'.

 

Murnane, J. (25/7/11). ICT in Seconday Education: Lecture 1. 'Why, How and What?'. Retreived October 2, 2011, from: http://app.lms.unimelb.edu.au/webapps/portal/frameset.jsp?tab_tab_group_id=_5_1&url=%2Fwebapps%2Fblackboard%2Fexecute%2Flauncher%3Ftype%3DCourse%26id%3D_231568_1%26url%3D