Because IWBs are still new, one of the downfalls is that there has not been a significant amount of research done on all the aspects of using them. But enough research has been done to show that a teacher can't just hook up an IWB and use it, and then see benefits his/her students are getting. The way the teacher uses the IWB is the important part. Many teachers use these IWBs as another projection screen or a regular white board. That sort of defeats the "interactive" part of interactive white boards, in my opinion. But it is understandable - this is a whole new technology that I only experienced for the first time in my senior year of high school, and I'm even in that generation of kids that barely remember a time before cell phones. But using IWBs without using their interactivity functions doesn't add anything to a classroom. I know better than most that technology can be frustrating, and learning new technology does require a certain amount of time that not everyone has. But when it will benefit your students and how they learn, is any amount of time not going to be worth it? And there are already so many resources made for IWBs, like at Promethean Planet. So, realistically, effectively using IWBs could save teachers a lot of time in the future!
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| Here, a teacher is using the dragging/dropping information and matching items abilities of an IWB to check her students understanding of the content. |
One relatively easy way to fix this big problem is to have teachers participate in professional development, to really dig in and look at all the different ways interactive white boards can be used to benefit their students. Interactivity in lessons adds to active learning, which is a huge part with a lot of the new educational reform and its focus on inquiry-based teaching. Presenting things in a multi-modal fashion will cater to all your different kinds of learners: kinesthetic, visual, and auditory learners alike. We are in a generation where kids are obsessed with technology, so adding this interactivity to your lessons will also have your students' attentions right where you want that attention. On you, the teacher. IWBs can also add instant feedback if teachers use these in conjunction with student response systems, and adds a level of anonymity to the actual responses, so those students who do not answer questions aloud in class for fear of being wrong can also participate.
The benefits of using IWBs definitely outweigh their potential and perceived problems, because the majority of the perceived problems deal mostly with user error, or user misunderstanding. When something can increase my future students' understanding of the material I will teach, and when that something can also generally increase their achievement, or even just add to their personal sense of enjoyment in my classroom or their self-confidence in a subject area, I am going to do everything in my power to learn as much as I can about whatever that thing might be. Let's get these teachers taught! I hope to see many opportunities to further my education with technology in the classroom, and I'd like to start with interactive white boards. Because they aren't just becoming popular, they are becoming the norm.
