Using interactive whiteboards

Interactive whiteboards are probably the best advance in creative delivery using ICT since computers were actually first introduced into the classroom. They can do so much, and it's well worth contacting your IT department and seeing if you can get on board (groan) with some training.

What do they do?

There are four components: a computer, software, a projector, and a screen. You can write on it like a standard whiteboard, but with the added advantage that you can call up graphics, capture on-screen notes, have games - in short, a much more diverse lesson can be created. You can have several 'pages' on the go at any one time, which means that you don't have to keep flipping back to previous flip-chart pages, or having to rewrite stuff you've wiped off a standard whiteboard. You can also have a 'blind' which you can have over the display to reveal sections of your screen bit by bit - just like using a piece of card to cover aspects of an overhead projector transparency.

Some of them also have a facility where you can have a look at what's on your learners' monitors. If you're also projecting at the same time this can cause some red faces! It's a very handy facility if you have a large class going on and you want to check that your learners are actually doing their work and not hanging out on Facebook.

Some let you 'project' your own display onto the learners' monitors, which is great for giving demos.

Who makes them?

The two market leaders are SMART Technology's SmartBoard and Promethean's ActivBoard. Hitachi also do one called the Cambridge Board.

Why use them?

Students are increasingly tech-savvy and will have used these in schools. All primary schools in the UK now have them, and 98% of secondary schools. Learning is definitely enhanced by using them. You can have a much wider range of learning materials to call on, which also can be a lot of fun for students. You can go here for a great guide on what they can do to help you in the classroom. It's a downloadable pdf.

What are the pitfalls?

Heh - good question.

• Powercuts! These are rare, nowadays, really.
• Software failure can be much more common - nothing against the manufacturers, but who knows what settings have been tweaked around with by previous users of the classroom. Make sure your settings are unique to you and your login, rather than to the PC you're using.
• User inexperience - get some training! Your IT department will be delighted you want to make use of their resources. Make sure, however, that your training is training, and not a demonstration, that you - and all the other trainees - really get to play around, mess up, have fun and learn how these things are used. There is nothing more embarrassing than a crowd of stroppy young faces all telling 'sir' or 'miss' how it's done.
• Screen-Projector misalignment means that you point to one part of the screen and your cursor appears slightly offset. There are usually calibration settings to help the software work out where you're actually pointing, although sometimes the screen or projector can be moved slightly. You'll need help, though, otherwise it can drive you nuts running backwards and forwards!
• Student over-exposure. We had an interesting comment from some of our college students recently, that they actually prefer handouts as it's 'real work' and felt that using interactive whiteboards was a little too much like being at school.