I was at school with the whiteboard electrician, Steve yesterday as we resolved wiring problems in the new building. We are installing 4 new interactive whiteboards in the new learning spaces as well as motorized screens and data projectors in the Visual Arts area and Library. I now know that wiring over 7 meters in length requires shielded CAT 5 cables -uuukkk – problem solved with boosters at a cost of $200 per set.
Anyway I have been doing some research on the use of digital whiteboards in schools and ultimately were there any studies showing improvements in student learning. Early reports have shown the initial increase in student motivation and engagement although I did wonder was this just the “new visual” technology fad. I then began to think about this very powerful technology in the hands of teachers who wanted students to demonstrate learning – deeper active learning. I came across this presentation which I think is both balanced and enlightening. It’s worth a look!
The other discovery was this great site, slideshare that allows presentations like this to be shown on blogs and websites and thats worth a look at as well.
Jason.
We have installed another batch of IWB’s in our new center for senior students. This time we have installed them at a students height [access and usability for the learner]. My teachers have convinced me to install batches of IWB’s in teams [e.g. year 5/6 team] so that there is some internal support, some sharing and mutal accountability towards each other to use the technology to not only engage our mainly visual learners but promote greater colloborative dialogue on deeper understandings. Boards without deeper learning challenges and teacher feedback to both groups and individuals are just expensive toys.
Thanks for embedding my presentation! It provoked conversation about the role of IWBs and the hype surrounding them. I love using mine but it is not really as revolutionary as the vendors would make out. A boring lesson is still boring on an IWB.
Slideshare really is great. Stuff gets embedded by interested people all over and it is great just to browse for interesting and relevant material. Although you might have noticed that the conversion process is not perfect, text is sometimes incorrectly sized. I also use http://www.scribd.com which is similar but instead of just focusing on slideshows you can upload and embed docs, pdfs, xls, you name it.