How good are interactive whiteboards in schools?

Would love to hear parents and teachers opinions of interactive whiteboards. Are they in your kids schools? What do you think of them? Are they used throughout Aus?
 
I dont know how "good" they are, but my daughters Yr 1 class has them - this is the first year, and all the Yr 1 and 2 classes have them now. My daughter loves that she can move things around with her finger. The teacher says they are gettng more and more programs etc that are very useful.

Big change from the oold fashioned blackboard!
 
both kids and teachers love them ... they can access the internet and project it on the screen as well as all the "normal" teaching stuff. the only disadvantage (so the teacher said) is that they can't keep "stuff" up in the corner of the board - ie, spelling words for the week - while operating other programs.

junior loves using it at it is so interactive and knowledge expansive.
 
Smartboard is a brand name of an interactive whiteboard.

I was supposed to get one last year but was "robbed" when someone else got it. Very disappointed.
I'm getting one soon. I love them and can't wait.

They open up so many opportunities. Like the photocopier changed things (in the olden days). LOL

Interactive whiteboard offer "well" interaction. Children can manipulate objects on the board, thus making lessons more interesting. I teach young kids and they get so excited, awareness and concentration improves and children are more willing to be involved. A small example. Instead of writing sentences on a whiteboard and getting kids to fill in the missing words. I created a page with the sentences on it. The kids clicked on the words at the bottom and dragged them to the right position. Pretty basic but the kids loved it. There are also many web pages already designed for use. I spent many hours one night just playing with them. FUN!!

You can converse with other schools across the globe and share lessons, experiences etc.
I think most schools would have a few now. Eventually all classrooms will have one. Many schools are putting funding into buying them (this is on top of the Govt allocated ones).
I'm only beginning to use them but am really looking forward to getting one in my room. I'm thinking I might not get home until much later then.
 
Smartboard is a brand name of an interactive whiteboard.

yer I know, just put that in because me and me sis-in-law had a bit of dispute around the Christmas table. :rolleyes: Her school has smart boards, not interactive whiteboards.

I was supposed to get one last year but was "robbed" when someone else got it. Very disappointed.
I'm getting one soon. I love them and can't wait.

They open up so many opportunities. Like the photocopier changed things (in the olden days). LOL

Interactive whiteboard offer "well" interaction. Children can manipulate objects on the board, thus making lessons more interesting. I teach young kids and they get so excited, awareness and concentration improves and children are more willing to be involved. A small example. Instead of writing sentences on a whiteboard and getting kids to fill in the missing words. I created a page with the sentences on it. The kids clicked on the words at the bottom and dragged them to the right position. Pretty basic but the kids loved it. There are also many web pages already designed for use. I spent many hours one night just playing with them. FUN!!

You can converse with other schools across the globe and share lessons, experiences etc.
I think most schools would have a few now. Eventually all classrooms will have one. Many schools are putting funding into buying them (this is on top of the Govt allocated ones). How much and what did Gov't allocate? Our school has 3. they are planning on purchasing 3 a year. It just doesn't sound right as it will take about 8 yrs to get one per class.
I'm only beginning to use them but am really looking forward to getting one in my room. I'm thinking I might not get home until much later then.
I was wondering if it was worth all the fuss to fundraise to get them sooner, but it sounds as though it is.

Have most schools purchased through fundraising? There's no grants you can apply for?
 
I peeked in the doorway when picking up my little lady and lo and behold, there was 'Charlie and Lola' playing away on the whiteboard! It looked great!

As far as I know every classroom has one but this is a Catholic school with high(ish) fees.

A great improvement on the old blackboard. Man, wasn't it hard when the teacher chose to write in red chalk?...:p
Hands up who had to write lines on the board (other than Bart). So hard when you're short, I had to stand on a chair. Very dodgy. How do they do lines these days?
 
As a principal/teacher, to be honest, most people use them much like a normal whiteboard. I have two in my school for my 20 kids, but currently none are working and thanks to EQ, ithe computer that runs it goes to standby every ten minutes or so, so I have to log on every time. They are not perfect either, kind of hard to write on them freehand and they have to be frequently callibrated.

On the other hand, they are very useful, IF the teacher can use it properly. I like to use flash games on it, like teaching kids "time" or getting on the net for teaching ICT skills etc.

In my opinion, the jury is still out. :confused:
 
They bought 2 or 3 of these at my daughter's old school (which had 18 students at the time, then dropped to 8, now it is closed - the same school also got a new playground and buildings and stuff last year, but that's budget misallocation for you). I don't know if they have them at her new school, which has 250 students. It probably does, they just don't let us sneak into the back of the class during lessons at the new school.

The smartboards were great. Some of the parents were playing Freecell on one after school one day :D

They still have the regular blackboards/whiteboards/pinboards to keep the regular stuff on, which always seems to feature a points tally for naughty/niceness ...
 
They're great. My kids school (inner west) has one in every classroom I think.
The P&C were going to stump up the money, Invstor, but the school ended up getting them through some sort of government funds allocation.
Like all those things, much depends on the teacher/operator. There is one teacher at the school who I bet doesn't make much use of the one in her classroom.
 
the only disadvantage (so the teacher said) is that they can't keep "stuff" up in the corner of the board - ie, spelling words for the week - while operating other programs.

We installed 2 Touch IWBs which at 2.4 metres wide give the space for spelkling lists etc and can be used witha normal whiteboard pen.
 
My daughters class has the only one in our Junior School. (there are others in other sections of school). So, at parent info night, the teacher wanted to show us how it worked............... except of course it malfunctioned!
The kids seem to appreciate it though.
Pen
 
At our parent info night the teacher was going to show us how it worked but he couldn't get it working :confused:
Apparently it's still sitting in the classroom and hasn't been used
 
I use a Smartboard one day a week, it is just another tool to use. It has it good and bad points.

The downside at our workplace is...

a) Go & get laptop, carry to classroom, open, sort out leads & plug in and connect all leads to Smartboard, start up computer and log on - BANG there is 10 - 15 minutes added to my preparation time.

b) Won't play DVD's our technical support person is trying to work out why.

c) We don't have whiteboard markers left in our classroom, so if I need use the ordinary whiteboard (or Guest Speakers do, I have to go and get whiteboard markers).

d) We have construction going on near our classroom, Smartboard vibrates up and down most days with the "Shakes".

e) Couldn't tell you the number of times I have been writing something up on whiteboard and it just disappears - so it is back to the laptop to open a word document and type up what I wanted to write on Smartboard.

f) Smartboard was positioned low so a person in a wheelchair could use, students have to lean either side of person in front to read last quarter of Smartboard or stand up.

As I said another teaching tool and it requires additional time to set up and pack up each day.

BANG 10 - 15 minutes to turn off, unplug leads, pack away and return to laptop etc. to technology cupboard.

Then you have the added security concern re being logged into internet with your log in - so when you leave classroom at breaks, remove thumb drive after laptop tells you it is safe to do so & log off & relog on & insert thumb drive again when you come back from breaks and open up the document you were using after security screening.


Regards
Sheryn
 
I use a Smartboard one day a week, it is just another tool to use. It has it good and bad points.

The downside at our workplace is... (I'm glad you added "at our workplace" as most of the things you listed are not Smartboard problems)

a) Go & get laptop, carry to classroom, open, sort out leads & plug in and connect all leads to Smartboard, start up computer and log on - BANG there is 10 - 15 minutes added to my preparation time.
We get laptops provided with the IW

b) Won't play DVD's our technical support person is trying to work out why.
Don't know why

c) We don't have whiteboard markers left in our classroom, so if I need use the ordinary whiteboard (or Guest Speakers do, I have to go and get whiteboard markers).
Why not? I have the space all ready for mine. I will have a whiteboard next to it for writing lists etc. I like to put things up with magnets also.

d) We have construction going on near our classroom, Smartboard vibrates up and down most days with the "Shakes".
Join the club. Our school is a major construction zone.

e) Couldn't tell you the number of times I have been writing something up on whiteboard and it just disappears - so it is back to the laptop to open a word document and type up what I wanted to write on Smartboard.
When I missed out on the last allocation I was asked if I wanted one of the old ones but I got so sick of hearing teachers complain about the problems I said no thanks, I'll wait.

f) Smartboard was positioned low so a person in a wheelchair could use, students have to lean either side of person in front to read last quarter of Smartboard or stand up.
Yeah. The one in our computer lab is like that. I teach kindy so it will have to be a bit low otherwise will need a step for them to reach it.

As I said another teaching tool and it requires additional time to set up and pack up each day.
Problem is with internet being down too. Some classrooms have no ordinary whiteboard so can't put anything on a board. You really need both.

BANG 10 - 15 minutes to turn off, unplug leads, pack away and return to laptop etc. to technology cupboard.

Then you have the added security concern re being logged into internet with your log in - so when you leave classroom at breaks, remove thumb drive after laptop tells you it is safe to do so & log off & relog on & insert thumb drive again when you come back from breaks and open up the document you were using after security screening.
I'll report back when I get mine. Hopefully the advantages out way the disadvantages. I love technology so am looking forward to it. I'm in the computer lab for 4 hours this week while they put boards up in my room so intend on giving the IW a workout then.

Regards
Sheryn

As mentioned it does depend on the teacher. It's like when they first put computers in the classrooms. Some teachers never even turned theirs on.
 
How good are interactive whiteboards in schools?

Not good enough to improve Year 10 student understanding of:
- linear, quadratic, and simultaneous equations
- compound interest
- trigonometric ratios.
 
So I said to my nine year last night, 'Mimi, does your teacher use the Smartboard much?'
'Yep.'
'What for?'
'We just watch TV.'
Then she proceeded to tell me about that thing they're doing with cane toad sausages to discourage native animals from eating them. She had that story down pat. I gather there is some kids news channel they watch. Then she told me all about the convicts and why they were sent out. So she's learning without realising it. I tend to think that if the teacher had told her about the convicts using books and a whiteboard, she wouldn't have relayed everything to me so enthusiastically. (But yes, there are some teachers who can make anything come alive.)
The bit that made me laugh was when she said, 'They chained the men convicts and the women convicts up seperately. I bet I know why.'
'Why, Mimi?'
'So they wouldn't sex and make little convicts.'
 
They come out with some bewdies, they know too much. On the first day back at school my ten year old realised two of her friends mums were more than just friends. I wont go into details but I was a little shocked at how much she knows and I'm glad I didn't need to explain.

So I guess the verdict is that interactive whiteboards are as important as a DSI. Good if you've got one but not a huge disadvantage if you don't.
 
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