Overview
Interactive whiteboards are more than an instructional tool for the teacher to show their technology skills. They are a way to engage your students and get them moving and thinking about the lesson. Interactive whiteboards allow the teacher to create innovative lessons that include multimedia content. They offer the teacher a variety of ways to present materials to students and assess their learning. The use of this tool allows interaction and collaboration between student and teacher.
In the article 'The visual helps me understand complicated things': Pupil Views of Teaching and Learning with Interactive Whiteboards (access through your educational institution will allow access to the full article), Wall, Higgins and Smith take a look at the students point of view on using the Interactive Whiteboard. The study used a Student Response Template that provided Thought Bubbles(Internal-Me) and Speech Bubbles(External-Others). The researchers asked students the following types of questions: “What new skills did you achieve when using the IWB?, Did the IWB change the way you think about the subject? How?, Why would you tell another school/teacher/child to use the IWB? What was good/not so good about using the IWB?"
The results of the research found that student felt the use of IWB’s Initiated learning, increased their understanding of content and improved concentration. These are only a few of their finding. Overall the students response to the questions were positive towards the use of Interactive whiteboards in the classroom. Positive statements from students were 4 times greater than negative statements. The positive statements from student include the feeling of increased thinking, improved their learning, aided in understanding and remembering content. One students remarks were that “You learn better with a Smartboard because you can demonstrate things and not just tell them (girl, age 10).” The results also reflect the internal feeling of the student and their own learning. Based on the research the use of Interactive Whiteboards have a positive impact on the students learning.
In the article 'The visual helps me understand complicated things': Pupil Views of Teaching and Learning with Interactive Whiteboards (access through your educational institution will allow access to the full article), Wall, Higgins and Smith take a look at the students point of view on using the Interactive Whiteboard. The study used a Student Response Template that provided Thought Bubbles(Internal-Me) and Speech Bubbles(External-Others). The researchers asked students the following types of questions: “What new skills did you achieve when using the IWB?, Did the IWB change the way you think about the subject? How?, Why would you tell another school/teacher/child to use the IWB? What was good/not so good about using the IWB?"
The results of the research found that student felt the use of IWB’s Initiated learning, increased their understanding of content and improved concentration. These are only a few of their finding. Overall the students response to the questions were positive towards the use of Interactive whiteboards in the classroom. Positive statements from students were 4 times greater than negative statements. The positive statements from student include the feeling of increased thinking, improved their learning, aided in understanding and remembering content. One students remarks were that “You learn better with a Smartboard because you can demonstrate things and not just tell them (girl, age 10).” The results also reflect the internal feeling of the student and their own learning. Based on the research the use of Interactive Whiteboards have a positive impact on the students learning.
Resources:Wall, Kate, Steve Higgins, and Heather Smith. "'The Visual Helps Me Understand the Complicated Things': Pupil Views of Teaching and Learning with Interactive Whiteboards." British Journal of Educational Technology 36.5 (2005): 851-67. Web.
Images:
Left Image:
http://www.goodfood.com.au/good-food/back-to-school/technology-in-the-classroom-20100119-mhn3.html
Right Image:
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Interactive_whiteboard1.jpg
Images:
Left Image:
http://www.goodfood.com.au/good-food/back-to-school/technology-in-the-classroom-20100119-mhn3.html
Right Image:
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Interactive_whiteboard1.jpg