Interactive Whiteboards

With the ever increasing investment in ICT resources in schools, the interactive whiteboard is fast becoming an integral feature of the ICT suite and beyond!

Creating lessons for and using IWBs (Teachers' TV)

The benefits of an interactive whiteboard - Becta

What are interactive whiteboards?

An interactive whiteboard is really three pieces of equipment linked together:

• A computer - Mac or PC
• A data projector
• A touch-sensitive screen - the interactive whiteboard

This combination of technologies turns the interactive whiteboard into a very large computer screen. With a pointer, or even a finger, the user can write on the board or control computer programs. It is ideal for whole-class teaching as it removes the need to have large groups huddled around a single computer screen.

There are two types of interactive whiteboards:

1. A ‘soft’ board using a thin membrane surface that can be
   operated with the use of the finger e.g. the SMART board.
2. A ‘hard’ board that has a solid surface, which is used in
   conjunction with a ‘stylus’ of some kind e.g. the Promethean
   ACTIV board.

Both kinds can be used successfully within schools. Durability is often an issue of concern, but both kinds of boards have been seen to withstand the rigours of everyday school use.

What is their educational value?

Interactive Whiteboards can be used to deliver a wide variety of benefits to the classroom:

• They provide electronically all the familiar features of a traditional classroom blackboard or roller whiteboard.
• Whereas the number of pupils that can practicably be accommodated around a standard computer set-up is limited, whole classes may comfortably participate in whiteboard presentations.
• Lessons can be enhanced by easily integrating video, animation, graphics, text and audio with the teacher's spoken presentation.
• It is possible to highlight and annotate key points, using the marker pens. Anything on the screen can be saved as a 'snapshot', making it easy to review and summarise key teaching points.
• Material can be displayed from a number of sources, including CD-ROMs, websites, DVDs, VHS tapes or television.
• Notes, diagrams and entire lessons can be saved, archived and added to the school intranet or similar centralised teaching resource.

How to make the best use of whiteboards

BECTA outline how teachers can maximise the impact of interactive whiteboards through:

• Investing time in training to become confident users.
• Exploring the full range of capabilities of whiteboards.
• Collaborating and sharing resources with other teachers.

What's available? Comparing boards.

Here is a selection of some of the more popular/well known boards.
Don't forget you will need a data projector, which start at around £800.

Smartboard - the most popular. It has a touch-sensitive membrane covering a hard plastic board. It doesn't require special pens and can be controlled with the finger or anyother object such as a paintbrush.
The SMART Board software allows users to write over any computer application, add and edit notes, and save everything in a single file. Software applications such as SMART Recorder enables users to save audio and data for playback as a synchronized file; SMART Video Player enables users to write over moving or still video. SMART Ideas concept-mapping software helps students brainstorm, think visually, and turn complex ideas into concept maps; a free copy is available for use with SMART whiteboards. (smartboard evaluation) 

http://www.smarttech.com

Promethean ACTIVboard - Claims to be the most educationally-minded of all the designs available. It comes with a good of resources.
Promethean boards come with the following software:

ACTIVstudio for key stages 3-4 or ACTIVprimary for key stages 1-2

ACTIVstudio 2 includes a variety of tools, such as rulers, protractors, rolling dice, flipchart functions, playback features, animations, photos, backgrounds, diagrams, and more.

ACTIVprimary software uses bold icons, bright tools bars and easily recognisable symbols to ensure that it is child-friendly and simple to use. The interface on the Promethean ACTIVboard consists of a teacher area and a pupil area positioned along the bottom of the board to ensure that children can easily reach and control the interactive tools.

The ACTIVboard can be used with wireless peripherals such as the ACTIVslate XR, an A5 graphic tablet, which enables the teacher to operate the board from anywhere within the classroom. Even better, the ACTIVboard can communicate with as many as 36 slates at a time, providing interactive opportunities for all the studuents in the class too.

www.promethean.co.uk

Hitachi board (Cambridge Board) similar to the Promethean, but cheaper.Claims to be the most advanced interactive teaching aid on the market . The Hitachi Cambridge Board currently utilises the Starboard software.
www.hitachi-education.com

RM Classboard
The RM ClassBoard comes with Easiteach Studio software offering you a unique platform for delivering multimedia lesson content to your whole class.

Health and Safety

It’s important to be aware of the health and safety implications of using projection equipment such as interactive whiteboards in the classroom, particularly if children might stand in front of the beam to give presentations to the rest of the class. All projectors, if misused, have the potential to cause eye damage; so some simple guidelines should be followed:

• Make clear to all users that no one should stare directly into the beam of the projector.
• When entering the beam, users should not look towards the audience for more than a few seconds.
• Encourage users to keep their backs to the projector beam when standing in it
• Children should be supervised at all times when a projector is being used.

A maximum of 1,500 ANSI lumens is normally adequate for projection equipment in most classroom environments. The only exception might be extreme ambient lighting conditions. In this case the advice is to use window blinds rather than increasing the brightness of the projector.

When purchasing or using a projector for purposes when it is likely that a person will be standing in front of the beam, consider using a method of brightness reduction, such as a neutral density filter or brightness adjustment facility. These modifications can be removed or adjusted for other purposes such as cinema projections, when no one will be standing in front of the beam, allowing the projector to be used to its full potential.

Information adapted from Becta
www.becta.org.uk

Kent LEA whiteboard evaluation report

• The interactive whiteboard is an effective medium for teacher input to the whole class, and for reviewing the lesson.
• There was notable effective use in the Literacy Hour and mathematics lesson.
• The board is also an effective support for teacher-led group work.
• The board is less effective for unsupervised group work, with significant exceptions.